[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 182 (Friday, November 16, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H9553-H9554]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            OPIOID EPIDEMIC

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Tenney) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to highlight a couple of 
things. First of all, I will comment on a really important issue in my 
region. Upstate New York communities have suffered tremendously from 
the opioid crisis ravaging our Nation.
  In 2016, opioid overdoses rose by 121 percent in New York State and 
opioid deaths doubled in Broome County,

[[Page H9554]]

which is part of New York's 22nd District, during the very same time.
  During the most recent district work period, the President signed 
into law the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention Act that Promotes Opioid 
Recovery and Treatment--SUPPORT--for Patients and Communities Act, 
which included the Expanding Oversight of Opioid Prescribing and 
Payment Act, which I coauthored.
  This bipartisan legislation directs the Medicare Payment Advisory 
Commission, or MedPAC, to issue a report regarding perverse incentives 
that lead to overprescription of opioid-addictive drugs.
  This legislation is important in my district because studies have 
shown that 29 percent of patients prescribed an opioid for pain, go on 
to misuse the drug. The Federal Government should be doing all it can 
to prevent overprescribing. Enacting this important bill is a critical 
first step in this process.


                      Recognizing Small Businesses

  Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, I also wanted to recognize a very important 
industry in my region, and it is a great honor for me to be able to 
represent a place called Revere Copper Company in Rome, New York. Yes, 
Revere was actually founded by none other than the great Paul Revere of 
our great history in this country.
  This great company was North America's first copper rolling mill and 
it was founded, again, by our great patriot, Paul Revere, in Rome, New 
York.
  It still resides in Rome, New York over 200 years later. Small 
businesses like this are the backbone of employment in New York's 22nd 
District, accounting for 98 percent of jobs created in our private 
sector. While everyone thinks all jobs are created by big companies, in 
fact, our small business community has 98 percent of those jobs 
created.
  In Congress, we need to make sure that we keep empowering our small 
businesses, creating a fair tax and regulatory environment that allows 
them to grow, to hire more workers, and to reinvest in our communities. 
Too many of our local businesses are held back by skyrocketing 
healthcare costs which cut into their bottom line, and our regulatory 
code, which requires a team of lawyers to decode, just to comply with 
the endless amounts of bureaucracy--something that I have experienced 
personally as the owner of a small manufacturing business in upstate 
New York.
  The time for debate and verbal platitudes need to end when it comes 
to our small business community, our employers need solutions. We must 
work to make the middle class and small business tax cuts permanent.
  I am very proud to be a person who voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs 
Act, which tremendously helped our community. We have seen an 
unprecedented amount of gains in our economy locally; a glimmer of hope 
in an area where we have seen very little progress over the decades 
because of some of the policies that have been enacted that really have 
hurt our small business community and have caused New York to have the 
highest out-migration of people in the entire Nation. Over 1 million 
New Yorkers have left New York State because of these policies just 
since 2010.
  We must fight to continue to contain healthcare costs, to provide for 
a public healthcare system, but also an affordable care system for 
people who are just simply not able to see their doctors.
  We must stand for a country that represents everyone and not just the 
powerful. That is something I have done as a corruption fighter. As a 
person who stood up to the leaders in both parties, to the most 
powerful and wealthiest people in our community, I stood up to them and 
fought for the middle class, and fought for the average worker, people 
across our Nation.
  To our small businesses, I just want to say thank you so much for all 
you do every day. As a small business owner, I know how difficult the 
fight is, how difficult the struggle is. You are the American Dream in 
our communities. You provide the hope for our future, and you provide 
the most jobs that we are going to see as we grow into the coming 
years, and hope that we can keep our economy moving.
  To my small business community, I just want to say thank you so much 
for all that you have done in adding jobs, in providing responsible 
employment for our communities, for individuals, for giving hope, for 
giving people first starts, for everything you have done in our 
community.
  It has been an amazing opportunity for me to represent a community 
that really cares. My community is well-known for its generosity. I 
find that in our small business community, much like the business I 
own, we do so much for our communities that doesn't get recognized. We 
don't have big profits. Many of us operate at less than profit.
  But what we do is we give dearly to our communities. We provide for 
the Little League teams, and for the people who are struggling from 
diseases that cannot be cured.

                              {time}  1130

  We provide in greater numbers. While, yes, big companies can provide 
a large check, our small-business community does what it can on a scale 
that is much greater by proportion.
  So I am really grateful to all the people I have served in my 
community who do so much to help all of us. I want to make sure that 
our small-business community is recognized. Often in government, we 
hear an awful lot about the big businesses. But it is really the small 
businesses that are the backbone of our community. They are the heart 
of entrepreneurship.
  I just want to say that, as a small-business owner, I am deeply 
grateful for all the work that you do, the late nights, the hard work 
of your employees to put out a beautiful product. It is something that 
you are helping your local and fellow citizens, even across the 
country. I am just really grateful.


                         Recognizing Jason Gray

  Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, on another issue, I would like to make sure 
we recognize a man named Jason Gray. He is a paramedic from Norwich, 
New York.
  Last month, when Hurricane Michael left Florida's homes, beaches, and 
businesses in ruins, Jason Gray uprooted his life in Norwich to assist 
in medical relief efforts.
  What Jason Gray and his team at the National Disaster Medical System 
did to help the most vulnerable Florida residents is simply incredible. 
He provided on-the-ground medical help to hundreds of victims 
devastated by Hurricane Michael.
  Our community is really lucky to have a selfless person like Jason 
Gray and so many others. I would like to give him special recognition 
for his willingness to go help others in need outside of our own State 
and to really use his skills and his talent to bring relief and some 
sense of sanity to people who are really suffering in the panhandle, in 
the tough parts of Florida.
  I want to say thank you again to Jason for what he does for our 
communities and what he has done for Florida. It is a tremendous honor 
to represent him, and it is my distinct honor to represent him here on 
the floor of the House of Representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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