[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 33 (Tuesday, March 1, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S1150]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 3371. Mr. SCHATZ (for himself and Mr. Hatch) submitted an 
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 524, to 
authorize the Attorney General to award grants to address the national 
epidemics of prescription opioid abuse and heroin use; which was 
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of title I of the bill, add the following:

     SEC. 104. ENHANCING BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH ON PAIN TO 
                   DISCOVER THERAPIES TO REDUCE THE CURRENT OVER-
                   PRESCRIBING OF OPIOIDS.

       (a) In General.--Out of any money appropriated to the 
     National Institutes of Health not otherwise obligated, the 
     Director of the National Institutes of Health may intensify 
     and coordinate fundamental, translational, and clinical 
     research of the National Institutes of Health (referred to in 
     this section as the ``NIH'') with respect to the 
     understanding of pain and the discovery and development of 
     therapies for chronic pain.
       (b) Priority and Direction.--The prioritization and 
     direction of the Federally funded portfolio of pain research 
     studies shall consider recommendations made by the 
     Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee in concert 
     with the Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task 
     Force, and in accordance with the National Pain Strategy, the 
     Federal Pain Research Strategy, and the NIH-Wide Strategic 
     Plan for Fiscal Years 2016-2020, the latter which calls for 
     the relative burdens of individual diseases and medical 
     disorders to be regarded as crucial considerations in 
     balancing the priorities of the Federal research portfolio.
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