[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 13, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H5127-H5129]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IMPROVING THE FEDERAL RESPONSE TO FAMILIES IMPACTED BY SUBSTANCE USE 
                              DISORDER ACT

  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 5891) to establish an interagency task force to improve the 
Federal response to families impacted by substance abuse disorders.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5891

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Improving the Federal 
     Response to Families Impacted by Substance Use Disorder 
     Act''.

     SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE TO IMPROVE THE FEDERAL 
                   RESPONSE TO FAMILIES IMPACTED BY SUBSTANCE USE 
                   DISORDERS.

       (a) Establishment.--There is established a task force, to 
     be known as the ``Interagency Task Force to Improve the 
     Federal Response to Families Impacted by Substance Use 
     Disorders'' (in this section referred to as ``Task Force'').
       (b) Responsibilities.--The Task Force--
       (1) shall identify, evaluate, and recommend ways in which 
     Federal agencies can better coordinate responses to substance 
     use disorders and the opioid crisis; and
       (2) shall carry out the additional duties described in 
     subsection (d).
       (c) Membership.--
       (1) Number and appointment.--The Task Force shall be 
     composed of 12 Federal officials having responsibility for, 
     or administering programs related to, the duties of the Task 
     Force. The Secretary of Health and Human Services, the 
     Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the 
     Secretary of Labor shall each appoint two members to the Task 
     Force from among the Federal officials employed by the 
     Department of which they are the head. Additional Federal 
     agency officials appointed by the Secretary of Health and 
     Human Services shall fill the remaining positions of the Task 
     Force.
       (2) Chairperson.--The Secretary of Health and Human 
     Services shall designate a Federal official employed by the 
     Department of Health and Human Services to serve as the 
     chairperson of the Task Force.
       (3) Deadline for appointment.--Each member shall be 
     appointed to the Task Force not later than 60 days after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act.
       (4) Additional agency input.--The Task Force may seek input 
     from other Federal agencies and offices with experience, 
     expertise, or information relevant in responding to the 
     opioid crisis.
       (5) Vacancies.--A vacancy in the Task Force shall be filled 
     in the manner in which the original appointment was made.
       (6) Prohibition of compensation.--Members of the Task Force 
     may not receive pay, allowances, or benefits by reason of 
     their service on the Task Force.
       (d) Duties.--The Task Force shall carry out the following 
     duties:
       (1) Solicit input from stakeholders, including frontline 
     service providers, medical professionals, educators, mental 
     health professionals, researchers, experts in infant, child, 
     and youth trauma, child welfare professionals, and the 
     public, in order to inform the activities of the Task Force.
       (2) Develop a strategy on how the Task Force and 
     participating Federal agencies will collaborate, prioritize, 
     and implement a coordinated Federal approach with regard to 
     responding to substance use disorders, including opioid 
     misuse, that shall include--
       (A) identifying options for the coordination of existing 
     grants that support infants, children, and youth, and their 
     families as appropriate, who have experienced, or are at risk 
     of experiencing, exposure to substance abuse disorders, 
     including opioid misuse; and
       (B) other ways to improve coordination, planning, and 
     communication within and across Federal agencies, offices, 
     and programs, to better serve children and families impacted 
     by substance use disorders, including opioid misuse.
       (3) Based off the strategy developed under paragraph (2), 
     evaluate and recommend opportunities for local- and State-
     level partnerships, professional development, or best 
     practices that--
       (A) are designed to quickly identify and refer children and 
     families, as appropriate, who have experienced or are at risk 
     of experiencing exposure to substance abuse;
       (B) utilize and develop partnerships with early childhood 
     education programs, local social services organizations, and 
     health care services aimed at preventing or mitigating the 
     effects of exposure to substance use disorders, including 
     opioid misuse;
       (C) offer community-based prevention activities, including 
     educating families and children on the effects of exposure to 
     substance use disorders, including opioid misuse, and how to 
     build resilience and coping skills to mitigate those effects;
       (D) in accordance with Federal privacy protections, utilize 
     non-personally identifiable data from screenings, referrals, 
     or the provision of services and supports to evaluate and 
     improve processes addressing exposure to substance use 
     disorders, including opioid misuse; and
       (E) are designed to prevent separation and support 
     reunification of families if in the best interest of the 
     child.
       (4) In fulfilling the requirements of paragraphs (2) and 
     (3), consider evidence-based, evidence-informed, and 
     promising best practices related to identifying, referring, 
     and supporting children and families at risk of experiencing 
     exposure to substance abuse or experiencing substance use 
     disorder, including opioid misuse, including--
       (A) prevention strategies for those at risk of experiencing 
     or being exposed to substance abuse, including misuse of 
     opioids;
       (B) whole-family and multi-generational approaches;
       (C) community-based initiatives;
       (D) referral to, and implementation of, trauma-informed 
     practices and supports; and
       (E) multi-generational practices that assist parents, 
     foster parents, and kinship and other caregivers
       (e) FACA.--The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 
     App. 2) shall not apply to the Task Force.
       (f) Action Plan; Reports.--The Task Force--
       (1) shall prepare a detailed action plan to be implemented 
     by participating Federal agencies to create a collaborative, 
     coordinated response to the opioid crisis, which shall 
     include--
       (A) relevant information identified and collected under 
     subsection (d);
       (B) a proposed timeline for implementing recommendations 
     and efforts identified under subsection (d); and
       (C) a description of how other Federal agencies and offices 
     with experience, expertise, or information relevant in 
     responding to the opioid crisis that have provided input 
     under subsection (c)(4) will be participating in the 
     coordinated approach;
       (2) shall submit to the Congress a report describing the 
     action plan prepared under

[[Page H5128]]

     paragraph (1), including, where applicable, identification of 
     any recommendations included in such plan that require 
     additional legislative authority to implement; and
       (3) shall submit a report to the Governors describing the 
     opportunities for local- and State-level partnerships, 
     professional development, or best practices recommended under 
     subsection (d)(3).
       (g) Dissemination.--
       (1) In general.--The action plan and reports required under 
     subsection (f) shall be--
       (A) disseminated widely, including among the participating 
     Federal agencies and the Governors; and
       (B) be made publicly available online in an accessible 
     format.
       (2) Deadline.--The action plan and reports required under 
     subsection (f) may be released on separate dates but shall be 
     released not later than 9 months after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act.
       (h) Termination.--The Task Force shall terminate 30 days 
     after the dissemination of the action plan and reports under 
     subsection (g).
       (i) Funding.--The administrative expenses of the Task Force 
     shall be paid out of existing Department of Health and Human 
     Services funds or appropriations.
       (j) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
       (1) The term ``Governor'' means the chief executive officer 
     of a State.
       (2) The term ``participating Federal agencies'' means all 
     the Executive agencies (as defined in section 105 of title 5, 
     United States Code) whose officials have been appointed to 
     the Task Force.
       (3) The term ``State'' means each of the several States, 
     the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 
     the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 
     Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman) and the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin.


                             General Leave

  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on H.R. 5891.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, we have all heard about the opioid epidemic, and I 
always feel, despite the fact that it has been very publicized, it has 
still been underpublicized. Over 40,000 people every year die of this 
epidemic.
  I am old enough to remember the Vietnam war, and it was relatively 
late in that war before we got to 41,000 deaths, and we all remember 
how that divided the country. There are more people that die in this 
year, every year, than the number of people who are both murdered and 
die in car accidents combined.
  I am on a variety of committees, and if you sit on almost any 
committee, I think, in this institution, eventually the topic of opioid 
abuse comes up. One of the things that hits me when it comes up is the 
degree to which there are varying opinions on what to do with this, and 
it varies from agency to agency.
  Therefore, what I am proposing in this bill is a task force that gets 
together two representatives from the Department of Health and Human 
Services, the Department of Education, the Department of Agriculture, 
and the Department of Labor to look for solutions and look for best 
practices. The Secretary of Health and Human Services is also supposed 
to appoint four other members to this task force.
  I don't want this to be one of the task forces that is hanging out 
there for too long. They have got to come back with recommendations 
within 9 months, and, hopefully, we will use these recommendations by 
this time next year on this floor.
  It is very frustrating, like I said, to attend these hearings and 
hear, among the experts, such divergent opinions as to how to save some 
lives here. We really cannot be spending more time on programs that 
don't work or having the agencies not work with each other.
  I look forward to strong leadership in this committee. I expect that 
they will be taking advice from strong local leaders who have done what 
they can to address this epidemic around the country. We must put our 
full weight behind a coordinated strategy to bring stability and health 
to our communities.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5891, which would establish an 
interagency task force to identify, evaluate, and recommend ways in 
which Federal agencies can better coordinate responses to the opioid 
epidemic and carry out their authorized duties.
  Many factors have contributed to this crisis, and it will take 
significant efforts to overcome it. Throughout my listening tour around 
northwest Oregon to discuss the opioid crisis, it became abundantly 
clear that local, State, and Federal officials must work together to 
address this epidemic and stem the loss of lives.
  As I previously mentioned, I heard from numerous providers, 
individuals in recovery, families who lost loved ones, teachers, 
community leaders, all who called for greater Federal investment to 
fight back against opioids and more assistance for State and local 
entities that are working on the front lines.
  Because of the breadth of programs required to assist families, any 
government effort to address substance use disorder and the opioid 
crisis must be a coordinated and collaborative approach across 
agencies. I am hopeful that this interagency task force will result in 
a more collaborative plan of action to address the many issues facing 
my constituents and the other people across this country.
  I am, however, concerned that a plan of action without the necessary 
funding to carry out the recommendations will remain just a plan. So I 
urge my colleagues to support providing sufficient resources to 
implement these solutions.
  I want to thank my colleagues, Congressman Grothman and Congressman 
Lamb, for their work on this legislation, and I reserve the balance of 
my time.
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Lamb), who I know is very concerned 
about this issue as well.
  Mr. LAMB. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to support 
H.R. 5891, a bill I introduced with my Republican colleague, Mr. 
Grothman, and I thank Mr. Grothman and Ranking Member Bonamici for 
their efforts.
  This bill is part of the fight against opioids. It creates an 
interagency task force to study how we can take the work that these 
government agencies are doing and do it even better.
  We have to do it better for the families that are affected, and I 
think the range of bills we are talking about today recognizes that. I 
thank my Republican colleagues for focussing on that because the 
mothers, the fathers, the brothers, and the sisters who have been left 
behind, they are our first line of defense, and they need our support.
  Mr. Speaker, heroin and opioid addiction is a full-blown crisis in 
western Pennsylvania. It is a disease that does not discriminate. 
People with money, people without money, people of all races, everyone 
has been affected, and our people are dying every single day. An entire 
generation of Americans, which is my generation, will have a huge hole 
in it where our brothers and our sisters should have been.

  Last year, we lost more than 60,000 Americans to the disease of drug 
addiction, and they left behind more than 60,000 families. For too 
long, those families have carried too heavy of a burden with too little 
support from our government. I can tell you about the first one of 
these families I met.
  When I was a prosecutor investigating the death of their son, I met a 
family whose son reminded me of so many young men that I served in the 
Marines with. He was in his twenties. He was a hard worker. He was 
prescribed prescription drugs for an injury that he got on the job. He 
worked in the natural gas fields. He became addicted to opioids, and he 
survived three different drug overdoses.
  His family kept him alive. They rescued him from the side of the road 
when he had been in a car with other drug addicts who threw him out 
when he started to overdose. They fought for years to get him into 
treatment and finally got him into a 30-day treatment program, where he 
went and succeeded.

[[Page H5129]]

  On the 31st day, that young man was released too soon, and his mother 
was in a near fatal car accident the same day. He spent the day staring 
at her in the ICU, and, no surprise, returned to heroin that same night 
and passed away the next morning.
  That man should still be with us today.
  He was discovered by his grandfather and by his brother, and that 
family will think about him and be asking forever what more they could 
have done.
  I have met them. I sat across from the father who cried in front of 
me and asked what else he could have done. The fact is that they are 
doing what they can, and if we, as a government, are going to ask them 
to do everything they can, we have to ask the same of ourselves. We 
have to have their back.
  H.R. 5891 is a positive step forward. That is what this is for.
  If this were any foreign military threat, we would study it in 
detail. We would proceed strategically with great discipline and in a 
bipartisan way, and that is what we are doing here.
  This bill requires Federal agencies to do something that they don't 
always do on their own, which is talk to each other and to put families 
first. It also requires them to go listen to the people who are already 
working most closely with these families--nurses, doctors, teachers, 
therapists--so that we can use their testimony to make sure that this 
task force produces results and not just a report. That is something we 
have seen so far in western Pennsylvania.

                              {time}  1530

  Our former U.S. attorney, David Hickton, led a local working group 
and task force in the western district of Pennsylvania, which then 
became the model for the National Heroin Task Force. Within a couple of 
years, they gathered enough data, enough testimony, and enough momentum 
that that became the basis for the White House's unprecedented request 
for funding to fight this battle. Eventually, this Chamber got together 
with the Senate and, in a bipartisan way, passed the 21st Century Cures 
Act.
  We need to harness that same spirit now. As Ranking Member Bonamici 
said, we need to spend more than we spent so far. This is an 
existential threat, and we need to treat it that way.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank, again, my colleague, Congressman Grothman, and 
I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 5891.
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, my final comment on this issue, first of all, for the 
folks back home, is that when politicians talk about resources, they 
really mean money. Back in Wisconsin, when I think of resources, I 
think of timber, iron ore, oil, gas, and that sort of thing. But up 
here, I guess when we talk about resources, we mean money.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I, again, want to thank Congressman 
Grothman and Congressman Lamb on this important legislation and 
emphasize again, that once we get the report from this task force, we 
need to have the funding--the resources, the money--to implement its 
recommendations to make sure that it really helps the people we are 
serving. So, again, I thank them for their work on this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this bill, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my Democratic colleagues for 
making this a fine piece of bipartisan legislation. I hope when the 
recommendations come back in 9 months, we can have another nice big 
bipartisan vote and move the recommendations out.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5891.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

                          ____________________