[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 67 (Wednesday, April 25, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2414-S2416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Opioid Epidemic

  Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, an opioid epidemic is sweeping the 
country. More than 60,000 Americans are dying from opioid overdoses 
every year--more than the number of Americans who died in all 20 years 
of the Vietnam war. What a staggering fact that is, but behind each 
number is a tragedy for a family who loses their loved one.
  Today, I want to tell the story of the Hacala family from Rogers, AR. 
It is a story of love, persistence, courage, and, I hope, a story that 
will save other families from the tragedy they felt.
  Betty and Steve Hacala are joining us in the Gallery today. I met 
Betty and Steve 3 weeks ago at a roundtable on the opioid epidemic in 
Little Rock with Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, State and local law 
enforcement, and the families of opioid victims. The news is full of 
tragic deaths from heroin, fentanyl, and prescription drugs. I met 
families that day whose children died from those well-known drugs, but 
I learned from the Hacalas about another killer: unwashed poppy seeds.
  Their son, Stephen Junior, died in his sleep from an overdose 2 years 
ago. Stephen was only 24 years old and was a recent graduate of the 
University of Arkansas. He loved to play guitar, and he was very 
accomplished at it. He was the joy of his parents' life, and he was the 
joy of his sisters Christina and Lauren's lives. His sudden death came 
as a shock to them, but they got another shock when an autopsy 
determined that Stephen died of morphine intoxication. There were no 
drugs in his apartment--no pill bottles, no needles, nothing. What had 
been found was a 5-pound bag of unwashed poppy seeds. Stephen had 
ordered the seeds on Amazon. The Arkansas crime lab soon determined 
that the poppy seeds were the source of the morphine that killed 
Stephen.
  Stephen's death resulted in part because of a dangerous gap in our 
Nation's drug laws. It has been well known for ages that poppies are 
dangerous, both addictive and toxic. That is why it is illegal to grow 
or own almost any part of the poppy--the straw, the pod, the latex. 
There is an exception, of course, for poppy seeds, which many people 
enjoy on bagels, muffins, cakes, and other pastries. The seed itself 
isn't addictive, but unwashed seeds tend to still have bits of the 
plant on them, which can be washed off and used to create a powerful 
narcotic.
  To give a sense of just how deadly poppy seed tea can be, a lethal 
dose of morphine is about 200 milligrams, but researchers at Sam 
Houston State University, commissioned by the Hacalas, concluded that 
there were about 6,000 milligrams of morphine in that 5-pound bag of 
seeds that Stephen bought. That is over 30 times the lethal dose. 
Stephen had no way of knowing just how toxic these seeds were.
  While there are plenty of legitimate uses for washed poppy seeds, 
there are no legitimate uses for unwashed seeds. Yet drug dealers and 
unscrupulous merchants are abusing the legal status of washed seeds to 
profit and to push unwashed seeds, which are widely available through 
online retailers. And when you read the user comments, you can easily 
find instructions for how to brew poppy seed tea and a description of 
its narcotic effects.
  So there is no question of these unwashed seeds being used for 
grandma's poppy seed cake; it is plain they are being used to smuggle 
the banned drug into our homes, and the manufacturers and distributors 
should know that. And Betty and Steve made sure they did. It is hard to 
imagine the grief they feel. It would have been easy to despair, but 
they did not. They want to save other families from their fate, to be 
sure Stephen's death would have meaning. They researched the issue, 
commissioning that report from Sam Houston State and studying the 
market for unwashed poppy seeds. They also became advocates, meeting 
with community leaders and elected officials. As I said, I only learned 
about the danger of unwashed poppy seeds by meeting the Hacalas.
  After that meeting, I put in a call to the leadership of Walmart and 
Amazon, which at the time both allowed unwashed poppy seeds to be sold 
on their websites. They listened to our case and quickly agreed to stop 
selling poppy seeds that are labeled as unwashed. This is important. 
The two behemoths of online commerce agreeing to take down those seeds 
was a victory and a testament to what normal citizens like Steve and 
Betty can accomplish.
  This is more than a labeling problem. In fact, some of the most 
potent and deadly seeds, which we know about thanks to the work of 
Steve and Betty, are not labeled as unwashed and are still available 
for purchase. Therefore, I will work in the Senate and with the Drug 
Enforcement Agency to ban unwashed seeds entirely. But today I do want 
to take a moment to thank Amazon and Walmart for taking an important 
first step for our country, for our State, and for the Hacalas and 
families like theirs.
  It is always hard to lose a loved one, and a child is the hardest 
loss of all. I suspect nothing can assuage that kind of grief. But 
because of the Hacalas's courage and determination, we can hope that a 
few more families will be spared it. That is an act of true love for 
Stephen and for their fellow Americans.

[[Page S2415]]

  Mr. President, the office of Secretary of State has always held a 
place of special prominence in the President's Cabinet. The conduct of 
foreign policy is the highest craft of statesmanship. In the 
Secretary's hands rest matters of the most sensitive, delicate, and 
consequential nature, affairs of war and--we always hope--peace. 
President Kennedy put it simply when he said: ``Domestic policy can 
only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us.'' That is why Presidents 
across the ages have filled the office of Secretary of State with some 
of the most distinguished statesmen in our history, names such as 
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Clay, Webster, Marshall, Kissinger.
  Now we will add the name of Mike Pompeo. Very soon, the Senate will 
confirm Mike to be our 70th Secretary of State. I strongly support his 
nomination, as I have made widely known in recent days. Before we vote, 
I want to emphasize what a truly impressive nominee he is--a man of 
noble character whose name future generations, I suspect, will include 
on the roster of those great statesmen.
  Mike has succeeded at every stage of life. He graduated first in his 
class at West Point and then joined the 2nd Cavalry on the frontline of 
freedom in West Germany. After his military service, he excelled at 
Harvard Law School. He later started one business and served as 
president of another. He became a respected community leader in his 
adopted home of Wichita, where his fellow Kansans elected him in 
repeated landslides to serve them in the House of Representatives. 
Wichita is also where he had his biggest victory of all--winning the 
hand of his bride, Susan. Of course, he has served as Director of the 
Central Intelligence Agency for the past 15 months after being 
confirmed by the Senate on a bipartisan vote of 66 to 32. Since then, I 
have watched Mike lead the CIA, boost its morale, and put the right 
people in the right places, driving them to succeed and holding them 
accountable.
  None of this surprises me because I have known Mike for as long as I 
have been in public life. When I was an unknown candidate for the 
House, he called me out of the blue to encourage me and offer support. 
He was one of my best friends in the House and one of my strongest 
supporters and smartest advisers in my Senate campaign. As Members of 
the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, we traveled the world 
together to learn, to conduct oversight, and to engage with foreign 
leaders.

  Mike and I have collaborated on several occasions to highlight 
gathering threats to our Nation. In 2013 we wrote an op-ed in the 
Washington Post calling on our party to support a strike against Bashar 
al-Assad for using chemical weapons. It was a lonely place for 
Republicans to be, but we were right then, and we are right now. I only 
wish more Republicans and President Obama had heeded our call.
  In 2015 we traveled to Vienna, where we discovered and revealed 
Iran's secret side deals with the International Atomic Energy Agency. 
In 2016, after a trip to Norway and Sweden, we wrote an op-ed in the 
Wall Street Journal drawing attention to Europe's growing challenges 
with mass migration and what it means for our own country.
  Mike has gone from one success to another because he is a consummate 
professional--a man who treats everyone with respect but who doesn't 
pull a punch or shade a view to please his audience.
  Democrats don't deny his professionalism. The senior Senator from 
Montana has said that he has led an ``exemplary career in public 
service.'' The junior Senator from Delaware said he would be a ``good 
advocate for the career professionals at the State Department and 
USAID.'' Even former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Madeleine 
Albright have expressed their hope that he would reinvigorate the State 
Department, and nonpartisan experts agree that Mike Pompeo's integrity 
and record of accomplishments cannot be denied. As ADM James Stavridis 
has said, Mike is ``a solid, thoughtful and accomplished leader.'' It 
is why 30 national security professionals--including former NSA 
Director Keith Alexander, former CIA Director Michael Hayden, and 
former Attorney General Mike Mukasey--submitted a letter endorsing 
Mike's nomination.
  Unfortunately, many Democratic Senators are opposing Mike's 
nomination, and they have given their reasons. But I have to say that 
these reasons don't hold up very well under scrutiny. Some say Mike is 
adverse to diplomacy. In fact, he simply knows that diplomacy is most 
effective when it is backed with a credible military threat. As 
Frederick the Great said, ``Diplomacy without arms is like music 
without instruments.''
  He also knows that some situations may not be susceptible to 
diplomatic solutions no matter how much one might wish it so. That is a 
fact of life. It is not a reason to oppose Mike's nomination.
  I would add that he recently demonstrated his commitment to diplomacy 
by meeting with Kim Jong Un to lay the groundwork for the President's 
upcoming summit. It is hard to think of a worse regime than North 
Korea, but Mike was willing to sit down with Kim to try to find a 
peaceful solution to the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. That 
should show us all, definitively, that he is committed to diplomacy.
  Others say they are opposing Mike because they disagree with him on 
social issues. Here I would simply note that most Republicans surely 
disagree with Hillary Clinton's and John Kerry's views on these issues. 
Yet they still voted to confirm them. For that matter, Hillary Clinton 
opposed same-sex marriage when the Democrats voted to confirm her back 
in 2009. So it hardly seems fair to hold Mike Pompeo to a different 
standard.
  Still, others oppose Mike's nomination because he refused to say that 
he would resign if President Trump fired Special Counsel Robert 
Mueller. I have to say, that is quite a stretch for a Secretary of 
State nomination. This isn't the Department of Justice. On the merits, 
I would ask: Do they think it would have been a good idea for Henry 
Kissinger and Jim Schlesinger to resign in 1973 or 1974? Would it help 
or hurt America to have our top diplomat suddenly leave the world stage 
at a time of domestic turmoil? And if that is to be the standard, have 
those Democrats asked Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis that question? I 
bet they haven't.
  Finally, there are those who worry that he will not be a check on the 
President. But since when is a Cabinet member supposed to do that? 
Regular elections, the separation of powers, and all that entails are 
the checks on the executive branch under our Constitution. The 
President's Cabinet owes him candid advice, especially when he doesn't 
want to hear it, but they aren't supposed to undermine him. The State 
Department, in particular, is the last place for open conflict between 
the President and a Cabinet member. If the world doesn't believe that 
the Secretary has the President's confidence and conducts foreign 
policy on his behalf, he is of little use to the President or the 
country.
  In fact, I would say it is the President's confidence in Mike that 
cinches his readiness for the job. When Mike Pompeo speaks, the world 
will know that the Secretary of State speaks for the President. He is 
well respected by the President's national security team, and he is 
well respected by the world.
  I know Mike Pompeo will excel as our Secretary of State, and I regret 
some Senators will oppose him for shortsighted, political reasons, but 
since they all profess grave concerns about the lack of personnel at 
the State Department, I look forward to them all confirming Secretary 
Pompeo's sub-Cabinet nominees promptly once he submits them.
  But even better is to put politics aside and to do the right thing 
for our country. Mike Pompeo has served his country with distinction. 
He is eminently qualified to be Secretary of State, and we need him on 
the job now. I call on every Senator to vote for confirmation and to 
send to the State Department a strong leader, a wise counselor, and a 
good man--Mike Pompeo.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to voice my 
strong

[[Page S2416]]

opposition to Director Pompeo's nomination to be our next Secretary of 
State.
  This position is too important. The stakes are too high to let this 
nominee slide by without full consideration of what it would mean for 
Director Pompeo to be our Nation's top diplomat--the person whose every 
word and action broadcasts America's values to the rest of the world.
  Some of my opposition concerns Director Pompeo's harsh views on 
matters of war and peace, and his blatantly false accusations regarding 
members of the Muslim community. Some of my opposition surrounds my 
deep concern about Director Pompeo's ability to stand strong against 
President Trump's erratic and uninformed foreign policy positions.
  But what I wanted to take a few minutes this afternoon to do is to 
express my serious concern about what Director Pompeo's ideological, 
extreme positions on women's rights and reproductive freedom would mean 
for women across the world.
  Our Nation has an important role to uphold as a global champion of 
women's rights. We need a Secretary of State who will be a strong 
advocate and continue our legacy of leadership in fighting for women's 
health and reproductive freedom and the rights of women and girls 
around the world. Instead, I am afraid Director Pompeo would undo much 
of that legacy and undermine much of the global progress we have made.
  An advocate for women doesn't repeatedly support the global gag rule, 
which keeps funding from clinics and programs that provide women 
important medical care. Director Pompeo did.
  An advocate for women doesn't vote to defund the United Nations 
Population Fund, which provides family planning services for women 
around the world who live in poverty. Director Pompeo did.
  When it comes to fighting for the survivors of rape and against those 
who would use rape as a tool of war, it is clear we should stand by 
survivors, fight for them, and work to make sure they have access to 
the medical care they need. However, Director Pompeo has said he would 
prevent women who have been raped from access to abortions. That is an 
unacceptably cruel response to women and war survivors, and it is one 
of the many clear indicators that Director Pompeo is an unacceptable 
choice to serve as Secretary of State.
  The Secretary of State is always a critically important position, but 
it takes on even more important meaning in 2018. The President not only 
needs good counsel in navigating our complex global relationships, but 
he also desperately needs someone who can tell him when he is wrong and 
who can stand up to him and be a check on this President's worse 
impulses.
  Throughout his nomination process, Director Pompeo failed to convince 
me that he is that person. So I will be voting no on his nomination to 
be Secretary of State. I urge my colleagues to do the same.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.