[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17506-17512]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Mr. Casey):
  S. 2248. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to coordinate 
Federal congenital heart disease research efforts and to improve public 
education and awareness of congenital heart disease, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr President, every 15 minutes in America, a baby is born 
with a congenital heart defect. Many of these congenital heart defects 
are simple and can be easily corrected. Others are complex; some can 
require a lifetime of specialized medical care.
  If you want to know what fear and powerlessness feels like, imagine 
being a young parent, listening to a doctor tell you that your new 
baby--who appears so perfect to you--has a threatening heart problem.
  Fortunately, congenital heart defects aren't as deadly as they once 
were. In the 1950s, only 20 percent of American babies with congenital 
heart defects survived infancy. Today, 90 percent survive. Many 
children born with serious heart defects grow up to be adults with 
active, productive lives.
  That progress didn't happen by accident. It happened because 
Americans made a decision in the 1960s to reduce these mortality 
numbers. We invested in research that led to better understanding and 
better treatments of the heart, from infancy to old age.
  That investment in research has paid off in many ways. Some heart 
conditions that used to kill adults quickly often are managed now with 
medications and life style changes. The number of Americans with 
congenital heart disease living full, healthy lives increases by about 
5 percent every year. About 2 million Americans are living with 
congenital heart disease today. We have come a long way--but there is 
more that we can do.
  We know that the sooner a baby with a congenital heart defect is 
diagnosed and treated, the better the chances are to live a long and 
healthy life. But, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
estimates that 30 percent of babies with critical congenital heart 
defects aren't diagnosed in the first few days, when treatment is most 
effective; 1 in 200 babies die from complications that might have been 
avoided if their heart disease had been detected.
  In 2009, I introduced the Congenital Heart Futures Act to study 
people of all ages with congenital heart disease and coordinate 
research. That bill expired this year.
  Today I am introducing the Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization 
Act of 2015. This bill will save lives by allowing us to build on the 
knowledge we have gained about congenital heart defects and the best 
ways to treat them.
  My bill directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to 
study people of all ages with congenital heart disease. The CDC would 
make the results of its research available to congenital heart disease 
researchers and to Congress. We will enable some of the best scientific 
and medical minds in America to evaluate the best ways to diagnose and 
treat congenital heart disease.
  Many adults living with congenital heart disease are not aware they 
need specialized care throughout their lives. And fewer than 10 percent 
of adults with complex congenital heart disease receive the care they 
need.
  The Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act directs the CDC to 
create a public awareness campaign to educate both patients and doctors 
about congenital heart disease and the need for lifelong specialized 
care for those living with congenital heart defects.
  Finally, my bill directs the National Institutes of Health to conduct 
a review of ongoing research on congenital heart disease, identify 
areas of greatest need for research, and identify plans for future 
research.
  We are not powerless when it comes to congenital heart challenges. We 
have made tremendous progress in my lifetime. Millions of Americans 
with congenital heart defects are living happy, healthy lives today 
because of that progress.
  The Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act bill will help us 
better understand what congenital heart disease looks like in the 
United States and what we can do to help those living with this disease 
live longer. This bill will save lives and ultimately it will save 
taxpayers money--a lifetime of specialized heart care is expensive.
  I would like to thank Senator Casey for joining me in introducing 
this bill, and Representatives Bilirakis from Florida and Adam Schiff 
from California in the House for introducing the companion bill. I look 
forward to working with them on this issue that affects so many 
families.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 2248

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

[[Page 17507]]



     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Congenital Heart Futures 
     Reauthorization Act of 2015''.

     SEC. 2. NATIONAL CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE COHORT STUDY AND 
                   AWARENESS CAMPAIGN.

       Section 301 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
     241) is amended by adding at the end the following--
       ``(f) National Congenital Heart Disease Cohort Study.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Secretary, acting through the 
     Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
     shall plan, develop, implement, and submit annual reports to 
     the Congress on surveillance and research activities of the 
     Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including a 
     cohort study to improve understanding of the epidemiology of 
     congenital heart disease (referred to in this subsection and 
     subsection (g) as `CHD') across the lifespan, from birth to 
     adulthood, with particular interest in the following:
       ``(A) Health care utilization and natural history of those 
     affected by CHD.
       ``(B) Demographic factors associated with CHD, such as age, 
     race, ethnicity, gender, and family history of individuals 
     who are diagnosed with the disease.
       ``(C) Outcome measures, such that analysis of the outcome 
     measures will allow derivation of evidence-based best 
     practices and guidelines for CHD patients.
       ``(2) Permissible considerations.--The study under this 
     subsection may--
       ``(A) gather data on the health outcomes of a diverse 
     population of those affected by CHD;
       ``(B) consider health disparities among those affected by 
     CHD which may include the consideration of prenatal 
     exposures; and
       ``(C) incorporate behavioral, emotional, and educational 
     outcomes of those affected by CHD.
       ``(3) Public access.--Subject to paragraph (4), the data 
     generated from the studies under this subsection shall be 
     made available to CHD researchers subject to appropriate 
     privacy protections, and aggregate data from such studies 
     shall be made available to the public.
       ``(4) Patient privacy.--The Secretary shall ensure that the 
     study under this subsection is carried out in a manner that 
     complies with the requirements applicable to a covered entity 
     under the regulations promulgated pursuant to section 264(c) 
     of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 
     1996.
       ``(g) Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Campaign.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Secretary, acting through the 
     Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
     shall establish and implement an awareness, outreach, and 
     education campaign regarding CHD across the lifespan. The 
     information expressed through such campaign may--
       ``(A) emphasize that CHD is the most prevalent birth 
     defect;
       ``(B) identify CHD as a condition that affects those 
     diagnosed throughout their lives; and
       ``(C) promote the need for pediatric, adolescent, and adult 
     individuals with CHD to seek and maintain lifelong, 
     specialized care.
       ``(2) Permissible activities.--The campaign under this 
     subsection shall--
       ``(A) utilize collaborations or partnerships with other 
     agencies, health care professionals, and patient advocacy 
     organizations that specialize in the needs of individuals 
     with CHD; and
       ``(B) include the use of print, film, or electronic 
     materials distributed via television, radio, Internet, or 
     other commercial marketing venues.''.

     SEC. 3. CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE RESEARCH.

       Section 425 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
     285b-8) is amended by adding the end the following:
       ``(d) Report From NIH.--Not later than 1 year after the 
     date of enactment of the Congenital Heart Futures 
     Reauthorization Act of 2015, the Director of NIH, acting 
     through the Director of the Institute, shall provide a report 
     to Congress--
       ``(1) outlining the ongoing research efforts of the 
     National Institutes of Health regarding congenital heart 
     disease; and
       ``(2) identifying--
       ``(A) future plans for research regarding congenital heart 
     disease; and
       ``(B) the areas of greatest need for such research.''.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. UDALL (for himself, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Wyden, 
        and Mr. Markey):
  S. 2254. A bill to modify the requirements applicable to locatable 
minerals on public domain land, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Hardrock 
Mining Reform and Reclamation Act of 2015.
  First, I thank Senator Heinrich, who will be here with me in a 
moment, for working with me on this bill. He is a dedicated 
conservation Senator from the West and really cares about this issue, 
and we have both been working together on this bill. I so much 
appreciate all of his hard work and his commitment to this important 
legislation. I also thank Senator Bennet and Senator Wyden for their 
hard work and support on this bill. I also thank our New Mexico 
colleague, Congressman Ben Ray Lujan, for his efforts on the House 
side.
  We are proposing this bill for one reason: to reform the mining law 
of 1872. It is a matter of simple fairness, it is a matter of common 
sense, and it is a reform that is long overdue.
  The 1872 mining law played a historic role in the settling of the 
West. It encouraged mining for silver, gold, copper, uranium, and other 
minerals on public lands. It helped the West to grow, but there was a 
price--one we are still paying. It did almost nothing to compensate the 
public, it did nothing to protect the environment, and it did nothing 
to require mines to clean up the mess. It did nothing to require those 
mines to clean up the mess. The legacy is clear--thousands of abandoned 
mines, contaminated land, polluted streams, costly cleanup, and 
taxpayers stuck with the bill. We have a 19th-century law which is 
totally inadequate to 21st-century challenges.
  The spill at the Gold King mine earlier this year tells the story. 
With terrible damage in my State, in other States, and in the Navajo 
Nation, this is a disaster on many levels--to our water, our economy, 
and to our culture.
  Mistakes were made at the Gold King mine. We have to do all we can to 
make sure they are not made again and to make sure our communities are 
fairly compensated for losses. That is why Senator Heinrich and I 
introduced the Gold King Mine Spill Recovery Act of 2015.
  The Gold King mine disaster is also a wakeup call. The mine is still 
there; the owners are not. There are up to 500,000 abandoned mines in 
our country. They are a ticking timebomb. They are leaking toxins into 
our rivers and streams in the West and have been for decades. It will 
cost tens of billions of dollars to fix this. The estimates are 
anywhere from $20 billion to $54 billion, with a ``b''--billions. A 
mining royalty will bring fairness to taxpayers and help pay for the 
cleanup.
  I have pushed for--and will keep pushing for--mining reform, first in 
the House and now in the Senate because I believe in the simple 
principle that the polluter pays. The polluter pays, but under current 
law the mining companies do not pay--not for the minerals they take, 
not for the damage they have done. This cannot continue. They cannot 
continue to reap all the benefits and hundreds of millions of dollars 
while taxpayers continue to shoulder all the burden. This goes against 
every notion of simple fairness. Working Americans know this, middle-
class families know this, and both sides of the aisle know this.
  The 1872 mining law also basically gives away Federal land for $5. 
Less than what a working American pays for lunch, mining companies can 
buy an acre of Federal land if they discover a valuable mineral 
deposit. So there is no surprise here. Hard rock mining companies don't 
want reform. They have had a free ride for a long time--no wonder they 
want to keep it--but it is long past time for that ride to end.
  Coal, oil, and gas companies have paid royalties for many decades. 
Hard rock mining companies, including foreign mining companies, should 
do the same. Our bill will require that they do that. It is not a 
radical idea. The oil industry pays a small fee on every barrel of oil, 
the coal industry pays a small fee on each ton of coal, and the sky has 
not fallen in. And when disasters happen, from oilspills to abandoned 
coal mines, these industries bear some of the cost.
  History may explain why the 1872 law was created, but it is hard to 
see now why it should continue. What began as an effort to settle the 
West has become a gravy train for multibillion-dollar companies and not 
just American companies but foreign ones as well. We know the taxpayers 
are getting shortchanged. We just don't know how much.
  In 2011 I asked the General Accounting Office for the numbers. They 
couldn't say. Not only do the hard rock

[[Page 17508]]

mining companies not pay, they do not disclose, and under current law 
they do not have to--not how much they extract from Federal lands, not 
where the minerals are sold, not the overall value. Yet at the same 
time, oil, gas, and coal brought in $11.4 billion in Federal revenue.
  We need to get this done. We can't keep asking working Americans and 
struggling communities to foot the bill while mining companies reap the 
profits. Let us be clear. The silver and gold on public lands are a 
natural resource. They belong to the American people. They should be an 
investment for public good, not a giveaway for private gain.
  After my father left office after 8 years as Secretary of the 
Interior, he was asked what were his big regrets, and he said mining 
reform was his greatest unfinished business. Fifty years later we still 
need to do this and we still need to do it now. We have an outdated 
law. Special treatment for the profits of large hard rock mining 
companies is not a reason to keep it, at least not to the taxpayers of 
my State.
  It is time to stop giving away the store. It is time to reform the 
mining law of 1872. It is the right thing to do. It is the fair thing 
to do. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and let us get this 
done.
  Mr. President, I was just in a press conference with Senator Heinrich 
and Senator Bennet where we talked, and one of the questions that was 
asked was: How are you working at building bipartisan support and is 
there bipartisan support? I want to say a word on that because we have 
seen very solid bills pass here in Washington with bipartisan support. 
One of the ones I wanted to point out was in 2007 in the House. Nick 
Rahall had a mining reform bill. He had Republican cosponsors by the 
names of Wayne Gilchrest and Representative Christopher Shays--24 
Republicans in the House--and the bill was passed 244 to 166. Paul 
Ryan, who was in my class when I came into Congress in 1998--we arrived 
at the same time and Paul is now the Speaker over in the House--voted 
yes for mining reform back in 2007 on this Rahall bill.
  So I think if you look at the history, this is a bill where we need 
to work with both sides of the aisle, and I hope and wish Congressman 
Ryan--Speaker Ryan--the best and I hope he will join us in this effort 
to reform this long outdated law.
  With that, I see my good friend and partner in this, Senator 
Heinrich, is on the floor, so I yield the floor at this time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I want to begin by thanking my colleague 
the senior Senator from New Mexico Tom Udall for the incredible 
leadership he has shown on this issue. I know it is something near and 
dear to his heart and something he absolutely and truly cares about. We 
have had a good team working on this over the course of the last couple 
of months. Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado has been a great 
contributor to this effort. Congressman Ben Ray Lujan of northern New 
Mexico has taken a leadership effort on a similar effort in the House, 
and today we are joined by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon on this 
legislation as well.
  As many folks know, in August a large plume of bright orange mine 
waste spilled into the Animas River, which leads into the San Juan, and 
polluted the Four Corners region from Colorado to New Mexico and 
through the Navajo Nation.
  If you take a look at this photo, which was shared with me by the 
president and vice president of the Navajo Nation, this is not what you 
want to see when you look at the river that you take your drinking 
water from or the river that you use for irrigation or the place you go 
fishing or recreate and kayak on. This is not how our mountain streams 
in the Southwest are supposed to look. I think visually this got the 
attention of people all around the country as to the scope and scale of 
this problem.
  After the mine spill, I toured affected communities in New Mexico and 
the Navajo Nation. I met with impacted residents, including farmers in 
Aztec and Shiprock, San Juan County leaders, Navajo Nation President 
Russell Begaye, Vice President Jonathan Nez, and the attorney general, 
Ethel Branch. In the Southwest, water is by far our most precious 
resource, so you can imagine the kind of impact this disaster had on 
our communities.
  My colleagues in the Environment and Public Works Committee and the 
Committee on Indian Affairs have now held hearings to investigate the 
Environmental Protection Agency's actions which led to this spill and 
to seek to bring proper oversight to the Agency's response. Last week, 
the Department of the Interior released a report of its independent 
technical evaluation of the EPA's action. The evaluation found that the 
EPA did not properly appreciate the engineering complexity of trying to 
clean up the Gold King mine and that it could in fact have prevented 
what we see here.
  I share the anger and frustration that not only my colleagues but, 
more importantly, our constituents have expressed over this terrible 
accident. It is why Senator Udall and I have introduced separate pieces 
of legislation specifically to make these communities whole. We need to 
continue to demand the EPA act with urgency to protect the health and 
the safety of the affected communities and to repair the damage 
inflicted on this watershed. That is our first and top priority.
  We are doing a disservice to the American people by not also taking 
action to address the thousands--thousands--of other similarly 
contaminated abandoned mines that literally litter the West and are 
leaking toxins into our watersheds--into the watersheds that provide 
drinking water and irrigation to our communities all across the West.
  There are estimates that 40 percent of western watersheds have been 
polluted by toxic mining waste and that reclaiming and cleaning up 
abandoned mines to make this right is going to cost tens of billions of 
dollars.
  This latest disaster was all too familiar for those of us from the 
Four Corners region and to many people around the West. Back in 1975, 
in an even larger accident than the Gold King blowout, a tailings pile 
near Silverton, CO, spilled 50,000 tons of tailings laden with toxic 
heavy metals into the Animas River Watershed--the watershed that drains 
from Colorado into New Mexico, into the San Juan and through the Navajo 
Nation in Arizona as well.
  In 1979, a breached dam at a uranium mill tailings disposal pond near 
Church Rock in New Mexico on the Navajo Nation sent more than 1,000 
tons of solid radioactive waste and 93 million gallons of acidic liquid 
into the Rio Puerco.
  Disastrous blowouts and spills like these are easy to see. They get 
the media's attention, but the toxins leaking silently out of thousands 
of abandoned hard rock mines are doing even more damage to our 
watersheds each and every day.
  For decades before the spill, the Gold King mine actually leached 
water laced with heavy metals and sulfuric acid into Cement Creek, 
which is a tributary of the Animas. Over the last 10 years, an average 
of 200 gallons of highly polluted water each and every minute, or more 
than 100 million gallons per year, flowed out of this mine and into the 
Animas River via Cement Creek. The Gold King and other abandoned mines 
in the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado continue to pollute 
the Animas and the San Juan Watershed as we speak.
  Beyond the immediate cleanup of the Gold King spill, it is high time 
we as a Congress overhaul our abandoned mine cleanup policies to make 
future disasters less likely and to address the thousands and thousands 
of abandoned mines that are polluting our watersheds.
  The Navajo Nation, which was perhaps most affected by the Gold King 
mine blowout, has more than 500 abandoned uranium mines. Last month, I 
met with officials at the Navajo Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation and 
Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Office and learned about their 
efforts to clean up these literally hundreds of sites. I visited a 
large uranium

[[Page 17509]]

tailings disposal pile in Shiprock--in the town of Shiprock--that sits 
close to the San Juan River.
  If you look at this map, this is the San Juan River. This is the 
community of Shiprock. We have the high school, the fairgrounds, and 
the residential area all around a permanent tailings disposal site--
something that is going to require stewardship for literally hundreds, 
if not thousands, of years.
  Melvin Yazzie, a senior reclamation specialist with the department, 
also took me through an abandoned uranium mine site in the Red Valley 
Chapter of the Northern Navajo Nation. Carrying a Geiger counter, he 
showed me the abandoned mine and a nearby house that was constructed 
using materials contaminated with radioactive materials.
  Here we see Mr. Yazzie with his Geiger counter. This is obviously no 
longer occupied, but it gives us a sense of the impact to members of 
the Navajo Nation, some of whom literally have their homes built with 
the spillover, the rock materials that came out of these mines, and 
live with that irradiation each and every day.
  The Navajo Government is doing its best to address this legacy of 
uranium mining and milling, but they do not have anywhere close to 
enough resources or funding necessary to clean up the waste from 
decades and decades of uranium mining.
  A large reason why the Navajo Nation lacks adequate resources and why 
communities all across Indian Country and the entire West are dealing 
with pollution from abandoned mines and lack resources is that we have 
not updated our Federal laws on hard rock mining in 143 years.
  During the era of manifest destiny, the Federal Government encouraged 
Americans to settle newly acquired lands in the West by passing laws--
laws like the Timber and Stone Act of 1878 and the Desert Land Act of 
1878, laws like the Homestead Act, which my grandparents took advantage 
of. Some of these laws gave away public lands and resources to private 
users with no strings attached and often no price tag attached.
  The General Mining Act of 1872 came along during this era of 
unrestrained western expansion. It allowed individuals and companies to 
claim ownership of minerals in the public domain--minerals owned by us 
as a nation, such as gold, silver, copper, uranium, molybdenum, and 
others--simply by locating a mineral source, staking a claim, and 
paying $5 for an acre of land. Miners did not have to consider 
environmental impacts or make any plans to clean up the waste, which 
has created the pollution and contamination we confront today. This law 
drew thousands of people to the West. My father and my mother's father 
both made a living working in hard rock mining. But shortsighted policy 
also left behind a scarred legacy on our lands.
  Unlike other 19th-century western settlement laws which have long 
since been reformed or replaced, the Mining Act of 1872 remains on the 
books today. While developers of resources such as oil, natural gas, 
and coal all pay royalties to return fair value to taxpayers for our 
public resources, hard rock mining companies still mine publicly owned 
minerals for free--for free--and we still don't have a plan to address 
a century of pollution from abandoned mines.
  We desperately need to bring our mining laws out of the 19th century 
and into the 20th century. That is why I am joining my colleagues--
Senator Udall of New Mexico, Senator Bennet of Colorado, and Senator 
Wyden of Oregon--to introduce legislation to reform our outdated and 
ineffective Federal policy on abandoned mines and on hard rock mining. 
Our legislation will require that reasonable royalties and fees from 
hard rock mining be used to create a dedicated funding stream for 
cleaning up mine waste. A reclamation program will allow States, 
tribes, and nonprofit organizations to collaborate on projects to 
restore fish and wildlife habitat affected by past hard rock mining and 
to repair watersheds that are the very center of our economy in the 
West, the source of our essential agricultural and drinking water 
supply for western communities up and down the spine of the Rockies.
  This legislation will also reform the permitting process for new 
mines. Hard rock mining companies will need to protect water and 
wildlife resources and provide financial assurance that they can 
actually fund reclamation cleanup and restoration efforts after their 
mines close so that in the future we don't have this legacy of 
abandoned hard rock mines.
  These are simply, commonsense reforms--reforms that, frankly, 
Congress should have adopted decades ago.
  I appreciate the value of the hard rock mining industry. My own 
family has benefited from it, and I recognize that the industry 
continues to provide good-paying jobs in States throughout the West. 
Some mining companies are already stepping up to help clean up old 
mining waste sites. I look forward to working with industry 
stakeholders to find practical ways to bring our policies into the 21st 
century. We cannot wait for more disasters like the Gold King mine 
spill for us to act. We cannot continue to do nothing while thousands 
of abandoned hard rock mines drain toxic metals into our rivers, water 
supplies, and our drinking water each and every day. We must come 
together and press forward for pragmatic reforms to our outdated 
Federal hard rock mining laws.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. KAINE (for himself and Mrs. Capito):
  S. 2256. A bill to establish programs for health care provider 
training in Federal health care and medical facilities, to establish 
Federal co-prescribing guidelines, to establish a grant program with 
respect to naloxone, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I rise to discuss a bill I am introducing 
called the Co-prescribing Saves Lives Act.
  All across the Nation, and certainly all across my Commonwealth, we 
are seeing the scourge of prescription drug abuse and a heroin 
epidemic. These opioids are having major impact in communities 
everywhere in Virginia, from the coal mines of Appalachia to rural 
communities in the Shenandoah Valley, to right here in suburban Fairfax 
County.
  I have heard, as have my colleagues, stories from parents who have 
buried children, from companies that can't find employees who can pass 
drug tests, and certainly from law enforcement officials, including 
judges, prosecutors, police officials, and sheriffs, who talk about the 
dramatic expansion of opioid addiction in this country. The numbers are 
kind of shocking. When I came to the Senate and started doing tours 
around the State in the spring of 2013, I really wasn't schooled about 
this, and I started to hear stories.
  Heroin and opioids now account for 25,000 American deaths a year. In 
Virginia, and in much of the United States, the deaths from opioid 
overdoses are now exceeding deaths from motor vehicle accidents. 
According to the Centers for Disease Control, in the United States 
fatal opioid-related drug overdose rates have quadrupled since 1990 and 
have never been higher than they are right now.
  The question is, How do we address this crisis? Obviously, the answer 
is there is no single answer. There are a lot of things that have to be 
done. The Federal Government, State and local communities, faith 
communities, nonprofit organizations, families, individuals educating 
themselves--there are a lot of answers, but we have to move forward 
with steps that we know can reduce overdose deaths.
  There is some good news. There are advances that can help us do this, 
and one of the advances has been the development of a drug called 
naloxone, which is a medicine that is safe and effective as an antidote 
to all opioid-related overdoses, including heroin, prescription 
opioids, and fentanyl. It is a critical tool--it has been proven to be 
a critical tool since its development in preventing fatal opioid 
overdoses.
  One of the neat things about naloxone is if you come across somebody 
who is in respiratory failure from an overdose or for some other 
reason, you can administer naloxone to that individual, and if it is 
not an overdose,

[[Page 17510]]

it doesn't have any side effects. It can bring somebody back from the 
overdose-caused respiratory failure, but it doesn't have any negative 
side effects if it turns out the person is suffering from something 
else.
  In Virginia there is an organization called Project REVIVE! that 
trains people to administer naloxone. In one of our communities in 
Russell County in Southwest Virginia, about a year ago I took the 
training with a lot of family members and others--just 2 hours of 
training--to learn how to do this.
  Since naloxone has been developed and come into more common usage 
beginning in the late 1990s, it has saved more than 26,000 people who 
have been in the throes of an overdose. Naloxone has brought them back 
to life. I think a lot of professionals--public safety professionals 
and health care professionals around the country--have seen how 
effective it is.
  One answer to our overdose problem is to co-prescribe naloxone when 
someone is getting a prescription for an opioid. Opioids have 
legitimate uses, to manage pain. So when somebody is getting a 
prescription for that, co-prescribe naloxone so they have the antidote 
right there in case of an overdose.
  There are overdoses from people who are using drugs inappropriately 
and grabbing somebody else's prescriptions and using opioids, but there 
are also quite a few overdoses where people who are legitimately 
prescribed the drug--and they are usually prescribed it for pain--they 
develop a tolerance to the drug. The package may say to take one pill 
every 6 hours, but the pain is strong, and after 3 hours they start to 
feel it again and somebody thinks, OK, the drug has worn off now so I 
can take another one. So a person can start to take too many because of 
pain symptoms, and they get into an overdose situation for that reason 
too. If a person has a naloxone co-prescribed, they can have the 
antidote right there that they can administer themselves, or someone 
else can, if they get into an overdose situation.
  Many communities, States, national organizations, and medical 
organizations have supported co-prescribing naloxone to patients who 
are taking opioids as a critical part of this overdose problem, and we 
have guidelines. Not everybody who gets an opioid prescription needs 
naloxone. My wife broke and dislocated her shoulder two Good Fridays 
ago, and she was prescribed a powerful opioid pain killer. She used 
about a day and a half's worth of it. It made her sick to her stomach 
so she quit using it. Not everybody who gets prescribed a prescription 
opioid needs naloxone, but there are certain warning signs--the medical 
profession has developed the warning signs--and if you have the warning 
signs, you should get the co-prescription. Developing these guidelines 
helps physicians, pharmacists, and other providers determine who is at 
risk and whom we should be proactive with regarding a co-prescription.
  What this bill does is the following: It improves access to naloxone 
by encouraging physicians to co-prescribe in a couple of circumstances, 
to co-prescribe this lifesaving drug alongside opioid prescriptions and 
make it more widely available in Federal health settings.
  The Co-prescribing Saves Lives Act would require that the Secretaries 
of Health and Human Services, Defense, and Veterans Affairs would 
establish physician education co-prescribing guidelines for all Federal 
health centers, including VA hospitals, DOD hospitals, the Indian 
Health Service, and federally qualified health centers. So within 
Federal health care facilities, if there is going to be an opioid 
prescription to somebody in a high-risk situation, there would be a 
mandate that naloxone would be prescribed as well.
  This bill is based upon work that has already been done in the 
Federal Government. The VA especially has been a real leader in setting 
up these co-prescription guidelines. In addition, the bill would 
provide a program of grants through State departments of health that 
are interested in doing the co-prescribing guidelines for private 
physicians not in Federal settings in their States. The funding would 
allow States to purchase naloxone, to provide copay assistance for 
uninsured patients, and to fund training for health professionals and 
patients. Grant funding could also support State innovation and provide 
for community outreach. The kind of program where I trained last 
summer, Project REVIVE!, is just a community program trying to battle 
opioid overdose deaths in the coalfields of Appalachia. That would be 
the kind of program that if other States wanted to do that, could be 
eligible for grant funding.
  In closing, this is just one solution. Obviously, the real solutions, 
the important ones, are still around prevention. Why do Americans get 
prescribed so many more opioids than folks in other nations? What do we 
do about prescriptions when the quantities that are given are too big 
and then we end up with a lot of unused opioids that can be taken by 
young people or stolen and sold? There are a lot of issues we have to 
solve, but there is this bit of good news; that naloxone saves lives 
and it is easy to administer. It doesn't have a negative effect. If we 
can broaden access to naloxone for those who have been prescribed 
opioids--we have saved lives in the past and we are going to save a lot 
more.
  I will conclude by saying there is a dad in Northern Virginia--a guy 
by the name of Don Flattery--who has been very public about the loss of 
his son, Kevin, who was a 26-year-old graduate of UVA in 2014. He 
talked about his son, the family, the advantages they had, and his 
educational track record of success at UVA, but then he fell into the 
just bottomless pit of opioid prescription, opioid addiction, and he 
perished in 2014. What Don said is that ``I feel we need to keep 
personalizing what is happening. We are not addressing shocking, obtuse 
statistics--we are speaking about my son, your daughter, our neighbors 
. . . they are real people with real lives, and their losses are the 
face of the epidemic we must stop.''
  That is what this bill intends to play a part in.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Ms. CANTWELL (by request):
  S. 2257. A bill to prepare the National Park Service for its 
Centennial in 2016 and for a second century of protecting our national 
parks' natural, historic, and cultural resources for present and future 
generations and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce, by request, 
the Administration's legislative proposal the National Park Service 
Centennial Act.
  The bill authorizes or expands several authorities to assist the 
National Park Service in managing the over 400 units of the National 
Park System as it prepares for the centennial anniversary of the 
agency's establishment in 1916.
  While I may not agree with every provision in the administration's 
proposed bill, I believe it is important for this legislative proposal 
to be considered in the Senate, which is why I agreed to introduce it 
by request. At the same time, I will continue to work with other 
Senators on both sides of the aisle to develop a bipartisan consensus 
on a national park centennial bill so that the Senate can consider and 
pass a bill before the National Park Service's centennial anniversary 
next year.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the administration's 
letter to the Senate transmitting the legislative proposal and a 
section-by-section summary of the bill prepared by the Department of 
the Interior be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                The Secretary of the Interior,

                                  Washington, DC, August 31, 2015.
     Hon. Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,
     President of the Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. President:  Enclosed is a draft of a bill 
     entitled, the ``National Park Service Centennial Act.'' Also 
     enclosed is a section-by-section analysis of the bill. We 
     recommend that the bill be introduced, referred to the 
     appropriate committee for consideration, and enacted.
       The National Park Service (NPS) will celebrate its 
     centennial in 2016. As we look ahead

[[Page 17511]]

     to the next century, there are a number of key authorities 
     that need to be authorized, clarified, or expanded to allow 
     us to better serve the American people.
       Title I, the Centennial Declaration, would recognize that 
     the NPS has responsibility not only for administering the 
     units of the National Park System, but for programs that 
     provide financial and technical assistance to states, 
     communities, and individuals to protect our national 
     heritage. Title I would also direct the Secretary of the 
     Interior to utilize these financial and technical assistance 
     programs to further the conservation and enjoyment of the 
     natural and cultural heritage of the Nation for the benefit 
     and inspiration of the public.
       Titles II-IV of the proposed legislation would implement 
     part of the President's Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Budget request 
     to Congress. Title II would establish a National Park 
     Centennial Challenge Fund of up to $100 million for FY 2016, 
     FY 2017, and 2018 to be used for signature projects that will 
     help prepare the national parks for another century of 
     conservation, preservation, and enjoyment.
       Title III would provide a mandatory appropriation of $300 
     million to the NPS Construction Account for FY 2016, FY 2017, 
     and FY 2018, to correct deficiencies in NPS infrastructure 
     and facilities.
       Title IV would establish the Centennial Land Management 
     Investment Fund, consisting of a mandatory appropriation 
     equal to $100 million for FY 2016, FY 2017, and FY 2018 to 
     provide funding for the Secretaries of the Interior and 
     Agriculture to jointly establish a competitive program 
     available to the four Federal land management agencies for 
     projects that enhance visitor services and outdoor 
     recreational opportunities, restore lands and waters, repair 
     facilities or trails, or increase energy and water 
     efficiency.
       Title V would direct the National Park Foundation (NPF) to 
     establish a special account known as the Second Century 
     Endowment for the NPS, consisting of gifts or bequests 
     provided for this purpose, for projects and activities that 
     further the mission of the NPS.
       Title VI would establish the NPS Second Century Fund in the 
     Treasury, which would be funded through additional lodging or 
     camping fees and funds collected from purchases of the 
     lifetime pass for citizens 62 years of age or older.
       Title VII would clarify or expand authorities for 
     activities that the NPS are already conducting to allow us to 
     better serve the American people. This includes providing 
     clear authority for the interpretation and education work of 
     the NPS by consolidating a number of disparate authorities 
     currently used, and directing the Secretary to ensure that 
     management of National Park System units and related areas is 
     enhanced by the availability and utilization of a broad 
     program of the highest quality interpretation and education. 
     Title VII would also raise the age limit for participation in 
     the Public Lands Corp from 25 to 30 and extend the direct-
     hire authority from 120 days to 2 years, consistent with 
     Department of the Interior resource assistant direct-hire 
     authority. And, this title would remove the $3.5 million 
     authorization ceiling for the Volunteers in the Parks to 
     accommodate the funding needed to support this growing 
     program.
       Title VIII would establish the NPS Visitor Services 
     Management Authority (VMSA), and authorize the Secretary to 
     establish a program to allow the VMSA to award and manage 
     contracts for the operation of commercial visitor services 
     programs and activities.
       Title IX would authorize the Secretary to enter into 
     agreements for the creation of reproductions of a museum 
     object in which the object and its intellectual property 
     rights are under the control of the Secretary. The 
     Administration is developing additional language related to 
     the protection of NPS intellectual property, which we intend 
     to transmit under separate cover.
       Title X would redesignate the Secretary of the Interior and 
     the Director of the NPS as ex officio members of the NPF 
     board. It also would authorize appropriations of $25 million 
     for each of FY 2016 through FY 2026 to NPF that would be used 
     to leverage additional non-federal funds to support our 
     national parks.
       The effect of this draft bill on the deficit is:

                                                                                          FISCAL YEARS
                                                                                      [dollars in millions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      2015             2016            2017            2018            2019            2020            2021            2022            2023            2024            2025            Total
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
           45              312             476             386              67             -71             -11             -52              81             -38             -92           1,103
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

       The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Act of 2010 provides 
     that revenue and direct spending legislation cannot, in the 
     aggregate, increase the on-budget deficit. If such 
     legislation increases the on-budget deficit and that increase 
     is not offset by the end of the congressional session, a 
     sequestration must be ordered. This proposal would increase 
     direct spending, is therefore subject to the Statutory PAYGO 
     Act, and should be considered in conjunction with all other 
     proposals that are subject to the Act.
       The Office of Management and Budget has advised that there 
     is no objection to the enactment of the enclosed draft 
     legislation from the standpoint of the Administration's 
     program.
           Sincerely,
     Sally Jewell.
                                  ____


                  National Park Service Centennial Act

                       Section-by-Section Summary


                    Title I--Centennial Declaration

       Recognizes that the National Service has responsibility not 
     only for administering the units of the National Park System, 
     but also for programs that provide financial and technical 
     assistance to states, communities and individuals to protect 
     our national heritage.
       Reaffirms and directs the Secretary of the Interior to 
     utilize these financial and technical assistance programs to 
     further the conservation and enjoyment of the natural and 
     cultural heritage of the nation for the benefit and 
     inspiration of the public.


           Title II--National Park Centennial Challenge Fund

       Establishes in the Treasury a fund to be known as the 
     National Park Centennial Challenge Fund, which will consist 
     of an annual appropriated amount equal to the qualified 
     donations received in the same fiscal year not to exceed $100 
     million for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2018. The fund 
     will be used for signature projects identified as ones that 
     will help prepare the National Parks for another century of 
     conservation, preservation and enjoyment.


          Title III--Second Century Infrastructure Investment

       Provides a mandatory appropriation of $300 million to the 
     National Park Service Construction Account for each of fiscal 
     years 2016 through 2018, to correct deficiencies in National 
     Park Service infrastructure and facilities.


        Title IV--Centennial Land Management Investment Program

       Establishes in the Treasury a fund to be known as the 
     Centennial Land Management Investment Fund, consisting of a 
     mandatory appropriation equal to $100 million for each of 
     fiscal years 2016 through 2018. The Secretaries of the 
     Interior and Agriculture are required to establish jointly a 
     competitive program available to the four federal land 
     management agencies for projects that enhance visitor 
     services and outdoor recreational opportunities, restore 
     lands and waters, repair facilities or trails, or increase 
     energy and water efficiency.


              Title V--National Park Foundation Endowment

       Establishes in the National Park Foundation a special 
     account to be known as the Second Century Endowment for the 
     National Park Service, consisting of gifts or bequests 
     provided for this purpose. The National Park Foundation may 
     use the funds deposited in the Endowment for projects and 
     activities approved by the Secretary that further the mission 
     and purposes of the National Park Service.


          Title VI--National Park Service Second Century Fund

       Establishes in the Treasury an account to be known as the 
     National Park Service Second Century Fund, with funds 
     remaining available to the Secretary of the Interior until 
     expended and available without further appropriation. Funds 
     may only be used if matched, on a 1-to-1 basis, by nonfederal 
     donations to the National Park Service for specified projects 
     and programs
       Funds the account with two sources of funding: (1) fees in 
     addition to the daily cost of lodging or camping within a 
     unit of the national park system; and (2) funds from amounts 
     above $10.00 that are collected from purchases of the 
     lifetime pass for citizens 62 years of age or older (passes 
     would be available at the same cost as the National Parks and 
     Federal Recreational Lands Pass).


           Title VII--National Park Next Generation Stewards

               NPS Interpretation and Education Authority

       Provides clear authority for the interpretation and 
     education work of the National Park Service by consolidating 
     a number of disparate authorities currently used.
       Directs the Secretary of the Interior to ensure that 
     management of National Park System units and related areas is 
     enhanced by the availability and utilization of a broad 
     program of the highest quality interpretation and education.

                     Public Lands Corps Amendments

       Raises the age limit for participation in the Public Lands 
     Corps from 25 to 30. This section also would provide non-
     competitive

[[Page 17512]]

     hiring status to a former Public Lands Corps member from the 
     current 120 days after the member's service is completed to a 
     period of up to two years.

                          Volunteers in Parks

       Removes the $3.5 million authorization ceiling for the 
     Volunteers in the Parks to accommodate the funding needed to 
     support this growing program.


  Title VIII--National Park Service Visitor Service Management Program

       Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to establish the 
     National Park Service Visitor Services Management Authority 
     (VMSA) to award and manage contracts for the operation of 
     commercial visitor services programs and activities.
       Authorizes the establishment of a VSMA operating board, a 
     director of the VSMA, and the hiring of staff.
       Authorizes the use of funds collected by the VSMA from the 
     contracts awarded to be available for expenditure by the VSMA 
     in furtherance of the purposes of the law.


                    Title IX--Intellectual Property

       Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to enter into 
     agreements for the creation of reproductions of a museum 
     object in which the object and its intellectual property 
     rights are under the control of the Secretary. The agreements 
     may include provisions for the collection of fees or 
     royalties, which can be retained and used by the park or 
     repository where the museum object is held.


                   Title X--National Park Foundation

       Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior and the Director 
     of the National Park Service as ex officio members of the 
     National Park Foundation board.
       Authorizes appropriations of $25 million for each of fiscal 
     years 2016 through 2026 to National Park Foundation, and 
     prohibits the use of these finds for administrative expenses 
     of the Foundation.

                          ____________________