[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 133 (Tuesday, July 28, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4521-S4522]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Opioid Epidemic

  Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, the world we are living in today is a 
very different one than we envisioned when we rang in the new year in 
the beginning of 2020 or even when we celebrated St. Patrick's Day in 
March. COVID has altered almost every aspect of our lives, from where 
we gather to celebrate or mourn to how our children are educated.
  Far too many across the country have lost loved ones to this disease, 
or they are living with health complications because of it. However, 
while we are rightly focusing much of our energy on the coronavirus, 
this is not the only health crisis we are battling.
  Unfortunately, across the Nation, drug overdose deaths are rising 
amidst the coronavirus, negating much of the progress we have made over 
the last several years. A White House Office of National Drug Control 
Policy analysis shows an 11.4-percent increase in fatalities for the 
first 4 months of 2020. My home State of West Virginia reported 923 
overdose-related EMS calls in May, which is roughly a 50-percent jump 
from May of 2019. Our neighboring State of Kentucky--and I am sure the 
neighboring State of Ohio too--has estimated a 25-percent increase in 
overdose deaths between January and March.
  Is COVID-19 directly causing these overdose deaths? No. Is the 
pandemic exacerbating our Nation's addiction struggle? Absolutely. It 
is not hard to see why. The past several months have been difficult for 
all of us; however, for someone in recovery, this disruption may cause 
them to have a hard time keeping their treatment regimens in place. The 
need for social distancing makes in-person recovery programs that are a 
lifeline for some almost impossible. Social distancing may also lead to 
more individuals using drugs alone, raising the risk of overdose deaths 
because there is no one there to help or intervene.
  Last week, I had a chance to talk with CDC Director Redfield about 
where we are in our Nation's battle against addiction. The preliminary 
CDC data recently released showed drug overdose deaths climbed to a 
record high last year and how the addiction crisis continues to shift 
also, with overdose deaths rising in our other States, such as Alaska 
and the Dakotas. He also pointed out that deaths involving 
methamphetamine and cocaine have been steadily increasing despite the 
fact that deaths caused largely by synthetic opioids have been 
decreasing--or actually pills, have been decreasing. We talked about 
how issues like neonatal abstinence syndrome, where babies are born 
exposed to opioids, continue to spread.
  We talked about the work we have done here in Congress and what we 
continue to need to do. Over the years, as I mentioned, we have seen a 
decline in the deaths from prescription opioids. We have seen increases 
in access to treatment resources. Moreover, we have seen a recognition 
that, as a country, we have a real addiction crisis. However, these 
recent statistics and the evidence we are seeing related to substance 
abuse during our current pandemic show us there is so much more work to 
do, and it has a sense of urgency to it for many of us.
  This sentiment was also shared when I met with Director Carroll of 
the ONDCP. We met in Huntington just last Friday. Huntington is a town 
that is particularly hard hit by addiction. Director Carroll expressed 
his concern over the rising numbers of overdose deaths. He acknowledged 
that the public health threat posed by COVID-19 and the essential 
mitigation measures implemented across the country to slow the spread 
together have created unprecedented obstacles for Americans seeking 
drug treatment.
  We discussed some of the responses the Trump administration has taken 
to the pandemic and our new reality. The Trump administration has 
relaxed some of the rules related to the prescribing of medication-
assisted treatment. That has been helpful. The increased role of 
telehealth in behavioral and mental health care--that has been helpful.
  The Director updated me on ONDCP's work in working to address the 
specific

[[Page S4522]]

impact drug addiction is having on rural America. Just last month, 
ONDCP and other Federal agencies launched the Rural Community Toolbox, 
which is an online clearinghouse created with the express purpose of 
connecting rural leaders with funding, data, and information on how to 
combat drug addiction. We know resources in rural America are not as 
plentiful as they are in other areas of the country.
  We also discussed the administration's effort at the southern border 
to keep illegal drugs out of our communities. I am particularly 
interested in this area, as I chair the Appropriations Subcommittee on 
Homeland Security, a subcommittee of Appropriations. Through this role, 
I was able to focus on the needs on the interdiction side so that drugs 
do not even physically get to West Virginia in the first place. I have 
been to our southern border, which is actually where most of the drugs 
are coming from that end up in my State. I have worked with Customs and 
Border Protection, the TSA, the Secret Service, and the Coast Guard to 
make sure they remain focused on this incredibly important aspect of 
our national problem.
  I am also extremely proud of the work that the HSI division has done 
on homeland security. They have increased their presence in West 
Virginia and the number of officers, equipment, and partnerships, such 
as with Marshall University, to help supplement the work of our local 
law enforcement. HSI has expanded their presence at international mail 
facilities--something I have been a strong proponent of, and many of us 
in this body have as well.
  Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security issued a 2019 
seizures report to Congress. This report confirms that a majority of 
drugs continue to come in from our southwest border, including cocaine, 
fentanyl, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine.
  Challenges as a nation and individually fill our reality today. How I 
wish the drug addiction epidemic did not have to continue to be one of 
them. Sadly, as many families across our Nation know all too well, it 
continues to ruin many lives. Wishing it away is not going to work. We 
must continue to keep our eye on the ball and provide the resources 
necessary to resume the progress we have begun to see.
  My colleagues and I on both sides of the aisle have worked with the 
Senate Appropriations Committee to commit much needed resources. 
Chairman Blunt has shown his dedication to the cause, both through the 
regular appropriations and through our stimulus bills. We continue to 
work to ensure that behavioral and mental health providers have the 
resources they need to continue to treat patients and keep their 
offices open. I am working with bipartisan colleagues on creative ways 
to address this crisis, whether by ensuring that doctors can offer non-
opioid choices as they resume elective surgeries through my NOPAIN Act 
with Senator Jones, or by ensuring that those in treatment and recovery 
can use the technologies of today to connect virtually to peers and 
counselors through the Prescription Digital Therapeutics to Support 
Recovery Act that I introduced with Senator Shaheen, or by arming 
families with the information and resources they need to help their 
loved ones stay in recovery during these trying times through the 
Family Support Services for Addiction Act that I have worked on with 
Senator Gillibrand.
  Fortunately, we continue to not be alone in this fight. Despite the 
other demands they are currently facing, community and local 
organizations continue to rise to the challenge. Just last week, 
Shatterproof, which is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to 
reversing the addiction crisis in America, launched the Addiction 
Treatment Locator, Assessment, and Standards Platform, also known as 
ATLAS. ATLAS is the first resource of its kind to help those seeking 
addiction treatments find high-quality care and appropriate care. It 
was launched in six States. I am happy to say West Virginia was one of 
them, with the hope of expanding it to many more.
  Our Nation is facing unprecedented challenges; however, I remain 
confident that we can meet all of them, including resuming the progress 
we had begun to make on our Nation's addiction crisis. I am dedicated 
to this, passionate about it, and look forward to continuing to work 
with my colleagues on creative solutions
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I thank Senator Capito for not letting 
this body and this country forget about this terrible addiction crisis 
that has afflicted her State, my State, and particularly our region of 
the country, but well beyond that, her work has been particularly 
important, and I thank her for doing that.
  I think it also points to the importance of our doing, during this 
pandemic, other things to support local governments that are so 
stretched with Medicaid dollars and with local public health dollars. 
That is the importance of the next round of pandemic funding--State and 
local governments, local communities, and local education.
  We know that Senator McConnell's effort--and I put the word 
``effort'' in quotation marks--has fallen so short. He waited and 
waited and waited and waited and waited. The House passed its bill in 
May. This body, through Senator McConnell, would not even take it up 
until--would not even begin negotiations, really, until this week, when 
unemployment is about to expire and when the eviction moratorium is 
about to expire. If the opioid crisis, public health crisis, is bad now 
and we haven't dealt with the coronavirus, well, now imagine what will 
happen when people lose their unemployment or when it is reduced to 
$200 a week, causing mass eviction. Moratoria are expiring, and 
eviction courts are opening up all over the country. Imagine what will 
happen with the opioid addiction public health disaster and imagine 
what will happen with coronavirus if people lose their apartments in 
large numbers.
  I just don't think any of us can quite imagine that tragedy. It is 
clear that my colleagues on this side of the aisle don't get out very 
much, don't talk to people very much, and don't listen to people very 
much and see what these huge needs are for people to continue some 
semblance of the standard of living they had prior to the coronavirus.