[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 163 (Tuesday, October 2, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6435-S6436]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Opioid Epidemic

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, everyone in this Chamber knows how bad the 
opioid crisis is. In Ohio, based on the averages, 11 people died 
yesterday, 11

[[Page S6436]]

people will die today, and 11 people will die tomorrow from a drug 
overdose. We have a long way to go to fight this, but right now, we are 
taking an important step to get resources to communities, doing 
innovative work, and tearing down the redtape regulations that prevent 
people from getting treatment.
  This week we will pass a comprehensive package of legislation to 
fight addiction. Several of these bills are important to Ohio.
  I worked with my Republican colleague from West Virginia, Senator 
Capito, on a bipartisan CRIB Act to support treatment centers for 
babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome, like Brigid's Path in Dayton, 
Lily's Place in Huntington that serves people across the river in 
Lawrence County, OH, and elsewhere.
  Brigid's Path in Ohio is one of just two residential treatment 
centers like this in the country. Again, Huntington, WV, on the Ohio 
River, across the river from Ohio, and Brigid's Path in Dayton are the 
only two of these in the country.
  I am meeting in my office tomorrow with folks from Brigid's Path to 
talk with them about the important work they are doing in our State.
  NAS is caused by the use of opioids or other addictive substances 
during pregnancy. It has become a growing challenge for families and 
healthcare providers in States like Ohio.
  Recent studies show that cases of NAS have tripled over the past 
decade. Right now, babies are usually treated in the neonatal intensive 
care unit, known as NICUs--the neonatal intensive care unit--where 
treatment costs are five times the cost of treating other newborns, but 
given the relative bright lights and the relative loud noises in 
neonatal units, the NICU is not always the best place for newborns 
struggling with withdrawal. They are even more sensitive to noise and 
light than other premature babies that might be in a NICU.
  Residential pediatric recovery facilities like Brigid's Path can give 
these infants specialized care as well as bringing the mothers and the 
families in for counseling in a setting outside the chaos of a 
hospital. So while they are treating the newborn baby, they also have 
opportunities with some wraparound services to treat the addicted 
mothers so mother and child and others in the family can have a normal, 
healthy life.
  These unique venues are relatively new. The CRIB Act will allow them 
to bill Medicaid for the services they offer. The CRIB Act, Brigid's 
Path in Dayton, OH, and the Huntington program are not eligible for 
Medicaid because they are neither a doctor nor a hospital. So this bill 
will make them eligible for Medicaid and will save millions of dollars. 
As more of these facilities like Brigid's Path and Lily's Place are 
formed around the country, we will be saving millions and millions of 
Medicaid dollars. Instead of going to the more expensive, less-
effective neonatal intensive care unit, they are going to Brigid's Path 
and other places like that.
  As I said, the CRIB Act will allow them to bill Medicaid for their 
services, expanding options for care for the thousands of babies who 
need specialized treatment. Unfortunately, thousands of babies are born 
to addicted mothers.
  This package will also do some other things that matter. It will lift 
the cap on the number of beds at Medicaid-funded treatment facilities 
for 5 years, something Senator Portman and I have worked on for a long 
time. My colleague from Ohio, in the opposite party from me, has been 
working on opioid issues for some time, and this is one of the issues 
on which we worked together.
  The bill includes Senator Portman's STOP Act that I supported and 
that will work with my INTERDICT Act that Senator Portman and others 
supported, that was signed into law by the White House several months 
ago, that will help keep illegal fentanyl, a synthetic substance much 
more toxic and powerful than heroin, and something called carfentanil 
off the streets.
  We know we have more work to do to fight this crisis. We need more 
resources in our communities in Ohio. This package is a bipartisan step 
forward. I hope we can get this to the President's desk and signed into 
law soon.
  One sort of editorial comment also. I was a fairly young kid when I 
first started hearing about this, and we all know about this. In the 
mid-1960s--a huge number of Americans smoked tobacco--the U.S. Surgeon 
General first brought to the public's attention that smoking caused 
people's life expectancy, lifespans, to be considerably shorter because 
of all the illnesses coming from smoking. In one of the great success 
stories in public health in the last half century, the Federal 
Government worked together with local health officials, physicians, 
nurses, hospitals, cancer societies, the American Heart Association, 
and others--starting with warnings on cigarette packs and all the 
things we do now--and the rate of smoking in this country considerably 
dropped from what it was in the mid-1960s.
  Our country, led by the Federal Government in many cases--and people 
can say what they want about the government, but the Federal Government 
led the way on tobacco, on that public health initiative against 
tobacco. We can help lead the way, and we can work with local 
communities in addressing this terrible public health affliction of 
opioid addiction. It will matter to the next many generations if we do 
this right.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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