[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 99 (Thursday, June 14, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H5156-H5157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            THE HOUSE IS TACKLING THE OPIOID CRISIS HEAD-ON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight 
the efforts the House is undertaking this week to combat our Nation's 
opioid crisis. We will consider dozens of bills this week that are 
aimed at fighting the crisis next door that affects our families, our 
friends, and our loved ones.
  Mr. Speaker, as you know, there is a nationwide epidemic of heroin 
and prescription drug abuse that is resulting in drastic increases in 
addiction rates, overdose deaths, and incarceration. No zip code in 
this country is immune from this crisis.
  Heroin and pain pill addiction does not discriminate on age, race, 
gender or socioeconomic class. Your neighbor could be using heroin, or 
so could their high-honors high school student. It is the public health 
crisis of this generation.
  As a senior member of the House Education and the Workforce 
Committee, I want to highlight some of the work that we have done to 
help combat this pandemic. The committee has collaboratively worked in 
a bipartisa manner to introduce and support the following bills:

  H.R. 5889, which requires Health and Human Services to provide 
resources to early childhood care and education providers, as well as 
professionals working with young children, on ways to properly 
recognize and respond to children impacted by trauma related to 
substance abuse.
  H.R. 5890, which calls on the HHS to re-evaluate plans under the 
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to ensure the safe care of 
infants affected by prenatal substance abuse.
  H.R. 5891 establishes interagency task forces to effectively and 
efficiently assist families who have been impacted by substance abuse 
disorders.
  H.R. 5892 establishes an Advisory Committee on Opioids and the 
Workplace to advise the Secretary of Labor on actions the department 
can take to address the impact of opioid abuse on the workplace.
  I am proud to be a cosponsor of all these bills, and I urge my 
colleagues to support them as well.
  Mr. Speaker, the House is working to not only address this crisis, 
but combat it and overcome it. We will do so through treatment and 
recovery, through prevention, by protecting our communities, and by 
fighting fentanyl and other ever-changing synthetic or foreign illicit 
drugs.
  No person can beat addiction alone, and overcoming this epidemic will 
not only take a community-wide effort, but a nationwide effort, and 
that is what we are prepared to do.

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