Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. WITTMAN. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment. In 2018, the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities, otherwise known as the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, was signed into law.

In the years since, the bill has provided States and localities with the tools to combat the opioid crisis.

The crisis, the scourge of this Nation, as of 2024 has taken the lives of nearly 80,000 Americans. That is nearly 240 Americans every day last year. That is equivalent to a jet airliner crashing every day. If that were happening every day, it would make the headlines. People would be up in arms, saying: What are we doing about air safety? We should be doing that. We should also be addressing issues with the opioid crisis.

While I am encouraged to see that number beginning to recede, it is still way too high. The drop in number in 2023 is a good direction, but there is still lots of work to be done.

That is why today I rise in support of an amendment to H.R. 2483, the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025. This amendment would require the Department of Health and Human Services to convene a public hearing to improve awareness of, access to, and information related to funding opportunities related to mental health and SUD programs within SAMHSA, S-A-M-H-S-A.

This would be a review of not only current funding activities but future funding activities. These activities would increase much-needed awareness of important tools within States and localities.

Many times, there are tools there that people or local governments are not aware of. This is going to extend and make sure everybody is aware of the full scope of tools that are available to address the scourge of this fentanyl crisis.

By closing this knowledge gap, we are going to help patients, providers, and families with key access. Again, it is about getting treatment for this addiction. This is a very debilitating addiction. It is a biochemical addiction. It is something that takes a lot of effort in order to separate people from that addiction.

This effort saves lives. It makes a difference in families. Families that have been victimized by this addiction crisis will explain how debilitating it is not just to their loved ones but also to families. This crushes families in the things they have to endure and the folks that have this biochemical addiction to opioids.

Madam Chair, in closing, I urge support of this important amendment. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' to my amendment, as well as the underlying bill.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. WITTMAN. Madam Chair, I move that the Committee do now rise.

The motion was agreed to.

Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Wittman) having assumed the chair, Ms. King-Hinds, Acting Chair of the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2483) to reauthorize certain programs that provide for opioid use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery, and for other purposes, had come to no resolution thereon.

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