[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 145 (Wednesday, September 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5436-S5437]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Opioid Epidemic

  Mr. President, I also want to take a minute tonight to talk about the 
importance of there being the continued funding to address our Nation's 
opioid crisis. As the Senate Appropriations Committee prepares its 
markup of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and 
Related Agencies' fiscal year 2020 budget, I rise to discuss the urgent 
need for additional funding to combat the fentanyl, heroin, and opioid 
crisis.
  The substance misuse crisis continues to ravage communities in my 
home State of New Hampshire and all

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across our country. People in New Hampshire are doing vital work to 
address this crisis and get those who are struggling the support they 
need to get and stay healthy.
  Just last month, I visited Moms in Recovery in Lebanon, which is an 
addiction services program through Dartmouth-Hitchcock that is 
providing comprehensive care to get pregnant and parenting women the 
services they need to address substance misuse. In Lebanon, NH, Moms in 
Recovery offers everything from medication-assisted treatment to group 
therapy, counseling, outpatient therapy, parenting classes, and more. 
Providers said that what started as a program for 5 women is now 
serving 60. It has transformed from a program that just served pregnant 
women to one that is now serving women after they give birth. It works 
to help them stabilize their lives and to reengage in our workforce and 
in our communities.
  People in my State are implementing innovative approaches to help 
their friends and neighbors, and Congress needs to give them the 
support they need to help save lives.
  I have been proud to work with Senator Shaheen and my colleagues on 
both sides of the aisle to strengthen support for treatment, recovery, 
prevention, and law enforcement efforts. This includes having worked to 
secure more than $6 billion in the 2018 budget agreement for 
governmentwide efforts to combat this crisis and to ensure that as the 
appropriations process progressed, hardest hit States, including the 
Granite State, were prioritized.
  Last year, we also passed the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities 
Act, which the President signed into law. It included, among many 
critical priorities, the following: establishing comprehensive opioid 
recovery centers, expanding access to medication-assisted treatment, 
and supporting law enforcement in its efforts to curb the shipment of 
fentanyl through the Postal Service.
  Yet nobody in this body should think that our work is anywhere near 
complete. As the Appropriations Committee considers funding bills for 
the next fiscal year, I urge my colleagues on the committee to ensure 
that State opioid response grants, which have been a vital tool in 
increasing access to treatment, recovery, and prevention, are fully 
funded. While these grants should be increased, they must, at the very 
least, be fully funded at the fiscal year 2019 levels.
  It is also imperative to continue prioritizing hardest hit States and 
to give communities additional flexibility to use this funding to 
address other substances that are being used in conjunction with or 
instead of opioids. While the vast majority of overdose deaths in New 
Hampshire still involve opioids, specifically fentanyl, we are seeing 
substances like crystal methamphetamine emerge as a growing issue. 
Additional flexibility in funding can help communities respond to this 
challenge in realtime.
  This crisis didn't begin overnight, and it will not be solved 
overnight. What we need at the Federal level is a long-term solution 
and additional certainty so States and communities know they will have 
stable and consistent Federal funding as they implement strategies and 
treatment programs that will help save lives.
  One important next step would be to pass Senator Shaheen's Turn the 
Tide Act, which is legislation I have cosponsored that would invest $63 
billion in flexible funding over 10 years, support treatment and 
prevention efforts, and address workforce challenges in the treatment 
field. This is the kind of long-term, comprehensive approach we should 
be taking, and I will continue to join with Senator Shaheen to push for 
this bill.
  The fentanyl, heroin, and opioid crisis remains the most pressing 
public health and public safety challenge facing New Hampshire and many 
other communities across our country, and the biggest mistake anyone 
could make is in thinking our efforts to address this crisis are close 
to being done.
  I am going to continue to push to ensure that those on the frontlines 
of this crisis have the support they need. I urge my colleagues to join 
me so we can make our families, communities, and country healthier and 
safer so we can help save lives.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.