[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 2, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S1238]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 3413. Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Tester, Mr. Cochran, 
and Ms. Collins) 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, INCLUDING ALTERNATIVES TO 
                   OPIOIDS, FOR EFFECTIVE PAIN MANAGEMENT.

       (a) In General.--Out of any money appropriated to the 
     National Institutes of Health (referred to in this section as 
     the ``NIH'') not otherwise obligated, the Director of the NIH 
     may intensify and coordinate fundamental, translational, and 
     clinical research of the NIH with respect to--
       (1) the understanding of pain;
       (2) the discovery and development of therapies for chronic 
     pain; and
       (3) the development of alternatives to opioids for 
     effective pain treatments.
       (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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