with 18 opponents in the primary for republicans. 18.ent through all everything he has done up to today, they have doubted, they they haven'town, given him any cred >>it the house is coming in momentarily. remind you canhi all our "washington journal" program and coverage from north korea and the summit online at c-span.org. the hoe is coming in next. they are going to spend the week focusing on anti-opioid abuse legislation. two dozen bills on the calendar for today. also a note that vice president mike pence tweeting about an hour ago that he'll be at the capitol briefing republican members, house and senate, on

the u.s.-north korea summit. we'll keep you posted on any comments. may hear some from the hou floor. take you there live now here on c-span. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain, rabbi steven i. rein. the chaplain: sovereign of t universe, how majestic is your name and wonders what is humidity that you mindful of us. we standard in awe before the beauty and majesty of your work and humbled in a world so diverse, you breathe your spirit into each individual soul. god, be sfow your wisdom and strength upon these members of the house of representatives to

dream big, securing the future of this great nation. may you also great the distinguished body the courage and compassion to dream small as they represent the distinct needs of their constitnts, ever mindful of the citizens they serve. as irvg berlin did 100 years ago, we pray that god bless america and i would add may god uniquely bless each and every one of us. amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings combem and announces to the house her approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, forjournal stands approved. what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. poe: pursuant to clause 1 rule 1 i demand a vote on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on agreeing of the speake approval of the journal. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the journal stands approved.

mr. poe: mr. speaker, i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and make a point of order that a quorum s not present. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18 -- pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. the pledge of allegiance will be led by ms. chew. ms. chu: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. indivisible with liberty and stice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise today to thank my colleagues in the house for standing up and recognizing that

we get serious about the opioids epidemic that is plaguing america. in 2016, over 2,000 americans died from opioid oh dose and 5,000 from florida alone. we can no longer be satisfied with lip service about this problem. over the next two weeks, we will be voting on the crackdown of dangerous synthetic drugs through our postal system and strict enforcement sys r battling addiction and give law enforcement the tools they need to get the drugs out of our communities and increase medical research on alternatives to opioids pain medication. policeancommunity leaders in my district have made it clear, they need our help. t's time to tackle the opoid epidemic head on and i believe we are finally committed to doing exactly that. i urge all my colleagues to support these bipartisan bills. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. ee: i se to congratulate the nba champions, my home team the gn state warriors. the world watched as the warriors swept the cleveland cavaliers and claimed their title. d kevin eff curry durant the warriors cemented their dynasty. the team is an example showing

if you can work together you can accomplish anything. these finals against the cleveland cavaliers were a thrill to watch. we saw basketball at its best and incredible talent and real passion from boths. thank you to the warriors. this remarkable team made history as one of the best ever. i extend my thanks to steve kerr for his leadership and the warriors' organization. the bay area is celebrating our remarkable team in my beautiful city of oakland and i know my late mother, who was a loyal warriors' fan is smili on us. go warriors. nation.nd and go dubs

mr. poe: more americans gave their lives in the hellish trench warfare than in the wars of korea and vietnam combined. americans will be reminded of theour dow boys in each letter they write. the united states postal service will release a new stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of victory. the stamp did he pictures the soldier of the american expeditionary force and one of four million who answered our nation's call. they didn't come back until it was over over there. mr. speaker, this stamp serves

to honor the millions who fought during the great war. because the worst casualty of war is to be forgotten. and that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? ms. pelosi: i ask unanimous consent to address the houseo one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. pelosi: i'm very delighted to join my colleague from the bay area, congresswoman lee in wearing the blue and the gold to celebrate the new american dynasty, the golden state warriors. on frid,asou patrolly know the warriors swept the great team, the cleveland cavaliers led by lebron james. what a magnificent athlete, all the more making the victory so sweet to secure that 2018 nba

championship, their third title in three years. this historic achievement secures golden state's position as not only the best team in the sport, but extraordinary force in ushering a new era of professional basketball and transforming the future of the sport. the golden state warriors are distinguished by their talen and extraordinary team work. the 2018 warriors played with exception alchemist try and brilliance on the court dazzling america with their true strength numbers, green, curry and thompson, durant played with skill, strength and determination each making history in their own way. golden state continues to make the bay area and america proud with their leadership both on and off court l by

extraordinary coach kerr, indestruct i believe he is, the warriors honors our american values of equality, fairness and respect for all with their words and their actions. it gives me great pride to be a member of dubs nation. we are members of dubs nation and extend my corner gratlations and extend an invitation to the warriors to come to the capitol to celebrate this historic accomplishment. on behalf of san francisco, e well deserved congratulations to the golden state warriors and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> i rise to address the house for one minimum and stepped my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise today because after six months it's clear that tax reform is working for the

american people. since president trump signed the tax cuts and jobs act into law in december, we have seen americans reap the benefits of a growing economy. the numbers don't lie. here are a few of the things we have seen in the last six months. one million jobs has been created. unemployment rate is the lowest in 18 years and consumer confidence is high. the nay sarecan continue to claim that tax reform isn't rking, but given these numbers, i find it hard to believe. it is helping america to be the best place in the world to do business and i continue to do the work in the house to give americans the opportunity to succeed in this thriving economy. thank u. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for -- address does --

the house -- the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition? mr. paulsen: permisoto address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. millions of americans donate blood each year. every two seconds someone in america needs blood and one person's blood donation can save as many as three lives in a crisis. a singlr accident victim could require 100 pints of blood. it cannot be mufd bu only come from volunteer donors. or help cancer patients transplant recipients. steve scalise needed as many as 20 pints of blood on the day he was shot. he is hosting a blood drivthis week. and i would encourage all of those to have the opportunity to donate blood this week and doing it in honor of world donor day on june 14. i encourage all of those that

are eligible to make an effort to donate blood, to do so because blood donors are life savers. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: are there any further one-minute requests? pursuant to clause 8, rule 20, the chair will postponefurther proceedings on motions to suspend the rules on which a record vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or votes object jegg to under clause 6 of rule 20. the house will resume questions on postponed proceedings at a later time. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. as amended. the speakeo tempore: clerks will report the title of the bill. the clerk: a bill to require the surgeon general to submit to congress a report on the effect of public health of the increased use of synthetic

drugs. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from ohio, mr. latta, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. mr. latta: i ask unanimous consent thatbe may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on the record on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. latta: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. latta: i rise today to express my strong support for h.r. 449 the synthetic drug awareness act of 2018. synthetic drugs such as bath salts are produced in the lab that could have structures to enhance the naturally occurng drug. fentanyl is a substance that 50 times more potent than hernan 100 times more potent than

morphine. this is to circumvent the f.d.a. drug regime. that is why h.r. 449 is so important because it requir a report to congress on the public health effects of synthetic drug use among youth. i thank my colleague from new york for his hard work along with representative chris collins, g.k. butterfield and trey gowdy. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. entman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i reserve such time as i may consume. the opioid crisis has left no one untouched. every age, sex, race and socioeconomic has seen the weight of the epidemic and the disastrous effects it has on the lives of our nation. as this grows, we have seen an

increase in the number of children who are suffering from opioid overdoses, a study published found the number of children admitted to hospitals has nearly doubled since 2004. another study found that kids between 12 and 17 accounted for 60% of the opioid oh doses. in 2016, nearly 4,000 children and young adults between 5 and 24 years old died from an over dose. and i support h.r. 449. this bipartisan legislation would require the surgeon general to report on the public health impacts of synthetic drug use and abuse of adolescents between 12 and 18. the reports have produced some of the most preemnept public health data on the nation's health crisis from health cris adverse consequences of tobacco

and hiv-aids and violence. this is an important bill because it will allow the surgeon general to show the impact of theouth pulation ghlihe need for increased prevention efforts in the future. this bill like the bills we are considering today, helps raise awareness and helps us to chart a path forwad in addressing this epidemic. . i'm concernedhathe bills not consider in total do go far enough to provide resources necessary for a epidemic of this 345g any tude. weust ensure peopl have access to treatment and the bills the house will debate this week do nodo enough to expand treatment for millions suffering from this crisis. additionally, mr. speaker, i would be remiss if i did not also acknowledge that republicans' ongoing efforts to repeal the affordable care act, gut medicaid, and take away critical protection force people

with pre-existing conditions would have a devastating impact on people who suffer from opioid substance abuse. when discussing the opioid crisis on the floor this week, i urge my colleagues to remember that protecting and expanding access to care is the most critical piece of the puzzle. any efforts to roll back the affordable care act such as anot republican attempt to repeal the a.c.a. and gut medicaid will hurt those who need it most w that said i'm pleased to report h.r. 449 and the other bills we'll consider on the suspension of the rules today. i reserve the balance of my time. and i'm now happy to yield to my colleague from new york, mr. jefferies, the sponsor of h.r. 449 as much time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. jefferies: thank the distinguish gentleman, the ranking member, mr. pallone, for yielding and for his leadership on this issue. i also want to thank congressman latta, as well as chairman greg walden and my colleagues, chris collins, tray gowdy, and g.k.

butterfield who all were sponsors of this legislation. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 449, the synthetic drug awareness act. h.r. 449 address as critical and sometimes overlooked threat, the use of synthetic drugs by teenagers. it requires the surgeon general to prepare a report on the public health effects of synthetic drug use by individuals aged 12 to 18 rought america. with the information the study will provide, congress can work to prevent substance abuse by younger americans through an enhanced and enlightened lens. the opioid crisis has ravaged families across the country without regard to zip code, income, race, religion, or gender. unfortunately, this public is now taking

ways of our ious nation's young people. throughout the country, the drug overdose death rate has more than doubled during the past decade amongst younger americans. this troubling phenomenon in part results from the rise and availabilit of potent and dangerous substances like illicit fentanyl and synthetic marijuana, drugs that fall within the category covered by his legislation. fentanyl, for instance, can be 50 to 100 times stronger than opioids, heroin, or morphine. fentanyl, for instance, teenage fentanyl use, for instance, is a vicious cycle. adolescence have a still developing free frontal -- prefrontal cortex whi can facilitate drug seeking behavior. the drug alters the development of this area of the brain, making that behavior determine. -- permanent.

the majority o adults who develop a substance abuse disorder or addiction begin using before they are 18 years old. in order to address the multifaceted public health crishat the opioid epidemic represents, we must consider both the cause and the effect. advancing this legislation has been a collaborative process and i greatly appreciate the hard work of all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. i encourage my colleagu support h.r. 449. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from new jersey serves. without objection, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, will control the remainder of the time for the majority, the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. our work on the house floor today is the culmination of more than a year's effort to craft legislation in the energy and commerce committee that will save lives and help stem the tide of the opioid crisis that struck at the health of our

people wherever they live in america. in my oregon district i have held multipletabl ro ssions with parents. with those addicted and those addicted. he i have talked with law enforcement officials and emergency room physicians. i have sought the counsel and the advice of those who are closest to addicted. i have talked with law enforcement officials this nati problem, and i have worked with my colleagues to carefully craft legislation that responds to the need and to their suggestions. the headlines, we know they are everywhere. they tell the tragic stories of loved ones gone far too soon. we're confronting an addiction that mercilessly seizes control and then destroys. this killer doesn't discriminate. not by age, not by race, not by where you live, or what you believe. we're here because opioid addiction continues to take the lives of more than 100 people in

america each and every day. these are real people in all of districts. people like amanda. just this past january amanda was seeking relief from the pain surrounding her mental illness. she ended up dying from an overdose of fentanyl. her father bravely shared his family's story with our committee. hoping that their loss would help spur congress to modernize federal laws. it is for the young people like amanda and her parents, people like amanda who tragically lost their bright futures that we come together today to advance so many bipartisan pieces of .egislation and it is for families like hers, the ones who are left behind with the heartbreak of a loss so many of. and us could never comprehend, that we will not rest until we have won the fight against the opioid addiction.

from passage of the comprehensive addiction recovery act known as cara and the 21st century cures act last congress under the able leadership of chairman fred upton, to the $4 billion in new funding passed earlier this year by this congress, we have worked long and hard to help families and communities in despair. last fall, the health subcommittee chairman, mr. burgess of texas, invited all members of the u.s. house to come before his health subcommittee and to share their best ideas on how to combat this crisis. we heard from more than 50 members, republicans and democrats alike. this spring the energy and commerce committee held a series of legislative hearings examining ways to protect our communities, to boost our public health and prevention efforts, to improve treatment and care for patients of all ages and backgrounds. while the work was not always

easy, mr. speaker, your energy and commerce committee has advanced 57 different pieces of legislation to this house floor, most with unanimous support. that may well be a record for legislating on a single issue. so while the scourge of addiction looms large before us, i believe that we as a congress and we as the american people are up to this task. the bills before us are not our first efforts in this fight, and you have my word they will not be the last. but i urge my colleagues today, tomorrow, the rest of this week and next week, to support the legislation before the house. we have an opportunity to save lives, we have a responsibility to our families, friends, communities, our neighbors, and our nation to lift people out of addiction and to get america on a better path. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i have

no additional speakers. i would ask the gentleman, chairman, if he does. mr. walden: mr. speaker, we do have some additional speakers. the speaker pro temporethe me. gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: with that, mr. eaker, i would now yield three minutes to the gentlelady from virginia, mrs. comstock, who has been a real leader on this issue. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. comstock: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, chairman walden and ranking member pallone, for your leadership in working with us on a bipartisan basis for this important package. we all know the stories and have heard the stories time and again from our businesses, from our schools, from families visiting us, and we know this epidemic is hitting everybody. so i appreciate the opportunity to join together with my colleagues today to address this important issue. i rise today in support of my bill, h.r. 5473, the better pain

management through better data act, and i would like to thank representative ben ray lujan for this a me in making bipartisan effort introduction as it went through committee and now here as we're continuing to address this on the floor. this a bipartisan effort as opioid addiction we know is plaguing our communities across the country. creating victims and devastating families and creating economic ruin. long-term solutions to combating this crisis depend upon safety with existing therapies and employment of -- deployment of novel next generation therapies. we need to make sure the environment allows for greater adoption and use of less addictive treatments. this legislation will facilitate better clinical data on nonopioid attorneys so doctors have more prescribing options and feweropioids are prescribed in the first place. lowering the risk of addiction. the f.d.a. is responsible for protecting public health by

ensuring the safety and efficacy of drugs, bilogical products, and medical devices. while there may be alternatives to opioids for certain patients and conditions, there is a need for additional clarity and flexibility regarding what drug developers need to do to help reduce the need for opioids as h pain treatment reg -- regimen. this bill directs the f.d.a. to have public meetings and issue guidance to industry addressing labeling for and medical products that reduce pain and may replace, delay, or redue e use of orel opioids. this is one more effort to remove the barriers to invest aeash the full potel of bio medical expertise to address this growing crisis. this is the primary reason i'm pleased to sayur bill has the strong support of the biotechnology organization, which represents more than 1,000 business, academic institution, stateiotechnology centers, and related entities.

the experts believe this bill will stimulate renewed research and development and more effectively prevent abuse. this is a step in the right direction and allows doctors to better meet their commitment to pasheents byerable giving them both die -- patients by giving them both diverse and bert options and nonaddictive treatments for pain. i thank the house pasheents by addressing this issue and relytd find these solutions that we know are plaguing so many of our families. everywhere go we're all hearing about these stories and i'm heartened today we have joined together to provide more solutions. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: mr. speaker, we have no other speakers on this bill. with that i would encourage support of h.r. 449 and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i would also urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the amended. 449, as so many as are in favor say aye. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid pon the table. without objection, the title is amended. for what purpose does the gentleman from oren seek recognition. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5473, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5473, a bill to direct the secretary of health and human services to update or issue guidances addressing alternative methods for data collection for opioid and inclusion of such data and product labeling and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walled yep, and the gentleman

from new jersey, mr. pa len, will each control 20 mut- mr. pallone, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the record on the bill. the speaker o tempore: without objection. mr. walledon: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without i rise to speain fav this legislation. i thank representatives comstock and lujan for their leadership. this would develop products that reduce, replace or prevent the use of opioids. specifically this legislation plic meeting and update the ld a guidance on data that can be used to support updated product labeling and claims. for many americans, dealing with a chronic or acute pain, there are limited alternatives to op yoids.

but there may be therapeutic alternatives that do not share the same risks. this bill will facilitate the process of getting information to providers and patients at a critical juncture in their treatment. by reducing the need, we can stop addictionefore it starts and we can save countless lives in the process. i urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this commonsense noncontroversial measure. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i yield myself such time as as i may consume. i rise in support of h.r. 5473, legislation offered by my colleagues, representatives, lieu hahn and comstock. it would provide greater clarity regarding the studies that should be cuggetted for making claims on the labeling of medical products that they may

replace, delay or reduce the use of opioids. this is practical legislation that i think it would encourage manufacturers to determine how we can identify for providers and patients medical prots that can serve as alternatives to the use of opioids for purposes of pain treatment. i urge my colleagues to vote in support of h.r. 5473 and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from oregon is ecognized. mr. walden: i have no other speakers on this legislation, so i would resevere the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon reserves. mr. pallone: i would yield now to mr. lujan, one of the sponsorsf this bl, such time as he may consume. mr. lujan: i rise in support of the better pain management

through better data act. current data collection, models raon to measure and dg clinical effectiveness are not suited to accelerate development of opioid products. this bipartisan legislion will better allow the f.d.a. to obtain the data they need to more quickly approve label claims for nonaddictive pain medications. i have seen this 100 times, but we must work with our pharmaceutical partners and f.d.a. to make sure that patients across the cotry have nonaddict i have pain management options. i come from a blue collar district with ranchers where wear and tear on the body is inevitable and unrealistic to think we won't have people who need access to pain therapies. this bill is another step forward in making sure that everyone has more options to

treat pain. while we are talking about nonaddictive pain medications and how important they are to break the cycle of addiction, i direct my comments to the pharmaceutical manufacturers who are developing or plan to develop drugs in this space. this i important. we need you to be innovative and adepress i have. that being said, i'm starting to be concerned regarding the cost of these drugs. let me put this in plain english, i'm worried that the people living in different parts of america may be able to afford these drugs but while families that are struggling and worrying how to make that family budget work, that they are going to be left out. if people can't afford these therapies and these treatments, they aren't going to make bi of difference. we cannot trade another layer of people who can afford

medications and therapies and people who cannot and especially when this issue is so important. all nonaddictive pain medications must be affordable, accessible and high quality. i appreciate the hard work of the committee staff, chairman walden and ranking member pallone and all the sakeholders who helped get this bill to the finish line. thispi facing too many new mexicans and americans to not think about long-term strategies to prevent opioid use disorder in the future. i appreate the chairman's remarks and thank you for acknowledging that this is not the end of our work. this committee has much work to do, not just with this package but into the future until we are able to help everyone fighting addiction in america. i look forward to working with

my colleagues and the administration to make a difference when it comes to addiction in our country. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: i have no further speakers on this legislation. i would urge my colleagues to support it. i commend the gentleman from new mexico and mrs.mstock from virginia for their work on this legislation and i would urge my colleagues to vote in favor of it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: i ask my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation and yield back. the speaker prore: tempo the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5473 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the ules are suspended and the bill s passed and without objection

to reconsider is laid on the table. does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 3331 as amended. the clerk: h.r. 3331 a bill to amend title 11 of the social security act to promote testing of incentive payments for behavioral health providers for adoption and use of certified electronic health technology. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each will control 20 minutes. mr. walden: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous on the bill including a a exchange of letters between the energy and commerce committee and committee on ways and means. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i want t commend representative

jenkins who is going to speak in a moment a representative matsui and representative mullin and others for working together. h.r. 3331 will open an opportunity to accelerate the use of electronic health records for behavioral health providers. behavioral health providers were left out of the h.i.t. tech incentives leading to lower rate of adoption and creating a gap to a point where it is most needed. if there is one place you don't want a data dope in care provided is those who south care and the doctors don't know about it. no patient should face the risk of being rerouted to opioids because their provider did not have the full picture a patient's history. during the thorough legislative process we had, the energy and commerce committee engaged to get here today.

we have heard from several witnesses and stakeholders on the importance of better utilizing technology. it's a natural step that the ccmi connect health care providers with the rest of the community. and i urge support of the passage of h.r. 3331 and with that, i would yield three minutes to the gentlelady from kansas, ms. jenkins, who has been a real leader. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. jenkins: i thank the gentleman for yielding and his leadership. i rise to express strong support improving access to behavioral technology act. our nation finds itself in a mental health and opioid crisis and congress must do all it can to ensure that providers have the tools they need to effectively treat their parets. toward that end, together with representative matsui and mullin, i introduced this

bipartisan legislation, which would authorize the center for medicaid and mecare innovation for behavioral health care providers. by utilizing electronic health records, they can better coordinate care, support and delivery of treatment and help to fully integra recovery and prevention services for all americans. this legislation takes the critical step of bringing mental health and ation treatment into the 21st century while reducing spending and expanding access to those underserved areas including rural in my home state of kansas. i hope we will get this bill to the president's desk as quickly as possible. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. mr. walden: i resevere. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized.

mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise in support of h.r. 33331 sponsored by representatives jenkins and matsui. i would like to yield to representative matsui such time as she may consume and submit my complete statement for the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. matsui: thank you, mr. speaker, and i thank mr. pallone for yielding to me. while i believe we need to do a lot more to combat the opoid and addiction epidemic i'm pleased with the specific steps being taken today to help communities. i rise in support of legislation i co-authored with congresswoman lynn jenkins on h.r. 3331. in order to solve the root causes of addiction, we need

more access to behavioral health in our communities. and we need to treat mental illness and substance abuse disorder like diseases which means integrating care into the health care system. means treating a person as a whole person, physical and mental health conditions interplay and should be treated as such. cannot have a truly interrogated system if behavioral health providers don't have electronic health records. we must harness the power of technology to improve accessibility of behavioral health treatment particularly in underserved communities. this bipartisan bill will incentive behavioral health providers to adopt electronic health record technology. the senate version of the bill led by senators whitehouse and portman passed by unanimous consent last plont. i hope we can continue the

momentum around this legislation with passage of h.r. 3331 today. before i close, i want to reiterate how important it is for my republican colleagues to do more. we need to protect and expand medicaid build on a.c.a. successes and access to behavioral health care and fund treatment efforts in our local communities. we have a long ways to go. this is a really good start. and implore my colleagues to work with us as we go forward. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i have no other speakers. an i resevere. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: i have no other ears i would urge support for the legislation and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i thank members on both sides of the aisle for their good work on

this legislation, i urge passage and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 33 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: i move the house suspend the res and ps the amended. 8244 as the clerk: a bill to establish a federal coordinator within the department of health and human services and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to

insert extraneous material on the record into the bill. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to express my strong the indexing narcotics, fentanyl and opioids act of 2018 known as the info act. now this legislation will facilitate the linking of nationwide health strategies to combat the crisis into one place as well as create an interagency coordinating committee to review and coordinate research, services and prevention activities across all relevant federal agencies. this is going to be a tremendous resource for patients, families and for our local communities and the leaders there. i want to thank my colleague om ohio, mr. latta in this initiative. we have heard people fm people i don't know where to access and

can't you do something. and that's where mr. latta who chairs our subcommittee rose to thchallenge and put togeth ths piece of legislation. and with that, i would yield three minutes to the gentleman from ohio to discuss the importance of this really important piece of legislation. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. latta: thank you very much. i thank the chairman of the committee fundraise all his hard work and shepherding the 52 bills we got through committee. i thank him for that. i thank him for helping on this piece of legislation today. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 4283, the info act, infections narcotics feanyl and opioid act. in ohio we experienced some of the worst of the crisis. in a 12-month period ending june 30 of last year, 5,232 lives were lost due to overdoses. that's a 39% increase from the

previous year and three times the national average. in talking with my constituents across the district, i learned that to make a real difference in the lives of those who are struggling with addiction, we need to get more data, information, and fundin into the hands of the right people. that's exactly the info act does. it creates a public dashboard consisting of a comprehensive information and data on natiwide efforts to combat the opioid crisis. establishing this one-stop-shop makes it easier for advocates, health care providers, and state and local governments to assess the federal funding opioid abuse and the best practices for treatment. due to this crisis, we're losing 115 americans a day across this nation. the time to act is now. i urge my colleagues to support the passage of this legislation. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time.

i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. walden: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 4284, the infections narcotics fentanyl and opioid act or info act. the opioid crisis a complex issue that requires an all hands on deck approach. communities across the nation are being ravaged by this crisis and being are workrdinha to find ways to stop it. th 115 people dying everyday opioid overdose, communities could benefit from sharing effective interventions to decrease overdose deaths and having one stop access to federal resources including grant funding announcements available to support their efforts. the info act would create a central repository for nformation and programs within

h.h.s. related to the reduction of opioid abuse and other substance use disorders, as well as how communities nationwide are tackling the opioid epidemic. h.h.s. related to the reduction of opioid abuse and in this way folks across the country can work together and learn from one another. this easy accessible electronic public dashboard would allow for strategies to combat this crisis to be shared and serve as the resource to patients, loved ones, or those with opioid use disorder and local communities. the info act also would establish an interactcy substance use disorder coordinating committee to help coordinate response efforts to the opioid epidemic within h.h.s. so i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: i reserve. we have no other speakers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i have no additional speakers. so i would yield the balance of my time and urge my colleagues to support this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from new jersey yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. lden: thank you, speaker. i, too, would encourage our colleagues to support this fine piece of legislation. again, commend its authors for doing the good work that will help so many in our districts. with that i urge mr. speaker. i, too, support and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon yields. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 4284, as amended. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. without objection, the title is amended. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i move the house now suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 4684, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4684, a bill to direct the secretary of health and human services, acting through the director ofhe center for substance abuse treatment of the substance abuse and mental health services

administration, to publish and disseminate best practice force operating a recovery housing, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the ant to the rule, gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and insert heir remarks and extraneous materials into the record on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walden: i thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of my strong support to express my strong support for h.r. 4684. this is the ensuring access to quali sober living act 2018. this legislation will require the department of health and human services to develop a disseminate best practice force operating recovery housing. we heard a lot about these issues in the course of our investigation and in our legislative work. recently an increasing number of

reports have revealed the nefarious practice of patient brokering. this is where individuals known as patient brokers, treatment men and women with substance use disorder as a commodity. that's right, mr. speaker. s a commodity. they push them to seek treatment at certain they push them to seek treatment at certain outpatient facilities and to live at afailated recovery residences while undergoing treatment. in exchange for that, for steering patients towards specific facilities and housing, patient brokers then receive generous financial kickbacks. oftentimes the residents and treatment center involved in the kick back scheme lack any oversight, transparency, or accountability. so this legislation will help ensure that recovery residences maintain safe and supportive environments for those who are in recovery. like to thank my california colleagues, judy chu, mimi walters, and raul louise, along with our florida representative, gus bilirakis, for addressing this impor issue and

bringing thisegislation to the committee and us bringing it to the floor. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlem is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 4684, the ensuring access to quality sober living act of 2018. introduced by representative chu. this bilwould require the department of health and human services to with stakeholders, including individuals with substance use disorders and recovery housing groups, to develop best practices for operating recovery housing. the energy and commerce committee's bipartisan investigation into disreputable sober homes and associated patient brokers and treatment facilities has made clear we must do more to ensure that individuals with opioid use disorder are not being taken advantage of by entities seeking to treat such individuals as commodities rather than people

in need of treatment. in fact, in far too many instances these homes and providers offered no treatment at all. in other instances where treatment is offered, only provided to increase the provider's profits. in the worst instances these rogue providers go so far as to help individuals stop their illicit use of opioids for the duration of their insurance limit for a given treatment service only to supply opioids to these same individuals after 24er released so they can relapse and their insurance once again can be milked for the duration of the benefit limit. such providers are not only harmful to patients trying stop their illicit use of recovery, the substandard treatment also costs many individuals their lives. mr. speaker, our investigation also has recovery, the substandard treatment also costs many individuals their lives.

mr. speaker, our investigation also has revealed that individuals with opioid use disorder and their families are particularly susceptible to such schemes because there is not adequate information available to help them determine whether a facility is a quality provider of recovery housing or to detect the fraudulent intent of such actors. many rely on bad information obtained through internet searches or questionable referrals from individuals who are actually patit broks and deliver patients to the highest bidding sober home or treatment provider. the bill before us in the ensuring access to quality sober living act aims to prevent the often tragic consequences of the patient brokering schemes that send individuals to low quality sober homes and treatment providers. i want to thank ms. chu for all these done to move this bill. this legislation requires health and human service in coordination with the department of housing and urban development and with stakeholders to establish best practices that will aid states in establishing standards for the recovery houses, help recovery housing providers in establishing and maintaining housing that meets the highest quality standards of

service delivery, and help individuals and their families identify what to look for in a quality provider recovery housing. i serve the balance of my ort time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. without objection, the gentleman from texas will control the remainder of the te. the gentleman from -- for the majority. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. burgess: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. burgess: thank you. mr. speaker, this is -- we heard about this issue in both the tommibcee that i chair as well as the oversight investigation subcommittee on as well as the oversight investigation subcommittee on energy and commerce. chaired by mr. greg harper. we had a round table of family family who had lost members to the opioid crisis and really they spoke very eloquently about thisssue.

twn particular stand out, gale smith and lisa daniels. both mothers who had lost sons to the opioid crisis. both sons were --had been brokered into recovery homes that really didn't have their timaely succumbed to their disease of addiction. this is a significantly important legislation. i obviously encourage all of my colleagues to be supportive. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield such time as she may consume to the sponsor of the legislation, ms. chu. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. chu: mr. speaker, i rise today tourge support for h.r. 4684, the ensuring access to quality sober living act. we work to address our nation's opioid crisis, it's important that we address recovery in addition to treatment and prevention. addiction is a lifelong

seeking and after treatment individual suffering from addiction need stable living environments, mental health services, and pier support to maintain their -- peer support to main thin their sow bright. i introduced this -- sobriety. i introduced this bill because of my constituent ryan hanson. he was a white house intern who was succeeding in college and had his whole life ahead of him n his early 20's he broke his knee hiking and was prescribed opiates for the pain. he became dependent on prescription drugs. he was labeled a drug seeker and was discharged from medical care. unfortunatel ts did nothing to address his addiction and without seeing any other options, he turned to heroin. within a few months, ryan was homeless and living on the streets. it wasn't until after he overdosed that ryan got the help he needed and after he recovered, ryan eventually found -- was able to be in a treatment

center. he told me he considered himself one of the lucky ones. by the time i met ryan, he was a year and a half sober and an active advocate for the recovery community and he used his second chance to speak on behalf of others battling this devastating addiction. people like his friend tyler. tyler was living in a sober living home, recovery residence of a heroin overdose. sober homes are a great resource for those newly out of treatment and provide a safe and stable living environment to help people transition back into their lives without addiction. sober homes have an added responsibility because the risk of overdose for those individuals can be the highest while in recovery. unfortunately, some sober homes can be unequipped to at-risk patients or do not employ staff with specialty training for individuals in recovery. sadly, some of these facilities are bad actors that do not encourage recovery but exploit

vulnerable individuals recently released from treatment in order to collect insurance payments. for example, tyler's home didn't have naloxone on site a drug th counteract an overdose. outraged and heartbroken, ryan came to me to seek a solution. people like tyler who do everything right to get themselves sober should know that they can trust the sober living homes and others they rely on for support. . we worked on a business to create best practices as well as standards for sober living facilities. i cannot express my pride enough when just a few years after azick sh f him on the street, ryan came before congress to testify in front of the subcommittee on health to share his story and encourage investment in recovery, the way we are investing in prevention and treatment.

that is what h.r. 4684 would do, which would allow the health and human services to establish best practices that sober homes could adopt so individuals in treatment and their families can help differentiate the bad actors from the good. these chmark wtake into account existing standards developed by the national alliance for recovery residences such as requiring all fees and charges be explained to ress dents. as ryan said in his congressional testimony, not aving the drug in our hands is like not having life boats on a ship. it would technical assistance to states so that the recovery community has the support it needs. unfortunately, tyler's story isn't unique. i have heard from advocates in arizona, pennsylvania, missouri and ohio and countless others

with concern for their friends and neighbors. that's why i'm so thrilled to have h.r. 4684 on the floor here today. we need to stand behind those who want to complete treatment and ensure that the homes that they live in are able to meet their needs. i thank representtives, lee, walter and bilirakis as original co-sponsors of this bill and supporting it during their work on the energy and commerce committee. i ue y colleagues to support this bill. thank you. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. burgess: i recognize a valuable member of the energy and commerce committee and muslimmy walters.

>> i rise in support of the sober living to access act. the need for legitimate treatment facilities. southern california is home to over 1,100 licensed facilities and countless unlicensed sober living homes, many of which engaged in activities that exploit patients and endanger communities. some engage inpatient brokering while they fail to treat the underlying cause putting patients at risk of relaps. this would require the department of health and human services to establish best practices for sober living homes to ensure patients receive high quality care. this bill would put an end to fraudulent behavior and unethical practices conducted by some sober living homes while helping those to rebuild and

claim their lives. i thank congresswoman chu for her important work on this issue and i urge my colleagues to support this bill and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i have no additional speakers. i would urge my colleagues to support this bill and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields. the gentleman fromexas. mr. burgess: i urge support and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass t bill h.r. 4684 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended. the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. without objection, the title is amended. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek

recognition? mr. burgess: i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5002. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: a bill to expand the uniqueesrch initiative authorities of the national institutes of health. the speaker pro tempore: pursuanto the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. burgess and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone each will control 20 minutes. mr. burgess: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative ds to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill. i yield myself such time as i may consume. today, i rise to express my support for h.r. 5002, the advancing cutting edge research act. this important bill gives the national institutes of health a critical tool to help combat the opioid crisis by giving the director more flexibility to

conduct innovative research and pur innovative research on new nonaddictive pain medications. the national institutes of health will be able to paner withnnate compies with cutting-edge technology to address the crisis and other public health threats. i do want to thank colleagues from michigan, representatives dingell and fred upton for leading this important nirblettive. and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: i rise in support of h.r. 5002 the advancing cutting edge act. this bill would grant n.i.h. the authority that allows flexibility in entering into agreements for cutting-edge

research that can lead to increased understanding of revention, diagnosis including substance abuse disorder and to respond to a public health threat. i urge my colleagueto support this legislation. i commend representative dingell for her leadership on this bill. and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. burgess: at this time, i would like to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from michigan, mr. upton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. up up we rise today in support of -- mr. upton: we rise in support of this bill and efforts to combat this terrible opioids epidemic that has ravaged every community across the country and a lot of

families. we know someone that is impacted by this epidemic and my corner of the state is no different than any other part of the country. we are struggling and there had been realartisa wins in recent years to address the problem. kara, as chairman walden said earlier, as part of 21st century cures provided billions of dollars for communitfor those and delivering real results to those that are suffering. butclearly, more work is demanded and remains. this bill, the ace research act is part of that work and bipartisan bill that i had the privilege to work with my good colleague and friend, debbie dingell. it allows the national institutes of health to partner with the innovative companies doing cutting-edge researcho get nonaddictive pain medication to those in need.

that's what this bill does and essential in combatting the opioid epidemic. francis collins, the director of requested himself that the n.i.h. be given the flexibility to pursue these new avenues and we had dinner with frances collins and he was excited to see it scheduled on the house floor. the advances in innovation can offer the real hope to those that are suffering. folks in michigan across the country are counting on the power of innovation to help us solve the opioid crisis. let's give them what they deserve and pass this legislation. i look forward getting it to the president's desk. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: i would yield to

mrs. dingell such time as she may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. dingell: thank you, ranking ember pallone for yielding and thank you chairmanor this bill to the floor. i rise in support of my gition h.r. 5002, the a.c.e. research act which i author with my dear colleague and friend fred upton. i have lived on all sides of the opioid epidemic. my father was edithed to opioids before anyone knew what it was or before anybody talked about it. my sister died of a drug overdose and my husband lives in chronic pain and because there are no alternative drugs that are safe for him to take, he pain.es opioids for his

we cannot let the pendulum swing too far in either direction and we need to find medication for thosth need it. 25 million americans suffer from pain every single day. and while pain may not be the fifth vital sign, it is still a major ise that needs to be addressed in modern medicine. we cannot stigma advertise people who legitimately suffer from real pain. that will only make the opioid epidemic worse. if you have livomeone in chronic pain, you know how complicated this is. ople in chronic is are being stigma advertised that will allow them to live a decent life. people are concerned that they aren't going to be able to get medicine to takef their pain. and here's a reality,

nonjopeyoid like tylenol or motrin come with serious side effects especially those who take them every day. one thing we can agree we need morality niffs to opioids in this country. this way we can ge peopl the relief they need while not subjecting them to the rick of addiction. this is going to require a lot of work and a lot of research to accomplish, which is why it is so essential that this work begin now. he a.c.e. research act spurs innovative into nonopioid medications that will lead to the next break delue and bring pen benefits to patients. this gives to the dictor what is known as other transaction authority so the n.i.h. will

easily partner with innovative companies who are working with cutting-edge technology to address the opioid drug crisis and other public health threats. and congressional testimony earlier this year, n.i.h. director frances collins said that giving the agency this authority would improve their ability to do the research into alternatives. well, we heard that and that's what we are trying to today. it's what we are delivering on. there are so many people focused on the opioid epidemic these days but many small startup companies are hesitant to partner with the federal government because the terms of a grant or contract are too rigid and no other options are available to them. this will ensure that n.i.h. is able to partner with real innovators on real research.

this bill is going to ensure that we leave no stone uncovered. by funding research on new treatments quicker, we are ensuring we are going to reach patients faster and a future th more effective nonopioid, nonaddictive drugs is a future that we all want. that is something we all agree on. i thank my friend and colleague, fred upton, fororking withe on this. this is the first step in ensuring we are doing the best research. and i also want to thank our chairman and our ranking members and all the members for making today the first step. i know too well what the pain is across this country. and what we are doing today is a beginning. we need to work together in a bipartisan way to address what

is hu fs across this country. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting h.r. 5002 and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. burgess: mr. speaker, let me yield myself one minute. mr. speaker, i want to wholeheartedly agree with the comments we just hrd from the gentlelady from michigan. it is imperative that we guard against the pendulum swinging too far in either direction. one of the very first hearings i attended as t newest member of the energy and commerce subcommittee on health in 2005 was a hearing on why do not doctors prescribe adequate pain relief for their patients who are in pain. now we fast forward today. the significant number of drug overdose deaths, many of those

attributed to oipiates, that this country has seen ith past several years and it's clearly important the committee it's important that in doing something we do not further damage those people who are stable and depending upon a pain medication regimen that works for them, but goi forward, we need to find, if we can, a way out of this predicament in the future for future patients. i'll reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman fromexas reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i have no additional speakers. does the chairman have any? then, i will urge support for this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. burgess: urge support of the legislation and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5002. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: mr. speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5800. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5800, a bill to require the medicaid and chip payment and aescommission to conduct an exploratory study and report on requirements applicable to and practices of institutions for mental diseases under the medicaid program. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: well, thank you, mr. speaker, and i ask unanimous consent that all legislative days revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the record on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection.

mr. walden: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. this bill, sponsored by my colleagues, representative upton, walters, blackburn and myself, requires the medicaid and chip payment access commission, known as mac-pac, to submit to congress by january 1, 2020, a report about the services furnished to medicaid enrollees who are patients in an i.m.d. that's an institute of mental disease. as we know, an a.i.m.d. is a facility of more than -- an i.m.d. is a facility of more than 16 beds that provides diagnosis, treatment, or care of persons with mental diseases, including treatment for individuals with substance use disorder. now, since the 1960's, medicaid's i.m.d. exclusion has limited the circumstances under which federal medicaid matching funds are available for

inpatient mental health care. this means that medicaid beneficiaries with mental health or substance use disorders, they are staff torle barred -- statutorily barred from receiving care in an i.m.d. and while medicaid has the i.m.d. exclusion,here is reateed for this care. cording to a 2014 national sury on drug use and health, about eight million people, eight million, mr. speaker, had a mental disorder and a substance use disorder, also known as co-occurring mental and substance use disorders. so where do medicaid beneficiaries get the inpatient care they need? that's the question. first, castates provide medicaid coverage for services rendered in facilities that do not meet the definition of an i.m.d. such as facilities with 16 or fewer beds, and facilities that are not primarily engaged in providing care to individuals with mental diseases.

second, states can get a waiver to allow for i.m.d. services to be reimbursed. however, as we all know, waivers take a lot of time and not all states have them. so because of these complications, there's a great variation, and frankly little information, on i.m.d. services. hat information is lit to one g.a.o. report about types of institutional care. so the goal of this legislation is to better help congress and c.m.s. understand how current medicaid dollars are being used to provide care for patients with substance use disorder and mental health disease in an i.m.d. s bill seeks to identify gaps in our knowledge about i.m.d.'s and leverage mac-pac research capabilities to help address these gaps. sa en the broad biparti interest in ensuring patients have access to the full continuum of care, we want to ensure congress and c.m.s. understand how medicaid dollars for services are being used.

whether that's under a waiver, under managed care, or under fee for service medicaid. so thank you, mr. speaker. with that i would yield to my colleague from michigan, mr. upton, former chairman of the full committee, chair of the energy subcommittee, who was very instrumental in this legislation, three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. upton: well, thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. speaker, for the time. i'll be short. this bill's important. it's bipartisan and it ensures that patients will have access to the full continuum of care. we want to make sure that congress and c.m.s. understand how those dollars from medicaid are being used and whether that's under a waiver, whether under manage carefee for service. the goal of this legislation is to identify those gaps and to leverage mac-pac research capabilities to address those gaps for the betterment of

patients, not only in michigan, but obviously around the country. so this simply requires that meca and the chip paymen and access commission to submit to congress a report on the information about services furnished to medicaid enrollees who are patients in an institute of mental disease, i.m.d., including standards that they must follow, including quaty standards and recommendations, how they can improve the data collection for i.m.d.'s. this is going to be beortter f everybody, which is one of the reasons why it should have no opposition. i appreciate the leadership of mike burgess, the chair of the health subcommittee, and chairman walden, our friends on the other side of the aisle who, again, worked with us to make sure this could be a reality this afternoon. i urge all my colleagues to vote for this bill, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: i thank you, mr.

speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise today to speak on h.r. 5800, the institutions of mental disease additional info act. this bill will require the medicaid and chip payment access commission to conduct a comparative study to assess i.m.d. quality in stays and issue a report -- states and issue a report. we know that nearly half of all states already have or have applied for 1,115 waivers that allow for i.m.d. services to be provided to patients with substance use disorder. additional states provide i.m.d. services already to patients in medicaid through their managed care programs. it's important to understand the overall quality of institutions of mental disease that exists throughout the country. this cannot be accomplished without data on our current i.m.d.'s. this study will include information on how many

institutions for mental disease are within states, coverage limitations, services they provide, whether states have a waiver to provide such coverage for medicaid, and fundin involves of such institutions. additionally, the study will seek recommendations on how state medicaid programs can provide the standards of care provided by i.m.d.'s. additional data is obviously a good goal, particularly on i.m.d. coverage, given the controversies surrounding this issue. and so i support this legislation and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i don't believe we have any other speakers on this legislation so i'd urge its passage and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i would also urge my colleagues to support the bill and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5800. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection, the tirecons in the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: mr. speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5009, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5009, a bill to include information concerning a patients opioid addiction in certain medical records. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon,r. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the record on the bill.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walden: i rise today to express my stroportng supf h.r. 5009. jessie's law as nd written in memory of jessie grubb who tragically died of an opioid overdose in 2016. this legislation will help ensure medical professionals have access to a consenting patient's complete health information when making treatment decisions. is critical to ensure that mistakes such as the one that tragically happened to jessie never, ever, ever happen again. this bill also incorporates the language of h.r. 5695, known as emity's law, which would require the department of health and human servico develop best practices for health care providers on permitted disclosures of medical records during emergencies with families, caregivers, and other health

care providers. i want to thank my colleagues from michigan, representatives tim walberg and debbie ding deengle, for leading -- dingell, for leading this legislation and also the support of evan jenkins, carl shea-porter, vicky hartzler, mckinley. and dave they have put thoughts into solving this problem. with that i yield three minutes to the gentleman from michigan, author of this incredibly important legislation, mr. walberg. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walberg: i thank the chairman for yielding and id like to thank congresswoman debbie dingell for working with me on this bipartisan legislation. mr. speaker, i rise in support f h.r. 5009, jessie's law. everywhere i go in michigan i hear about the opioid crisis. it truly is the crisis next

door. for many of our friends and loved ones, the terrifying realities of addiction are difficult to escape. the story behind jessie's law is a tragic one. the bill is named in memory of jessie grubb, a young woman living in michigan at the time she died of an opioid overdose. jessie was training for a marathon when a running injury required her to undergo surgery. before the procedure, jessie and her parents informed the hospital that she was in recovery from addiction. however, that information never made it to her discharging physician. jessie was unknowingly discharged from the hospital with a prescription for oxy codone which ultimately led to her death. if jessie's history of addiction had been noted on her chart in a manner similar to other potentially lethal medical concerns, like a drug

allergy, jessie might still be here today. jessie's tragic story was entirely preventable and is an example of why we need commonsense legislation like jessie's law. jessie's law will require the department of health and human services to establish best practices for hospitals and physicians for sharing information about a patient's past opioid addiction when that information is willingly shared by the patients with their doctors. by ensuring medical professionals are equipped with the right processes and tools to safely treat their patients, we can prevent future overdose tragedies like jessie's. mr. speaker, the opioid crisis is devastating the dreams of a generation. let's pass jessie's law today and help save lives in our communities, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman yields back. the gentleman from oregon reserves his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 5009, and i'd like to submit my full state for the record. wiou objection. and yield to representative dingell, one of the sponsors. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. dingell: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank chairman walden for bringing the bill to the floor. i rise in support o h.r. 5009 jessie's law and i'm proud of he work i have done with tim walberg in michigan. in michigan tng to address this problem together. this story is personal to me as it is to congressman walberg and my colleagues who have gotten to

know jessie's story. it has been a moving perience to be part of a process to pass this legislation in her honor. in march of 2016, we lost this brave young woman named jessie grub, she was a great student, a loving daughter, a sister and avid runner. she was, as has been noted recovering from opioid addiction issue she moved to michigan hoping for a re-set and a better future. when she had surgery for an infection, her parents came and took care of her and made it clear to the doctors at the hospital she was a recovering addict and should not be prescribed opioids. as you have heard, she was discharged from the hospital with 50 oxycodone pills and very soon after, she suffered from a

fatal overdose. the story of jessie breaks your heart but mostly because this death was preventable. we must ensure doctors are notified when a patient has consented to sharing information relating to anddictn. jessie's law would require the u.s. department of health and human services establish best practices for ensuring that the medical professionals have full knowledge of their patient's opioid addiction if the patient gives consent. this is absolutely essential. if the patient has given consent that their history can be part of their medical record, then it should be displayed prominently. we don't know all of the facts of this case, but we know jessie's parents did tell her doctor that she had a history of addictive abuse. but it happened any way. we can't have this lost.

if a patient consents it needs to be prominently displayed. our legislation convenes a panel of stakeholders to make recommendations to how to best achieve this change including the patient with a history of opioid use disorder and expert in electronic health records and expert in the confidentiality of patient health information and records and a health care provider. jessie's death was 100% preventable and today the house of representatives is sending a strong message that her loss was not in vein. vain.other -- and this story is a real tragedy but hopefully passing jessie's law will bring hope to others throughout this country. this legislation represents a

common sense that deserves our support and i urge my colleagues to support jessie's law. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i he no further speakers and woul encourage meagu to support this legislation and thank them from michigan who brought it to our attention and brought it to the full energy and commerce commiee andring it to the floor. i urge passage and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i urge colleagues to support the legislation and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5009 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection,

the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. mr. walden: i move the house pass the bill h.r. 5041 as amended. speak pro tempore: the er report the title of the bill. the clerk: a bill to amend the controlled substances act to authorizeloye t of a hospice program to handle controlled to assist and disposal. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman fromgon, mr. enthe gen fr nersey, mr. pallone, each will control 20 minutes. the chair rgnesth gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials mrspeakne of the best ways we can fight the opioid crisis is by decreasing diversion of prescription dugs. this bill does just that, giving

hospicemployeene tools to dispose of unused medications on site after a patient's death. several thoughtful amendments were offered to perfect this language. for example, one clarified that the training will be conducted by the hospicprogram, not the federal government. another added a recordkeeping standard for hospice programs to maintain information within patients' clinical charts of the controlled substance doseage, number of pills and the way it was disposed of. and a technical amendment incorporated comments. there is one technical correction incorporated in the suspension document which clarifies that hospice employees may handle these unused controlled substances. this improves the bill. tim walberg and debbie dingell should be commended for their thoughtful work on this

legislation. they worked to forge an inclusive process incorporating input from people in michigan, hospice groups across the country and people who oversee these programs and others. their staff showed reason as we put together. i recognized my colleague from michigan, mr. walberg, for three minutes to discuss this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walberg: i thank the chairman for yield. . speaker, h.r. 5041, safe disposal unused medication act is a commonsense bill that allows trained hospice personnel to dispose of unused medications in a patient's home once the patient has passed away. for patients in hospice care, opioid medication can be effective in alleviating pain associated with the end of life care. untornl, current d.e.a. regular

you layings restrict visiting home hospice personnel from disposing of lefver medication after the patient has passed away. as a result, hospice staff must leave behind dangerous medications that have a high risk for diversion or misuse. in my home state of michigan, we have seen some real challenges with the diversion and misuse of leftover medications that have contributed to opioid crisis. earlier this year, the energy and commerce committee heard testimony that just one hospice caring for 2,000 patients per year might be leaving behind tens of thousands of pills in need of disposal each year. according to the c.m.s., 1.4 million medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in hospice care in 2016. this means hospice workers

across the country are potentially leaving huge quantities of unused medication in a home after a patient's death. mr. speaker, we must act to curb the diversion of these powerful prescriptions. we know that tragically many people begin the cycle of adick shong through the misuse of prescription medication. hospice and hospice personnel could play a key role in stopping that cycle by ensuring powerful drugs are disposed in a responsible manner once they are no longer needed by the intended patient. i would like to thank the chairman of the committees, the staff and all of the others for hard work in getting this commonsense bill on the floor today. as well as my good friends, representative debbie dingell, who worked closely with me on this legislation, representative

richard huds, as well as their support on this important legislation. again, i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 5041. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from oregon reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the spker pro tempore: without objection. mr. pallone: i rise in support of h.r. 5041 legislation offered by representatives walberg, dingell and hudson for hospice workers to dispose of controlled substances reducing the misuse. i thank the sponsors for their work on this legislation as well as the national association for home care and hospice and national hospice organization for their support and thoughtful input. i urge members to support this bill. i ask unanimous consent to submit my full statement for the

record, mr. speaker. andry serve the balance of my ime. thepero tempore: the gentleman's request will be covered under general leave. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: we have no other speakers on this matter. so i would rese mr. pallone: i yield such time as she may consume to mrs. dingell. mrs. dingell: thank you, ranking member pallone for yielding. it's a good bipartisan day for michigan right now and it shows you when we want to work together we can and do and are going to make a difference. i rise in support the safe disposal of unused medication act, which i'm proud to sponsor with my colleague, mr. walberg, and thank him for all of his good, hrd work on this issue we learned together about things

that are happening. hospice performs an essential role in our health care system and we need to make every effort to support hospice employees who do incredible work providing care and comfort in the final days of life. we nd to make their jobs easier and as easy as possible. we also need to make sure we are doing everything we can to stop opportunities for the diversion of opioids. this is essential if we are going to make a real impact in ending this epidemic, which is devastating to every family in every corne in our country. this is an important bill which achieves the goals of hospice and stopping those opportunities for diversion. ac closes a gap that prohibits the hospice employees from disping the opioids after a patient has unfortunately passed away. the way the law is if a patient

dice in hospice care, they have large vial of unused opioidses, they can ask the hospice staff to dispose of them. and for the family, they just lost a loved one and don't need additional problems like trying to dispose of the unneeded opoids. this amends the controlled substances act to the employees to handle opoids in order to dispose of drugs. this commonsense fix is a win for patients and their family, a win for hospice employees and public health efforts to crack down on this diversion. we continue to crack down like what we are doing in this legislation, and we will continue to ensure there are fewer opportunities for those pills to end up in the hands of those that abuse them. by passing this legislation, we

can provide for the safe destruction of thousands, literally, hundreds of thousands of unused opioids that might end up otherwise on the street and feed the addiction of too many. i'm pleased as has been noted that it has the support of the national association for home care and hospice and the national hospice and pallat inch ve care organization. i thank mr. walberg for his bipartisan work on this bill and other opioid issues and urge all members to vote in favor. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i have no other speaken this matter, so i encourage my colleagues to support this legislation and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i

would urge my colleagues to support the bill and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5041 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. . in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative -- mr. walden: mr. speaker, i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman requests the yeas and nays. all those in favor of taking this vote by theand nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. . for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon rise? mr. walden: i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5102. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. to clerk: h.r. 5102, a bill

amend the public health service act to authorize a loan repayment program for substance use disorder treatment employees, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant tohe rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials io e record on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walden: i thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to express my strong support for h.r. 5102. now, this is the substance use dird work force loan repayment act. it's legislation that would create a loan repayment program for substance use disorder treatment providers. serious work force shortages exist for all health

professions across the united states. we know that. but delay in addiction treatment for a patient with substance use disorder can be a life or death situation. by offering student loan repayment for those who agree to work as a substance use disorder treatment professional in an underserved area, this bill encourages more people to enter the substance use disorder treatment field and get critical services tore that are in dire need of treatment. so i'd like to thank my colleagues, representatives kathryn clark, hahl rogers, john sarbanes brett guthrie that's brought to you by your energy and commerce committee with uni vote. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise in support of h.r. 5102,

the substance use disorder loan repayment act. this bill will provide loan repayment assistance to substance use disorder providers inxchangfor providing use disorder treatment and recovery support services in areas of high nee for such services. i ask my colleagues to support this legislation. i want to thank the main sponsor, representative clark, for her leadership, and representative sarbanes. iserve e balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i now yield to such time she may consume to the gentlewoman from massachusetts, ms. clark. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. clark: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you to the gentlan for yielding. i rise today in support of h.r. 5102, the substance use

disorder work force loan repayment act. as families at home know too well, our country is in the midst of a devastating public health crisis. the opioid epidemic claims more than 115 lives every day. and in 2016 alone, more than 42,000 people lost thei lives to opioid-related drug overdoses, and more than 64,000 died from drug overdoses overall. every one of those lives lost left heart broken families, friends, and communities. part of addressing this epidemic is making sure that everyone who is looking for help can access effective treatment and ongoing management of this chronic condition. to date, however, we have failed in this endeavor. the surgeon general's 2016

report on addiction estimates that only 10% of americans living with substance use disorder receive any treatment. there are a range barriers to accessing treatment, but one of the most significant is is a shortage in the work force needed to provide it. between the rising cost of education, low salaries,and high burnout rate from the stressful and emotional work, it is a struggle to attract new people to the treatment field and keep those who work in it long term. in my district, i have heard time and again from families and providers that there simply aren't enough treatment specialists available to help the growing number of people who desperately needreatment. i've heard from families who've tried to get their loved ones into treatment and lost them to an overdose before they were able to get them the help they

needed. no one should have to live with that heartbreak. that is why i authored this legin wh mysteemed cague from kentucky, chairman hal rogers. this bill will help recruit and retain more treatment experts $250,000 in p to student loan repayment for participants who agree to work in the treatment field for up to six years. the program will cover professionals who represent the whole spectrum of treatment, from physicians to nurses to social workers to recovery coaches. promoting the kind of wrap-around treatment approach that we know gives patients the best chance for success. and by providing a portion of loan repayment for each year of service, the program encourages treatment professionals to stay in the field longer. further, this legislation is

designed to send help where it is needed the most. participants in the program must work in a county or municipality with either a shortage of mental health professionals or an above-average rate of overdose deaths. ether you live in an urban or rural area, from massachusetts to kentucky, more need will mean more available treatment. i'd like to thank chairman rogers for his partnership on this important legislation and the other original co-sponsors as well as the energy and commerce committee and their staff for their work throughout this process. we need to make significant long-term investments in the professionals who make recovery possible. people's lives depend on it. i urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: thank you, mr.

speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. before i recognize my colleague from kentucky, i just want to say mr. rogers has spent many, many years leading nationally ngress- tial and in the kentucky on this issue of addiction and the scourge of opioids that's flooded into our area and so his leadership has been very, very valuable in this endeavor. and with that i will yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. chairman, thank you for those words. this has been a -- is a fight that is critical to the country. and i want to thank the chairman of the committee, mr. walden, and mr. pallone and otr members of the energy and commerce committee for reporting out for consideration today this multipronged assault

on this cruel epidemic that is ravaging the country. and the committee has responded and i thank you, mr. chairman, for all of these bills that are here with us today, especially the bill that we're debating now and that's the substance use disorder work force loan repayment act. we've invested billions of dollars in treatment and recovery services, only 10%, as the gentlelady from massachusetts has just said, only 10% of americans with a disorder actually receive treatment. only 10%. 90% go without treatment. that situation is even more dire in small communities. far too often when our rural constituents recognizes their addiction, they're not able to find treatment or recovery serces anywhere close to home

or at all. those who do enter the treatment profession often don't stay long due to the stress of the job. they donork in areas most in need of their services, or they have difficulty repaying these sizeable student loans. if we want to maximize our down payment for the future, these professionals are the key. h.r. 5102 creates a substtial student loan repayment benefit for a broad spectrum of medical professionals who enter this noble vocation. it also ensures that these individuals serve in areas most in need of their services for the long haul, offering periodic payments over six years. with these incentives in place, more of our constituents suffering from addiction will

receive the quality treatment they so desperately need. i want to thank ms. clark for her genuine concern about the problem and her partnership and also dr. burgess and his team for their guidance on this bill. mr. chairman, thank you for bringing this bill forward and all of the others you have reported today. thank you to mr. pallone and members of the committ artin fashion. e doing in a thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i reserve the balance of my time. i don't believe i have any more speakers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlemanrom new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i'd yield such time as he may consum to the gentleman from maryland, mr. sarbanes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. sarbanes: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank congressman pallone for yielding. i want to rise in support of h.r. 5102, the substance use

disorder work force loan repayment act of 2018. i want to really thank the authors of the bill, my colleagues, ketherin clark, and hal -- katherine clark, and hal rogers, for pting this bill together. this bill will address the oblem which it discovered, really, whicis a serious shortage of substance use professionals across the country. wee peencing shortages in a lot of areas of the health care work force. that is true. but if we're going to address the opioid crisishat wface, hi epidemic across the country, we have to bring particular attention to the work force shortages with respect to substance use disorder professionals. according to the agency which deals with these issues, in 2012, the turnover rate in the

addiction services work force range from 18.5% up to 50% -- over 50%. so there's a huge turnover there that has to be addressed. in a recent survey, nearly half of clinical directors and agencies that specialize in substance use disorder treatment acknowledge that they have real difficulty filling these open positions. in my district, i've heard from many of the community hea centers, baltimore medical center, health care for the homeless, and os who said they cannot keep, they can't hire enough of these folks and they can't keep of these fol to address the opioid crisis. so we need this work force to address the millions of people that require this important treatment. and this bill does that. it's a very, very important step forward. it will create this loan repayment program for professionals that are in this area of substance use disorder

treatment. they can receive up to $250,000 if they agree to work as a treatment professional in this area -- geographical area of high need. again, carefully crafted, this treatment can take place in a number of different facilities -- community health centers, hospitals, recovery programs, correctional facilities, etc. so the idea was to figure out where those shortages and direct the bill's support to those areas. a broad range of direct care providers -- physicians, registered nurses, social workers, other behavioral health providers. so this is going to help address the problem of recruitment, attracting new pele to the field, as well as help with retention of those people. so it's a very, very important bill and, again, i was proud to join my colleagues, katherine clark, hal rogers, on our committee, brett guthrie.

i hope all of my colleagues here today will spornt support this important -- today will support this important bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i have no additional speakers, so at this point i'd urge support for the bill and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the nem yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i'd do the same. i urge passage of the bill, and i yield back the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 5102. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid n the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: mr.pke i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5176, as amentaled -- amended.

the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5176. a bill to require the secretary of health and human services to provide coordinated care to patients who have experienced a nonfatal overdose after emergency room discharge and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman om oregon, mr. walden, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials into the record on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: hearing no objection. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to express my strong support for h.r. 5176. the preventing overdoses while in emergency rooms act. or the power act. this legislation will provide needed resources to help hospitals, health departments and health systems to develop discharge protocols for patients

who have had an opioid overdose. such as the provision of naloxone upon discharge, and referrals to treatment and other services that best fit the patients' needs. by putting rapid referral systems in place, we can better place thosesenting with an overdose in evidence-based treatment and get patients on the road to want to thank colleagues, representatives david mckinley of west virginia, and mike doyle of pennsylvania, for leading this initiative and i'm going to yield to my colleague from west virginia. but before i do, i just want to say what a leader david mckinley has been on this issue involving opioids. we have met on countless occasions. he has brought many initiatives to our committee and while he's the lead on this bill, he has been instrumental on nearly all the bills that we have considered. and has been a tireless advocate for the people of west virginia in this matter. and with that, i would yield such time as he may consume to

the gentleman from west virginia, mr. mckinley. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from west virginia is recognized. kinlkinl thank you. and thank you -- mr. mckinley: thank you. and thank you, mr. chairman,or those kind remarks. this is not just west virginia, but it's all across this country i think we're speaking for all and trying to give a voice all across the country. mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 5176, the preventing overdoses while in the emergency room act. the demand for these substance abuse services in america's emergency rooms far exceeds their availability. treatment is particularly scarce in rural counties. in spite of having an average overdose rate th i 45% higher than more urban areas. and in march, the centers for disease control reported that the emergency room visits for ioid overdoses had risen 30% since july of 2016.

in less than two years, 30% increase. that's why i am honored to be joined by congressman doil in introducing this boyle -- doyle in introducing this bipartisan act, also known as the power a. this legislation will provide competitive grants to ensure that overdose patieneceive the treatment they need while still in the emergency room. giving them a tt shot at recovery. this bill hopefully is intended to reduce repeat overdoses and thereby save lives. i want to thank the co-sponsor of this bill, mr. doyle, and particularly our chairman, mr. walden, for their work on this important issue. and i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. ear. may consume.lf such time as i i se in support of h.r. 5176,

preventing overdoses while in emergency rooms act. this legislation would provide grant fundg y departments to develop protocols for treating and discharging patients who hith opioi overdose or are at increased risk for overdose. these protocols will help increase theake of evidence-based treatment itiatio of promoting the medicion-assisted treat i emergency departments, as well as referral to community-based providers for treatment and recovery support services. this is particularly important since an individual's willingness to seek substancerd increases immediately following a nonfatal overdose. the protocols also will help reduce the risk of future fatal overdoses by such individuals, by requiring the provision of naloxone at disrg this helps ensure that these individuals at high-rk

overdose have the -- high risk of overdose have this available. so i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: mr. speaker, we ve no othespnur side of the aisle. i'd reserve. mr. pallone: i have no additional speakers. i urge support for the bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields back. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i just want to again thank our leaders on this effort. mr. doyle and certainly mr. mckinley. i would encourage passage of the bill and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5176 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid n the table.

for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: mr. speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 5228, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5228, a bill to strengthen the authorities of the food and drug administration to address counterfeit drugs, illegal and synthetic opioids, and opioid-like substances, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members y have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials on the record -- in the record on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to speak in support of

this legislation. i want to commend my friend and ranking member of the energy and commerce committee, representive frank pallone of new jersey. he's worked tirelessly on this very important policy. you know, hundreds of millions of parcels containing illic o unapproved drugs enter the united states' supply chain each year and they do it through internatial mail facilities. through the mail, mr. speaker. that poses a major threat to public health. these parcels are often difficult to identify as they contain little or no labeling. and the food and drug administration's current detention and destruction authorities over these parcels turns out to be pretty limited. h.r. 5228 seeks to strengthen f.d.a.'s authority to refuse and destroy substances identified through these international mail facilities and improve enforcement mechanisms available to the agencies to combat the

influx of illegaly manufactured opioids into the country. i know in my conversations with dr. scott gottlieb that heads the f.d.a., he's added the resources he could find within his agency and has brought many of these issues to our attention. he's been a real leader on this issue for the trump administration. and i thank him for his work. but it's clear this bipartisan legislation that mr. pallone brs to us today is essential as we join together to interdict and stop the flow of illegal drugs into the united states of america. so with that, mr. speaker, i would encourage passage of this bill and i would reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: thank you. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. speaker,ise to voice my strong support for h.r. 5228, legislation that i authored that

will strengthen f.d.a.'s ability to prevent illicit opioids from coming into our international mail facilities by providing the agency with additional enforcement authority and financial resources. in april, mr. speaker, i had the opportunity to visit an international mail facy in my home state of new jersey with the food and drug administration, customs and border patrol, and the u.s. postal service. and to see firsthand the problems that ese agencies are facing when it comes to illegal, unapproved drugs entering our country through international mail facilities. f.d.a. staff showed us boxes of pills that had limited labeling, labeling in foreign languages, or no labeling at all. and were sent from unknown and unregistered facilities. f.d.a. staff explained that it takes the agency days tcatalog these boxes, identify what products contained inside are legitimate and identify what products under current law the agency can destroy. f.d.a. then had no other option

but to return that box to the sender. this leaves open the possibility that the send already just drop the box of illegal pills back in the mail and try to enter the country again through another international mail facility. the agency also showed me a series of similarly wrapped and marked packages that contained little labeling and were misidentifie as gifts. upon inspection, these packages included bags of drugs, some labeled and some labeled in another language, again the ncy faced the task of trying to identify the product was a drug before it could take further action. now, the screen act, the bill before us, which passed the energy and commerce committee by a voice vote, would give f.d.a. authority to act in these situations to stop illicit drugs from entering the marketplace and allow the agency to better target resources. specically, the screen act would first expand f.d.a.'s authority to refuse or destroy illegal drugs. second, provide f.d.a. with the ability to order manufacturers

to cease distribution or to recall drugs that pose an imminent or substantial hazard to the public health. third, it would allow f.d.a. to refusedmission or destroy lk shipments of drugs for manufacturers, distributors or mporters, if they're found to be misbranded or adult rated. and then it would authorize new resources to help provide additional capacity at international mail facilities and to upgrade infrastructure equipment and other needed technology for screening purposes. mr. speaker, having worked closely with f.d.a. on this legislation, i know that the authorities outlined in the screen act will go a long way towards empowering the agency to take on repeated illicit drug traffickers and ensure that dangerous, unapproved drugs are stopped at our ports and at our mail facilities. so i urge my colleagues to vote in support of this bill. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker.

i'd yield myself such time as i may consume. i just want to, again, say, as my friend and colleague from new jersey has outlined, you understand the importance of why we need to make these changes under the law. i a h work on this. i'd encourage all of my colleagues to support this very critical piece of legislation. this uld do more to stop the flow of these illegal fentanyls and the dea they bring to our country than any other thing we can do. so i commend him for his work on this. i encourage sut of the bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i have no additional speakers. does the chairman have additional speakers? all right. i would then urge my colleagues to support the bill and yield back as well, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 5228, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid n the table. the gentleman from oregon. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 5261, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5261, a bill to amend a public health service act to provide for regional centers of excellence in substance use disorder education and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the

record on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: i yield myself such time as ma consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to express my strong support for h.r. 5261. this is the treatment, education and community help to combat addiction act, or more easily known as the teach to combat addiction act. this legislation will designate and support centers of excellence or instutions of learning that have championed substance use disorder treatment. improving how health professionals are taught to effectively treat substance use disorder will increase access to evidence-based treatments. in other words, treatments that work. and that we can prove it. i want to thank my colleagues, representatives bill johnson and paul tonko, for leading this bipartisan and really important initiative. and with that, mr. speaker, i would yield three minutes to the gentleman from ohio, leader on our committee, mr., to talk more about his legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon yields --

the gentleman from oregon yields. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. chairman. our nation's health care providers are in a unique position to recognize and start to address a patient suffering from addiction. and it's vital that their trainingqu fullyped them -- equips them to play that very important role. curreny wer than 10% of u.s. medical schools require a dedicated course on addiction and only a handful have robust curriculum on the diagnosis and treatment of substance use disorder. . the teach to combat addiction act seeks to increase the amount of education health professionals, students receive specific to substance use disorder and addiction by recognizing and supporting institutions that focus on these areas and holding them up as a model for other programs. i know from talking with ls in ohio, like the university of cincinnati, a the ohio state university, that the medical education community is eager to be a part of the solutiono ioid crisis.

this legislation gives them the additional tools with which to pursue innovativsttees and community partnerships that advance their students' knowledge and understanding of substance use disorder and addiction. mr. speaker, the work we are th opioid epidemic is important. too many of our families, fries, and neighbors have been lost for us to delay any longer. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. and i rise in support of h.r. 5261, the teach to combat addiction act, and i want to thank mr. tonko, the democratic sponsor of the bill. while the evidence is clear that medication assisted treatment is the gold standard for treatment of opioid use disorder, many health care

providers know little about this lifesaving treatment. providers' limited knowledge and training on substance use disorder treatment and recovery support services, such as map, harms efforts to help patients. the bill will help improve providers' knowledge and training on such services by establishing centers of excellence in substance disorder education. this will support the evaluation, distribution of evidence-based curricula for health professional schools substance use disorder, prevention, recovery. such curriculum can be used to make sure we get training to all health care providers. i urge my colleagues to support this bill, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempe: the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i don't have any other speakers, so i'll reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i'll yield such time as he may consume to our democratic sponsor, mr. tonko.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank representative ise in support to the teach to combat addiction act, which i join from my friend from ohio, representative bill johnson in introducing. one of the biggest challenges facing us in the midst of this opioid ep dimic is the -- epidemic is the lack of high quality treatment in parts of con only one in five individuals with opioid use disorder is able to access any type of treatment. in many instances, individuals struggling with addiction can be placed on waiting lists for months or years before they are able to see an addiction professional. that is simply not right. when we place barriers and roadblocks between patients and their care, we kw that these deys can be deadly. we need to move toward a system of treatment on demand so when

an individual is crying out for assistance, when that person has that moment of clarity, there is a helping hand ready to meet them. way that moves us in the in a direction by investing in our addiction infructure. the teach to combat addiction act would create centers of excellence in substance use disorder education that would be charged with developing and disseminating model curricula to train our next generation of medil ofessionals on the practice of addiction. empowering our health care work force to better understand and effectively prevent and treat substance use disorder will yield dividends in our fight against the opioid epidemic. i am proud to work with representative johnson on this critical legislation that will strengthen the tools and information we use to educate the next generation of health care professionals and i strongly urge all members to support this critical

legislation. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i have no additional speakers, so i would urge my colleagues to support the bill and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i, too, want to commend our colleagues for bringing this matter to our attention and commend them on the legislation and to encourage our colleagues to vote for it and i would yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5261, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r.

5272, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5272, a bill to ensure that programs and activities that are funded by a grant, cooperative agreement, loan, or loan guarantee from the department of health and human services, and whose purpose is to prevent or treat a mental health or substance use disorder, are evidence-based. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials into the record on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. so today i rise in strong support of h.r. 5272. this is a bill that helps ensure federally funded programs are evidence-based.

what a concept. h.r. 5272 will enhance the work of the national mental health and substance use policy laboratory by directing substance abuse and mental ealth services administration, samhsa, to have guidance on how best to explain the rationale for a given program or activity. by encouraging the funding of evidence-based interventions and the replication of promising or effective practices, we believe we can help ensure local organizations, health departments, nonprofits, and substance use disorder treatment providers have the tools and evidence necessary to implement solutions that work. so id like t thank representative steve stivers and eliot engel for leading this important and, again, bipartisan initiative. and with that i'd yield to the gentleman from ohio, mr. stivers, who's been a real advocate on these and other issues dealing with this opioid epidemic, such time as he may

consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. stivers: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to thank the chairman for all of his work to help with this bill. i speak today on behalf of myself and my colleague, mr. engel, in support of our evidence-based treatment for opioid addiction bill, h.r. 5272. the opioid epidemic is hurting communities all across this country. americans -- 174 overdosed every day. ohio had the second highest death rate in the nation. overdoses killed,329 people in ohio, according to the national center for health statistics. for the past five years, i've held a roundtable on drugs and opioids in my district with stakeholders, including law enforcement, treatment professionals, government officials, and community leaders from all around this topic.

a common concern i heard in these roundtables and that i hear consistently in my district, treatment programs exist but many are not delivering on their promise. health care professionals and those on the front lines have continuously told me about the lack of evidence-based treatment for those suffering from addiction and substance use disorders. and that can lead to unsuccessful results. according to the national institute for drug abuse, between 40% and 60% of individua who suffer from drug addiction are known to relapse. it's often estimated that the rehabilitation programs are only about 30% effective, although nobody knows the true number. that's why representative eliot engel and i introduced bipartisan legislation to require grants from the department of health and human services that treat mental health and substance abuse to be awarded to entities that are able to demonstrate that they use evidence-based practices. throughout the process of

pushing for this, i had conversations with the substance abuse and mental health services administration, samhsa, what they have been doing under the 21st century cures act to promode and enhance evidence-based practices. the 21st century cures act created a national health -- mental health and substance use policy laboratory under samhsa and task it promoting evidence-based practices through leadership and coordination, data collection, and reviews of current programs and activities. the policy lab has set out to begin this monumental task and our legislation will make it even better. working with the majority and the minority committees on -- the committee staff on the energy and commerce committee and working with samhsa, representative engel and i brought forward a bipartisan amendment to our original bill, instead of placing requirement on funds that requires samhsa to issue guidance to grantees

that will help promote funding of evidence-based practices through the policy lab. i think this language will be positive. it further requires samhsa on how to best replicate promising and effective treatments and programs so future programs and grant applications can advant the lessons learned and best practices. more importantly, samhsa must issue guidance to grantees on how to articulate their rationale and why they should receive federal funds. i think putting this responsibility on the shoulders of grantees will ensure that more local treatment programs are looking at medical journals and samhsa only policy laboratory for evidence-based practices that will make our treatment more effective. you know, as i've talked to people affected by the opioid epidemic at our roundtables and people that have come into my office, too many of them have been let down by treatment programs that didn't work.

people want their lives back. they want their jobs back. they want their families back. they want their future back. this bill that representative engel and i have put together will help them in that journey. if we can take treatment programs and take them from 30% effective to even 50% effective, millions of americans will get their lives back, get their families back, and get their jobs back. this bill, i think, is a moral imperative. i want to thank congressman engel, i want to thank the majority and minority staffs from the energy and commerce committee for their work. i want to especially thank the chairman for his work. i also want to thank samhsa. they were a pleasure to work with through this effort. i believe this bill will make a big difference in the lives of americans and help make sure that those impacted by the opioid epidemic and other drug addiction will give them treatment that gives them their lives back. i urge my colleagues to support

this legislation, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: mr. speaker. i think that's the only speaker we have on this bill on our side. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. r.ne: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: i rise in support of this bill, h.r. 5272, and i want to thank mr. engel, the democratic sponsor. the purpose of this leglation is to promote the increased uptick of evidence-based treatment by individuals with mental health and substance use disorders. we know that increasing the utilization of evidence-based treatment for behavioral health disorders results in improved outcomes. this is particularly important for individuals with opioid use disorder as they know that mat is the gold standard for treatment and is associated with improved retention and treatment, decreased relapsed rates and decreased fatal and nonfatal overdoses. expanding access to an uptick

of mat as well as other evidence-based behavioral health treatments as promoted by this bill is a critical piece to combating the tragic opioid epidemic. so i encourage my colleagues to support this legislation, and i would now like to yield such time as he may consume to mr. engel. the speaker pro tempore: e leman the gentleman from new york is recognized. . mr. engel: i thank the gentleman for yielding to me and i rise in strong support of h.r. 5272, the results act. and i urge my colleagues to support it. this bill that i've co-authored with congressman steve stivers, will provide needed guidance into applicants seeking federal funding to treat or prevent mental health or substance use disorders. i thank the gentleman from ohio, mr. stivingers, for working with me in a -- stivers, for working with me in a bipartisan way. this legislation builds on the important work we started with

the 21st century cures act. cures created the national mental health and substance use policy laboratory, often referred to as the policy lab, with the goal of promoting evidence-based activities to prevent and treat mental health and substance use disorders. the results act will help advance that goal. it directs the policy lab to issue new guidance, to applicants seeking federal funding. to treat or prevent mental health. or substance abuse disorders. this guidance will ensure that those applying for fedal funds have the information they need to implement evidence-based solutions to the opioid crisis, as well as the tools instead to emulate successful approaches in their communities. i urge my colleagues to support this straightforward bill that will make it easier for those fighting the opioid epidemic in our communities, to implement solutions that work. all of us know how necessary

those solutions are. you take my district, in westchester county, part of which i represent. 124 people died due to opioids in the year 2016. and in the bronx, part of which i also represent, more new yorkers died of overdoses than in any other area in new york city. so i am pleased that the house is taking bipartisan action to address the opioid epidemic. but i ao concerned by the trump administration's announcement last week that they will urge the courts to strike down the affordable care act's provisions preventing insurance companies from denying coverage or charging more for pre-existing conditions. such as an opioid addiction. this has to stop. this needto stop. we can't have those proposals if we're going to really attack and win in this opioid crisis. the bipartisan actions we take this week and that we will take this week are important. and i support all of them.

but they will not occur in a vacuum. i urge my friends on the other side of the aisle to speak out and end these kinds of attacks on affordable health care. instead, let's work to ensure our communities have the resources they need to turn the tide of this epidemic and bring needed treatment to the men and women who are fighting, literally fight, forhe vei want to again thank congressman stivers for his hard work on this bill, as well as chairman burgess, ranking member green, chairman walden, ranking member pallone, for their assistance in bringing it to the floor today. i urge my colleagues to support the results act, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i have no additional speakers. but i will reserve at this time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i reserve.

the speaker pro tempore: the ntleman reserves the bae of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i would ask for spo -- support for the bill and i yield back the balance of my time, mr. speaker.the speaker t gentleman from georgia is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 5272, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does -- without objection, the tle is amended. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. carter: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 5327, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will reporthe title of

the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5327, a bill to amend title 5 of the public health service act, to establish a grant program to create comprehensive opioid recovery centers, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from georgia, mr. carter, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia. mr. carter: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may having the five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the record on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. carter: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. carter: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to express my strong support for h.r. 5327, the comprehensive opioid recovery centers act. this legislation will help support the establishment of comprehensive opioid recovery

centers to serve as models for comprehensive treatment and recovery. these centers will provide substance uis patients with a wide range of treatment options for integrated care. by treating the whole person and utilizing the full range of f.d.a.-approved medications and evidence-based treatments, these centers would dramatically improve the outcomes with individuals with substance use disorder and serve as models for evidence-based treatment across the country. i'd like to thank the vice chairman of the health subcommittee, vice chairman brett guthrie, the health subcommittee ranking member, jean green, and representative larry bucshon and -- for leading this important initiative. thank you, mr. speaker. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is ecognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: i rise in support of h.r. 5327, the comprehensive opioid recovery centers act. i'd like to submit, i'd ask unanimous consent to submit my full statement for theecord. and at this point i yield to representative green, the ranking member of our health subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. green: thank you mr. speaker,. i thank my -- thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my ranking member. i rise in support of the comprehensive opioid recovery centers act. the opioid epidemic is harming erican in communities throughout our great country, including my hometown of houston, texas. in 2016 alone, over 42,000 americans died due to an opioid-related overdose. based on data from the centers for disease control and prevention. more must be done to give americans access to treatme and the full continuum of care they need to recover from substance abuse and live a full and healthy life. for these reasons, i'm proud to introduce the comprehensive

opioid recovery centers act with espective brett guthrie, mr. lujan and mr. bucshon. this legislation will fund the treatment centers where americans suffer from opioid abuse can receive comprehensive, patient-centered care. our bill would allow designated treatment centers to provide a wide variety of treatment options tailored to the specific needs of its clients, covered services under this bill would include mental health, medication-assisted treatment, counseling, recovery, housing, peer support and job training, and the placement of support to reintegrate in the work force. these wrap-around services have been shown to help many americans who successfully overcome opioid addiction. it's our intention that this bill will lp develop world class models for treatment and recovery that can be duplicated nationwide. i'd like to thank congressman guthrie, lujan and buck shn for their hard work on this -- bucshon for their hard work on this bill.

i'd also like to thank mr. pallone and mr. waledble for their support of this bill and their -- walden for their support of this bill and for their assistance moving this to the floor today. i join my colleagues to support me in vote spog support this important legislation -- vting to support this important legislation. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. mr. pallone: river at this time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i'm going to yield now to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. guthrie, who is the vice chair of our health subcommittee, has been a real leader on this opioid issue, along with other health care issues, to improve the lives of american citizens and especially those of his home state and district. with that, i'd yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. guthrie. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. guthrie: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the chairman for yielding. i rise today in support of my bill, the comprehensive opioid recovery centers act. a bipartisan bill that will establish treatment centers that offer a full range of treatments

for people suffering from opioid use disorder. over the past several months, i've been holding public events in each of the 21 counties in my district. in every county i continue to hear about the awful effects of our nation's opioid crisis. each story is a little different, but they are all heart wrenching due to the deadly effects of opioid diss use disorder and addiction -- use disorder and addiction. right now most patients are going to the center that's most convenient to them. but those centers might offer only one type of treatment. what if the treatment doesn't work for that person? that's why i introduced the comprehensive opioid recovery centers act, so that people can show up at one facility and have a full wraou tatment services, succeeding and beating addiction. i want to especially thank my friend, congressman jean green, congressman lujan of new mexico, and larry bucshon of indiana for introducing this bill with me. it's a bipartisan bill. it will make a difference in

people's lives. and i urge my colleagues to support this bill. i yield back to the chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: ri reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: -- i would reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield such time as he may consume to one of the democratic sponsors, mr. lujan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new mexico is recognized. mr. lujan: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you, mr. guthrie, dr. bucshon, for your work, for working with smife and mr. gene green of texas on this bill. i rise in support of the comprehensive opioid centers act. this bill would fund 10 comprehensive opioid centers across america. these senters will focus on community engagement, prevention, treatment, and also recovery services. they can be newly established centers or can build upon existing infrastructure. they'll be located in areas hit hardest by this epidemic and they will serve those who need help the most.

since 2008, new mexico has had one of the highest rates of drug overdose deaths in the country. according to the c.d.c., the new mexico had the third highest drug overdose death rate in the nation in 2013. and the second in 2014. almost every county in new mexico has a higher rate than the national average. some of the most hard-hit new mexico counties, the overdose death rates were more than five times the national rate. now we know 10 centers across 50 states will not solve this problem. still we hope that these centers can stand as examples for what substance use disorder facilities could strive to be. hope that these comprehensive centers will give centers will give families hope, researchers data, and communities across the country the resources that they so desperately need.

with that, i thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i have no additional speakers so i would urge my colleagues to support the bill and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. more good bipartisan work here, attacking this opioid epidemic. i'd encourage my colleagues to support this piece of legislation and i would also yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from -- oh, yeah. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 5327, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. mr. walden: mr. speaker, on that i'd ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in -- the yeas and

nays -- a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this uestion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: mr. speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 5329. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of e bill. the clerk: h.r. 5329. a bill to amend the public health service act to re-authorize and enhance the poison center national toll-free number, national media campaign, and grant program, and for other purposes. the speakerro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each will control 20 minutes. the chairrecognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous

materials into the record on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i support h.r. 5329. this is the poison center network enhancement act. now, this is legislation that will re-authorize the national network of poison control centers. poison control centers are on the front lines of the opioid crisis. they offer free, confidential expert medical advice 24 hours a day, seven days a week. . by re-authorizing this essential systems resource, we will help reduce visits to the emergency rooms and save countless lives. i really want to thank the leadership of representative susan brooks and eliot engel. my colleagues, along with representatives joe barton and diana degette, worked hard on this legislation to get it right and get it to the floor in a bipartisan and i would dare say out of committee unanimous vote. so with that, mr. speaker, i'll

yield such time as she may consume to the gentlelady from indiana, mrs. brooks, a real leader in this effort, to speak on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. reognized. from indiana is mrs. brooks: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to urge my colleagues to pass h.r. 5329, e n center network enhancement act of 2018, a bill that re-authorizes the national network of poison contl centers. as we heard that offers free, confidential, expert medical advice 24 hours a day, seven days a week. we heard during a energy and commerce health subcommittee hearing that this past summer the georgia poison control center was the first public health entity to detect and respond to a deadly opioid kour where yellow pills were being sold stamped with the brand percocet, but they in fact contained substances chemically similar to fentanyl. without these calls to poison control centers to report this drug, these pills could have gone undetected indefinitely.

ison control centers are dealing with 192 cases a day of opioid abuse and misuse. they are essential in combating the opioid crisis because these are the centers that compile the data that can be used to discover hot spots for opioid abuse and misuse and save lives. i want to thank all my colleagues, especially representative engel, representative degette, representative barton, who've been strong voices as well as chairman waled owen, ranking member -- walden, ranking member pallone, for supporting this and other impactful bills. on behalf, most importantly, of 1,526 hoosiers who died of an opioid overdose in 2016, i want to urge my colleagues to pass h.r. 5329. thank you. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: i'd reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from oregon reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. and i rise in support of h.r. 5329, the poison center network enhancement act. i want to thank mr. engel, the democratic sponsor, for his leadership. i'd ask unanimous consent to submit my statement for the record and yield to mr. engel. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman yields, the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. engel: i thank my friend from new jersey for yielding to me, and i rise in strong support of h.r. 5329, the poison center network enhancement act. you know, i remember when i was a little boy, my mother used to have a poison control number which she taped to the medicine chest so if there was ever a tragedy or problem we could call the number quickly. this is obsly along those same lines, and that's why it's so important for the american people to have this. i want to thank congresswoman

susan brooks. i co-authored this bill with her. i want to thank her for her hard work. it re-authorizes for an additional five years, as the gentlewoman just said, the nationwide network of poison control centers which are playing a critical role in the fight to end the opioid crisis. our country's 55 poison centers are staffed by trained toxicologists, pharmacists, physicians, and nurses who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year to provide real-time life-saving assistance natial toll ee number which is 1-800-222-1222. in 2016, someone in this country called the poison center roughly every 12 seconds. it shows you it's being utilized and it saves lives. more than 90% of those calls were due to a poison exposure

in someone's home, and more than half of all cases involve children under the age of 12. that's why spodey access to poison centers -- speedy access to poison centers is source and important, especially for parents. poison centers are also saving hundreds of millions in federal dollars by helping to avoid the unnecessary use of medical services and shortening the amount of time a person spends in the hospital, if hospitalization due to poisoning becomes necessary. it's clear these centers are a small, smart public health investment, eye also an integral response to the opioid epidemic. since 2 poison centers have handled nearly 200 cases per day in this country involving opioid misuse. data from poison centers has helped detect trends in the epidemic, and experts have

helped educate americans about the crisis and ways they could potentially save the lives of their loved ones. the upstate new york poison center, for instance, used the new york state fair to educate loxone, the overdose reversal drug. this bill would make sure that activities like this can continue. mr. speaker, i had the prge of co-authoring the last poison center re-authorization signed into law in 2014. i'm pleased to have worked on this important bill. again, i want to thank congresswoman brooks for partnering with me on this legislation, as well as congresswoman degette and congressman barton for being original co-sponsors. let me also thank chairman burgess, ranking member green, chairman walden, and ranking member pallone for their assistance in bringing this bill to the floor today. as i mentioned earlier, in westchester county, part of

which i represent, 124 people died due to opioids in 2016. in the bronx, part of which i also represent, more new yorkers die of overdoses than any other borough of new york. we must do more to end this epidemic, and i'm proud to see this legislation moving forward as part of that effort, again, in a bipartisan manner. i urge my colleagues to support this bill, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york yields. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i have no additional speakers. ppo the bill and yield back the balance of my time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognize mr. walden: ank you, mr. speaker. more important bipartisan legislation moving forward. we have no other speakers. i'd -- i'd encourage passage of the legislation and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5329, as amended.

those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the tio to rensider is laid on the tab. for what purpose does the gentleman from oren seek recognition? mr. walden: mr. speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5353, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5353, a bill to amend the public health service act to re-authorize and expand a program of surveillance and education, carried out by the centers for disease control and prevention, regarding infections associawi njectio drug use. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: well, thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that

all members may have five legislative days to revise and xtend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the record on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. saker. i rise in support of h.r. 5353. this is the eliminating opioid related infectious diseases act, which will authorize the c.d.c., the centers for disease control, to work with states to improve education, surveillance, and treatment of infections associated with injection drug use. so injection drug use is a well-known route for the ransmission of blood-borne infections, such as h.i.v. h.i.v., and hepatitis. by supporting the national elimination initiative, h.r. 5 will help reduce the

life-threatening infections associated with illicit drug use. i want to thank my colleague, leonard lance from new jersey. he's en real er in is effort. wasn't alone. representatives joe kennedy, chris collins, ann eshoo, joe barton, doris matsui, wereer much volv in the creation of this legislative initiative. but at this time, mr. speaker, i want to yield to my colleague from new jersey, mr. lance, to speak on his legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon yields. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. lance: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to offer legislation to confront another battle in the scourge against opioid addiction. i commend chairman walden, dr. burgess, mr. pallone, mr. green, in bringing 26 bills to the floor addressing the many sides of the far-reaching opioid crisis. this epidemic has challenged every community and every walk of life in this nation. today, i offer the eliminating

opioid related infectious diseases act. legislation that i have had the honor of authoring. my co-sponsor is our colleague on the energy and commerce committee, congressman joseph p. kennedy iii of massachusetts. wet do more to stop the spread of infectious diseases resulting from opioid abuse. i know this is a difficult subject because we're discussing h.i.v. and other related topics. but we need to be honest and realistic about these public health challenges because this is not just about helping those with addiction. families, including children, are being exposed to terrible infections at an alarming rate. the centers for disease control and prevention must implement a plan to turn this tide and combat the public health consequences of these deadly trends. according to surveillance data released last month by the c.d.c., new cases of hepatitis c rose by a staggering 350%

nationwide between 2010 and 2016. the time to move, obviously, is now. this bipartisan endeavor makes sure that the c.d.c. has the tools it needs and those facing an opioid addiction are educated for the safety of themselves and their families. it provides the c.d.c. with $40 million annually to carry out this mission. the commerce committee has produced results for the american people in response to many public health challenges, but especially recently against opioid addiction. the opioid state targeted response grants, created by the 21st century cures act, delivered $13 million to my home state of new jersey. additional resources across the united states in the comprehensive addiction recovery act was one of the most important pieces of legislation last congress. this bill and the we're discussing today are in the public health interest of the american people.

this is the way congress should operate, in a bipartisan capacity. i am very proud to have been involved in this effort. those who have fallen to addiction must be able to reclaim their lives, stop the spreading of deadly infect is one fewer hurdle to overcome. i urge a yes vote on this piece of legislation. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i'd reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yld mylf such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: i rise in support of h.r. 5353, eliminating opioid related infectious diseases act. as the opioid epidemic have grown, so have infectious diseases related to intravenous opioid abuse. these include serious blood-borne illnesses such as h.i.v., hepatitis b and hepatitis c, which have devastating health consequences and require long-term treatment.

in 2015, a community in indiana experienced an outbreak of h.i.v. in over 200 individuals elated to intravenous to oxymorphone. and also mrsa. the c.d.c. released a report said that those inject drugs are 16 times more likely to get mrsa. it's important to bolster national surveillance and education on the infectious diseases related to the use of i.v. drugs. the eliminating opioid related infectious diseases act of 2018, the bill before us, authorizes c.d.c. to improve surveillanc as infections associated with intravenous drug use such as h.i.v., ineffective endocarditis and mrsa. it could reduce this through the development and

distribution of public education materials on risks associated with intravenous drug use. this legislation, mr. speaker, would also help by improving the education and training of health care professionals on how to detect and treat intravenous drug use associated infections, leading to better management, fewer complications, and overall improved quality of care for those suffering from i.v. drug-related infectious diseases. so i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. . i have no additional speakers, so i'll urge support for the bill and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i have no other speakers as well. i thank our colleagues for their good work on this bipartisan legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. those in favor say aye. .

those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h. 5483 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5483, a bill to impose a deadline for the promulgation of interim final regulations in accordance with 311-h, 21 united states code 831-h specifying the circumstances in which a special registration may be issued to a practitioner to engage in the practice of telemedicine, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, will each troll 20 minutes.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and insert extraneous remarks on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: i yield myself such time as i may consume. many patients have limited access to mental health and substance use disorder services. particularly those who live outside metro areas. to increase access to specialized care, the attorney general needs to issue waivers to present subscribe medication assisted treatment. this is in emergency sitions, like the lack of access to an in-person specialist. under a previous version, the d.e.a. would have had 0 days to complete this task. this committee tafere apply

approved an amendment to support this amendment for one year. agenda on the unified and signal they understand the need to implement provision ola no we have the opportunity to consider this bill today, becauset faithful dedication and thoughtful legislating of representatives buddy carter of georgia and representative bustos of illinois. i want to turn to the only phrma sift who has been a terrific find the rying to best path forward. i would yield as much time as he would like to consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. carter: i thank the gentleman for yielding.

mr. speaker, in 2008, congress strengthened prohibitions against inappropriately distributing and dispensing controlled substances online bypassing the pharmacy consumer protection act. it de it ill practitioner to dispense controlled substances through the internet without one in-person evaluation. the attorney general could issue a special registration to health care providers detailing what circumstances they could prescribe medicine in emergency situations such as the lack of access to an in-person specialist. however, the waiver process has never been implemented through regulation and patients still do not have access to care that they need. the special -- this directs the attorney general to promulgate

regular layings one year after passage of the law. 962 million americans living in rural communities are more likely to be older, poorer and suffer higher rates of chronic disease than their urban counterparts. a disproportionate number of americans living in rural communities are living with weustss that these individuals can access the care they need. i urge you to support this bipartisan legislation co-led by my colleague across the aisle to connect patriots with the substance use disorder treatment they need without jeopardizing safeguards to prevent misuse or diversion. thank you, and i yield back. . mr. walden: i rerve the b of my the speaker pro tempore: the gentlemfrom n jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise in support of this

legislation that will direct the drug enforcement agency to take action to alw practitioners to practice telemedicine and i thank our democratic sponsor. if we are to end the cycle of addiction, more must be done to help those suffering with access to treatment. i'm optimistic that the legislation before us offered by representatives bustos and carter will provide more individuals suffering from individual with access to treatment by enabling the use of telemedicine. this is one opportunity to potentially reach more patients who could not access treatment whether due to geographic reasons, financial concerns about in-person treatment or the stigma of seeking treatment. while d.e.a. has the authority to establish a pathway for purposes of treating a patient via telemedicine, they have not

done so to date. and the special registration would direct the attorney general to issue regulations establishing a special registratiorocess to engaging in the practice of telemedicine within the year of enactment. this will be deployed in treating patients with addiction and allowing d.e.a. to ensure there are safeguards in place to mitigate against the use of telemedicine. this is practical legislation that i believe will help open access to treatment. and i would urge my colleagues to vote in support of the bill. and at this point, i would yield such time as she may consume to he sponsor, mrs. bustos. >> the opioid epidemic has claimed the lives of too many

across our nation. no corner of our country has remaped unscathed, the crisis in worse in rural america whereath. when i travel my district, 14 counties, i'm told time and time agn that access to treatment remains one of the largest barriers to recovery in many of the small towns and rural communities that i serve. we don't have enough doctors. we don't have enough treatment centers and if we don't have those things, too many people n't have a chance. that is why i worked with congressman buddy carter, to introduce the special registration for telemedicine clarification act with democrats and republicans working together in this endeavor. this bill is a commonsense measure that cuts through the red tape to provide mo treatment options to underserved

community through the use of telemedicine. saving our sons and daughters, our brothers, sisters, nieces, nevada fuse, from this epidemic is a priority for democrats and republicans. both sides of the aisle to support this legislation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey reserves. mr. walden: i have no further speakers and would be pleased to yield back with the admonishon that members should support this important legislation. mr. pallone: i would urge my colleagues to support the bill. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5483 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. . in the opinion of the chair, 2/3

being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5582 as amended. the clerk: h.r. 5582 a bill to direct the secretary of health and human services to conduct a study and submit a report on barriers to access to deterrent opioid regulations for individuals enro in a plan under part c or d in the medicare program. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to insert extraneous merl on the bill including exchange of letters between the committee on

energy and commerce and the committee on ways and means. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to commend mr. carter, mr. loebsack and mr. reed, working together on legislation to develop bipartisan bill. this medicare program provides health care coverage to more than 58 million of o citizens, serving the over the age 65 population. medicare accounts for a large share of total opioid prescriptions. while many medicare beneficiaries with serious conditions are being properly prescribed opioids, we have to be mindful of the potential dangers of diversion and misuse of these very prescriptions. there is no silver bullet in stopping the opioid crisis in this country, but this

legislation will study one otential tool will slow opioid prescription. abuse, deterrent formulations have proven to the food and drug administration that they are harder to abuse because of certain properties they contain. while no abuse deterrent formulations 100% resistant to abuse, we need to know what polici will be in place that will limit access to these drugs for when they are the right option. i believe this bill is important to inform future discussions on these technologies and i urge my colleagues to vote yes and pass h.r. 5582 and i know mr. carter has been effort. and i yield such time to the gentleman from georgia, important member of our committee, mr. carter. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. carter: i thank the gentleman for yielding.

each year, approximately 4.5 million americans use pain medications contributing to 89 deaths per day. of those that misuse pain relievers, 5 % obtained them from friends or relatives. although past legislative efforts encouraged innovation of prescription drug regulation, law enforcement and education, there are still individuals who have severe limit -- severe legitimate chronic pain and need access to opioids. abuse deterrent regulations represent a technology for this that prevents the crushing and distorting. and drug plans present barriers including cost sharing tiers, pricing and prior authorization requirements, limiting access to abuse deterrent formulations.

this legislation directs the secretary of health and human services to conduct a study on arriers on opioid formlations for chronic pain patients enrolled in medicare. solutions must balance the need to preserve access to effective pain medications for legitimate patients living with pain while minimizing the abuse that occurs in our communities. i'm proud to introduce this legislation with my colleague across the aisle, representative loebsack and ways and means colleague, representative reed, and i urge your support. and i yield back. mr. walden: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. this bill would require the department of health and human services to conduct a study and submit to congress a report on the adequacy of formul for

individuals with chronic pain enrolled in medicare advantage or part d. while hesitant about the true impact abuse deterrent formulations can have in addressing ts crisis especially given these formulations could lead to opioid dependence and abuse, i also recognize we must have every tool available to combat this epidemic. this includes language. it's critical when evaluating the adequacy of access to study the price of drug formulations as cost is a critical component. i support the bill. and i reserve. . mr. walden: mr. speaker, i have no speakers. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd urge my colleagues to support the bill and yield back

the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the entlemieldsback. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i'd do the same and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 55582. hose in favor say aye. -- the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5582. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: i ask the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5583. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5583, a bill to amend title 11 of the social security act to require states to annually report on certain adult health quality measures, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each

will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlemafr oregon. mr. walden: i thank the gentleman. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and insert remarks extraneous materials in the record on thel the speaker pro tempore: without objectn. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i tell my colleagues, this is the 20th bill in a row. a few more. this bill requires states to report on the behavioral health quality measures in c.m.s.'s score set of adult health measures. these measures were created as part of the legislation back in 2009. states almost had a decade to understand the measures and to reportem now it's time t make sure that information gets reported so congress can have a complete view on behavioral health care in medicaid. you see, these behavioral health measures focus on important issues such as

initiation and adherence to medication and treatment, smoking cessation, ening, and follow-up after hospitalizations. this legislation is certainly alignment in recent measures. in the children's health insurance program record 10-year extension, states are now required to report on the pediatric core measures. now, this legislation before us will provide some parity in requiring the important of behavioral health measures as well. mr. speaker, i'd urge support of this measure a reserve the alance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise in support of h.r. 5583 which would require all medicaid programs to report on adult quality measures.

16 key is used by c.m.s. to measure the quality of behavioral health care that's being provided by state medicaid and chip agencies. recently c.m.s. added two additional measures relad opioids. the corset is designed to help ensure that those with behavioral health care needs are receiving appropriate screening, management, and follow-up for their mental health conditions, such as substance abuse disorder, including opioid use disorders, adhd, depression, or schizophrenia. currently, the behavioral health corset is a volunteer core measure -- core set is a olunteer core measure. mandatory reporting will ensure we have a standard nationwide, data set on the quality of health that those receive under

medicaid. improving our health care system's ability to fight opioid -- the opioid epidemic, so i urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and i would yield now such time as she may consume tothe sponsor, ms. clarke. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york is recognized. ms. clarke: i thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the ranking member for yielding me this time. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 5583, which i introduced together with representative greg walden of oregon, chairman of our committee, and representative marsha blackburn of tennessee. as you have heard throughout today's floor debate, more than 115 people die every day from an opioid overdose. and in my hometown of new york city, someone dies every seven hours from an opioid overdose.

the african-american community, in particular, is dying at an alarming rate from opioid abe. the overdose death rate among african-americaurban counties rose by 41% in 2016. mr. speaker, this is more than an epidemic. this is a full-blown crisis, and congress must act to protect our most vulnerable communities. to address this epidemic, i have introduced a bill that would support the centers for medicare and medicaid services' efforts to track quality care, especially in behavioral health related to the use of opioids. currently, state reporting on these measures is strictly voluntary. h.r. 5583 would make such reporting mandatory. doing so allows us to better collect data for research purposes.

r. 5583 is one of 57 bills that the house energy and commerce committee has brought forward to combat the opioid crisis. now is the time for house leadership to bring the issue to a vote. we need data that will help us understand opioid prevalence and incidents trends amongst our most vulnerable populations. we know that the vast majority of people seeking addiction treatment rely on medicaid. we require quality reporting in our other federal health programs. medicaid beneficiaries deserve the same consideration. this bill is a bipartisan effort with representatives walden and blackburn, and this crisis goes beyond a rural or urban issue. from coast to coast, the opioid epidemic has raged in our communities. regardless of where we are

from, urban, suburban, or rural communities, we must come together to find a solution to opioid abuse. r. 5583 enables congress and other nation's public health agencies to examine and better understand how to support states in treating substance abuse and opioid use disorders. mr. speaker, instead of undermining and sabotaging the a.c.a., gutting medicaid, let's think of the american people first. 115 people die every day from opioid-based overdoses. how many hundreds more before congress takes action? this is straightforward policy that will give us insight on how to be most effective in helping our most at-risk communities. i thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back.

the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: well, mr. speaker, i just want to thank the gentlelady from new york, my friend, and she's a tireless worker on our committee, for your leadership on this issue, especially. with that, mr. speaker, i have no other speakers on my side of the aisle. i don't know if my colleague from new jersey has any other speakers. would yield back the balance of my time and encourage passage of the legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon yields back. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. e: ipaon urge my colleagues to support the bill and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the ill h.r. 5583. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. . lden: thank you, mr. speaker. i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5685. the speaker pro tempore: the

clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5685, a bill to amend title 18 of the social security act to provide educational resources regarding opioid use and pain management as part of the medicare and you handbook. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i ask unanimous consent, mr. speaker, that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the record on the bill, including letters exchanged between the committees on energy and commerce and ways and means. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the geneman is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i want to commend you, representative faso, now -- we changed out the speakership -- as well as representative welch and renacci. you worked hard on this bipartisan bill.

medicare opioid safety education act directs the centers for medicare and medicaid services to include information about the risk of opioid use, potential nonopioid pain management treatments, and in r relevant information the medicare and you handbook. 57 rovides coverage to over million people. we need to have a thoughtful conversation with his her provider about their prescriptions and the possible alternatives. educati is a big part of what we're doing here. medicare andou handbook is provided to every ben fesh air and represents an -- neficiary and represents a discussion of pain treatment options. you know, we are rightly seizing upon this opportunity to inform as many people possible and educate them about the long-term opioid use and

misuse. it's always a good thing to do. it's another tool in the toolbox when it comes to beneficiary outreach and education. so i urge my colleagues to vote yes on h.r. 5685. gentleman, the very capable and abled legislator to the gentleman from new york, mr. faso. he's been a real leader in this overall effort, but certainly on this piece of legislation. i'd recognize mr. faso for such time as he may consume, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. faso: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank chairman walden for all of his leadership, and ranking member pallone for the leadership on a bipartisan basis of bringing all these bills to the floor today. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of my legislation, h.r. 5685, the medicare opioid safety education act. when enacted, this bill will help to combat the opioid isis by improving efforts to educate seniors on alternatives to traditional opioid pain

medication as they use it through the medicare part d program. nearly 1/3 of seniors on medicare part d were prescribed an opioid in 2016. nearly 1/3 of seniors prcribed an opioid on medicare part d in 2016. that statistic underlines just how pervasive opioid painkillers are among seniors who are ofte dealing with issues stemming from chronic pain. seniors are given an informational booklet entitled "medicare and you" prior to becoming medicare eligible, that details the services availableto them upon enrollment. currently, the word opioid actually only appears once in this booklet, and given the national crisis that we are facing of opioid addiction among all segments of our society, that is really not enough. mobile would substantially improve the medicare opioid education by adding available

opioid alternatives and additional education information in this handbook for every senior to see. mr. speaker, i'dike to thank chairman walden for all of his hard work on this important issue and for working with us on bringing this legislation to the floor today. i urge all of my colleagues to support this important legislation, and i yield back thnce of my time. mr. walden: and i'd reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon reserves. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. and i rise in support of h.r. 5685, sponsored by representatives john faso and peter rell much. i commend my colleagues -- peter welch. i commend my colleagues. we know that opioid use and misuse is a significant problem in the medicare population. we know we need to do e, not only to bring down opioid prescribing, but to make seniors aware of the dangers of opioid addiction and the existence of alternatives.

h.r. 5685 would add educational resources regarding opioid use and nonopioid pain management alternatives to the medicar and you handbook which is emailed to all medicare households each fall. i doant to underscore that it's incremental and limid. i want to reiterate my concern that while democrats wants to work on a package to address the opioid crisis, we need to make sure we do no harm. the trump administration and congressional republicans' efforts to dismantle the affordable care act would do serious harm to our health care system and to individuals suffering from opioid use disorders, specifically. for instance, the trump administration continues to undermine the individual market by promoting junk insurance plans such as short-term limited duration health plans. these plans, which would be medically underwritten and would exclude individuals with

pre-existing conditions, would make coverage in the affordable care act compliant market much more expensive. this would make coverage for individuals who need comprehensive coverage, such as individuals with opioid use isorders, less affordable the package cannot be considered in a vacuum. make no mistake, republican the a.c.a. btadge will inflict lasting harm and to our ability to fight the opioid crisis. and i have no additional speakers. so, mr. speaker, i would ask my colleagues to support this bill. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields. entlthe gan from oregon. mr. walden: i would urge our colleagues to support this important and bipartisan legislation and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon yields. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the

bill h.r. 5685. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended and the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the tail. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 4275 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 45, a bill to provide for the development and dissemination of programs and materials for training pharmacists, health care providers and patients on indicators that a prescription is fraudulent, forged or indicative of abuse or diversion or for other purposes. mr. walden: i ask -- the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, each will control 20 minutes.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: mr. saker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials on the record on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: before us today is a product of your hard work and that of our colleague from california, and as e only pharmacist in congress, mr. carter understands the neeo get fraudulent prescrinse steet tools to combat the opioid crisis. he offered this bipartisan bill which will require the secretary of health and human services to delop and disseminate education materials for pharmacists to reject fort

lauderdale lent prescriptions. law enforcement plays a key role in stopping fraudulent prescription.sp sibility lies with pharmacists who are licensed health care professionals. we amended the bill at the committ level to originate materials at the department of health and human services as opposed to the justice department. as mr. carter has said, this ill will complement d.e.a.'s forts as well as presentations, meetings and seminars. i urge passage of this legislation and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: scrart. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: i yield myself such time as i may consume. and i rise to express my support for h.r. 4275, legislation that would help pharmacists detect fraudulent prescriptions by requiring the department of

health and human services to develop training materials to provide pharmacists, providers and patients with a greater understanding of the ability and responsibility of pharmacists to refuse tore fill forged prescriptions. i would like to ask unanimous consent to submit my statement for the record and yield at this time to the sponsor of the bill, mr. desean year of california and thank him for his work on this important legislation. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. desaulnier; thank you to mr. pallone for yielding. i support the empowering pharmacists in the fight against opioid abuse act. over 53,000 people died to a drug overdose. this -- these are more deaths in one year than the total number of americans who died in the entire american war.

-- vietnam war. the united states is facing a clear opioid epidemic. we have a little over four% of the world's population but consume 80%. there is no simple solution to growing to solving this problem, but the peam powering pharmacist is a step towards addressing it. this bipartisan bill will require the department of health and human services and d.e.a. to increase the amount of education done to ensure that pharmacists, physicians and the public understand that pharmacists ha both the right and the responsibility to deny possible apply fraudulent prescriptions. pharmacists are often the last line of defense in the fight against drug abuse. pharmacists are alled to exercise sound professional judgment to decide whether a prescription is legitimate and should be filled. this bill would make sure

everyone in the prescribing chain from doctors to pharmacists to patients know what a pharmacist can and should do. by empowering pharmacists to the fullest extent, we can reduce the number of opioids on the reets and slow the flow of opioids. i thank mr. carter who is the only pharmacist in making this bill a reality. i would like to thank the national community pharmacist association for their support and help thrugho the drafting of this bill and i thank chairman walden and ranking member pallone for their support. thank you, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from oregon is recognized.

mr. walden: at this point, i'm honored to recognize the gentleman from georgia, mr. carter, the author of this legislation, co-author of this legislation. and as you heard our only resident pharmacist and knows this firsthand and has brought knowledge and skill to the legislative process and i yield to him such time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. carter: i thank the gentleman for yielding. deaths from drug overdoses have risen in every county across the united states with 47,055 americans being lost each ear due to overdose, the equivalent of 115 people every day. pharmacists are the last line of defense in the fight against prescription drug abuse. under current law, pharmacist are required to exercise sound judgment when determining the legitimacy of a controlled substance prescription. while the proper prescribing of

controlled substances is the responsibility of the practitioner, pharmacists have a responsibility to ensure that controlledstanc only dispensed pursuant to a valid prescription should for a egitimate medical practitioner acting in the ureb practice. even though pharmacists are not law enforcement, they play an important role in preventing the use of fraudulent prescriptions. th wuld require the department of health and human services, the drug enforcement administration and other federal agencies responsible for combatting the opioid epidemic to produce and disseminate materials to pharmacist when and how to refuse a prescription that the pharmacist believes to be fraudulent. i urge you to support this commonsense legislation led by

representative that will improve the last line of defense. thank you, mr. speaker. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. walden: i resevere the balance of my time. i don't believe i have any other speakers, however. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i would urge my colleagues to support the bill. the speer pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields back. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i would encourage my colleagues to support this legislation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question now occurs, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 4275 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes have it.

the rules are suspended and the bill is passed and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5197 as amended. the clerk: h.r. 5197 a bill to direct the secretary of health and human services to conduct a demonstration program to test alternative pain management protocols to limit the use of opioids and emergency departments. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon and the gentleman from new jersey each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to insert extraneous material. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. so ordered. mr. walden: i yield myself such time as i may consume. i express my strong support of h.r. 5197, alternatives to

opioids and the emergency department act. ergency rooms are preventing addiction through the prescribing of opioids. by establishing a demonstration program to test protocols to limit use of opioids in hospital emergency departments, h.r. 5197 places emergency rooms on the front lines of defense against this opioid crisis. i want to thank representatives pascrell and mr. mckinley along with representative degette. throughout my district in oregon, i met with victims and families and treatment advocates and medical providers and law enforcement officers on the front lines on the plight in our communities and that includes mike from grants pass. first time i met mike was at a round table in medford, i think in southern oregon. mike didn't know anybody in the

room. i invited these folks to come ound the table. they were in the treatment programs, they were law enforcement and i noticed he was there. and he had heard the news about our meeting to discuss opioid abuse. and when we finished going around the table, i said what brings you here, sir? and he told me his family story. his son was injured in a school sporting accident and became addicted to prescription painkillers provided by his medical provider to aid in his recovery. mike's son made the transition to a cheaper source. you would know it as heroin. to this day, he said, his son struggles with his addiction that began with opioid abuse and talked about his sister that suffered from addiction. a nurse. she found herself with a way to get access to pills. when co-workers and others

caught on, she moved and continued her addiction and her ability to procure pills and died as a result of her addiction. mike came to the meeting in hopes of sharing his stories, his son and his sister could help sure such tragedies don't help to other other families. mike was present at another meeting. he urged everyone to make combatting the opioid crisis a top priority and said the only way we are going to do it is address it. do something about it and make this an every day part of our thought. well, mike, this coness, we have made addressing this scurge an every day part of our thoughts and efforts and we will continue to do it to rip this terrible men ace out of our communities. we have the opportunity to make important progress in this fight

with the legislation before us. all of which reflects the feedback we've heard from people like you and from others, round tables and meetings in our home districts. mike, you've been heard. we are acting and acting on your behalf and on behalf of so many other americans and american families who are dealing with this tragedy. with that, mr. speaker, i would resevere the balance of my time. . mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: i rise in support alternatives to opioids in the emergency department act. this would create a demonstration program to support emergency departments in developing, implementing, enhancing, or studying alternative pain management protocols and treatment that limit the use and prescription of opioids in emergency

departments. supporting the development of protocols to alternatives to opioids medication, as proposed by this bill, can reduce the number of those put at risk to addiction and lead to fewer fatal and nfatal overdoses. so i encourage my colleagues to support this legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. actually, mr. speaker, what i'd like to do now is yield such time as he may consume to the sponsor, mr. pascrell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for such time as he may consume. mr. pascrell: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in support of h.r. 5197, e alteatives to opioids, alto, in the emergency department ac i'd like to thank chairman walden and ranking member pallone for the work not only today but leading up to today. , is is moving quickly on us

and you have reviewed the legislation very carefully and have offered very, very good advice on all of these pieces of legislation. leadership here is outstanding. a special thank you to my colleague, david mckinley, who sponsored this legislation with me, and has been an essential partner. i'm glad to see this body come together in a bipartisan manner to address a problem that i ravaging every corner of each of our districts. i believe the bills being considered today should be viewed as only a small part of an ongoing discussion of reforms, more importantly, resources needed to reverse the unyielding trend of this epidemic. opioids are contributing to 115 people dying a day. if you go back to the h.i.v. epidemic at the end of the 1980's and early 1990's, you'll see similar numbers.

until we educated ourselves and people, we still were in the 19th century with that disease. in the 1990's, we had no idea how to solve that epidemic, and we finally did. today, we do know how to prevent, how to halt, and to reverse the horrific trend of substance abuse disorder, which continues to be on the rise. we must need to make sure on the front lines have the resources to address it. i believe a major piece of the equation is prevention. that is why i introduced this alternatives to opioids legislation, which enjoys strong bipartisan support. thealityo program was pioneered -- the alto program was pioneered in paterson, new jersey, and they started in the emergency room, mr. speaker, mr. chairman, and now they're moving to other departments to

use alternatives that are legitimate. the president of that hospital, kevinand the head of emergency medicine, dr. mark rosenberg, they implemented innovative protocols to use nonopioid treatments to address some of the most common painful conditions like acute backache and headaches. in its first two year, the st. seph's alto model has led to an 82% reduction in opioid prescriptions. i think that's a big deal. in fact, st. joseph's has been replicating this model, as i said before -- beyond the emergency department to other departments. they are also teaching alto to other states, other hospitals that are now seeing similar success. while ending the opioid epidemic will require a multifaceted approach, the initial success of this program

and others like it are worthy of broader study and implementation. i would recommend that, mr. chairman, mr. speaker. this bill establishes a demonstration program to test alternative pain management. those protocols should be limited to the use of opioids in emergency departments. the secretary of health and human services will then report on the results of the program and make recommendations for broader implementation. this bill will empower health care providers to prevent unnecessary opioids from getting into patient's hands and ultimately stop countless overdoses. my model for dealing with a zero tolerance, which i taught in a classroom, my motto is the fact that we need to prevent these things from happening. no market, no sale. that's the center of everything i do in terms of drug

prevention. because we are not going to pass enough legislation until our lture itself rid interinner sanket ups of having to deal -- sanctums of having to deal with our devils and get us off track every day, whether you are a student or an adult. i yield back and thank you for your cooperation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i yield myself such time as i may consume, mr. speaker. i just want to commend the gentleman for bringing this to our attention with his colleagues. you know, that was part of what we did on member day, i think it was in october, we had 50 members. i don't recall specifically whether you brought it to us there or some other time. we're taking these real-life experiences from our districts, the things that work and saying , that works, we know it works. it works in our hospitals, our town, and we are saying it can

work nationwide. we are takg what the gentleman from new jersey has brought from his district to this house floor and say, let's apply this nationwide. together we can overcome this epidemic. we must overcome this epidemic. it is in our ability to do this. and i would just say to the gentleman and my friend, mr. speaker, that we are not done. just as we weren't done two years ago when we modni america's mental health laws. at that point with mr. murphy of pennsylvania was here and gave us great counsel about how to do that. we put money into dealing with opioids then. that and 21st century cures that mr. upton and ms. degette help lead the effort on to invest in medical research. i mow at n.i.h. they are work -- i know at n.i.h. they are woi day and night to find a nonaddictive pain management medicine. and we wish them god speed in that effort, mr. speaker. and i, again, thank my friend

from new jersey for bringing this to us. this is the kind of legislation hat will save lives, pre trady we're going to get it passed here in a bipartisan, unanimous way, d believe, in a matter of seconds. with that i yield back the balance of my time urging my members support this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. both sides have yielded back. the gentleman from new jersey seeks recognition. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i would urge support, urge my colleagues to support this bill and yield back the balance of my time as well. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5197, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the airmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5587, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5587, a bill to amend the public health service act to authorize certain recovery services grants b used to establish regional technical assistance centers. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: and, mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and xtend their remarks and insert extraneous material -- pardon me -- materials in the record on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to express my strong support for h.r. 5587. this is the peer support communities of recovery act. now, this legislation will support the peer support specialist work force by

authorizing the department of health and human services to award grants to peer support specialist organizations for the development and expansion of recovery services. peer support specialists, peer recovery coaes are health workers who provide treatment, linkages to individuals suffering from substance use disorder and support services to those newly in recovery. our colleague from new mexico, ben ray lujan, and our friend from ohio, mr. johnson, have helped lead and put this in bipartisan terms and bring it to us today. and i appreciate their hard work on this initiative and would reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: i rise in support of h.r. 5587, the peer support communities of recovery act. i want to thank mr. lujar

sponsoring this bill but also for being the major sponsor of many of the pieces of legislation that we discussed today, that we're passing today as part of the opioid package. this would amend the grant program to allow samhsa to provide funding for regional technical assistanceenters. it wprove technical assistance for the implementation of regionally delivered peer delivered support services, establish recovery community organizations, an establishment of recovery community centers. i ask my colleagues to support this legislation, and i'd now yield such time as he may consume t. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new mexico is recognized for such time as he may consume. mr. lujan: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you for the time and for your leadership as well, mr. pallone. chairman walden, thank you and your team nor your work on this important -- for your work on this important legislation.

a special recognition of the work of mr. johnson and his staff of ohio for being so willing to work on thisant and for the incredible team that he's assembs we. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of the peer support specialist recovery act. anyone who has heard me speak about opioids knows i believe strongly that to address this opioid epidemic we must address our nation's work force challenges. we have phenomenal providers in new mexico, and mr. johnson has them in ohio, but what we both know is that we don't have enough of them. this is a numbers game, and unfortunately, the number of people with substance use disorder surpass the number of providers and treatment staff. that's where peer support specialists come in. for those who have not heard me talk about this or did not tune in to hear our energy and commerce witnesses throughout the hearing process, peer support recovery specialists

are people who lived and experienced, sadly, the challenges with substance abuse , who have fought against their addii and are in recovery d receed training to help others who are in the midst of the fight now. peer support recovery specialists provide immediate ongoing support and treatment linkages to individuals in recovery. a peer e smith, support specialist in farmington, new mexico, testified, i quote, being able to connect to our patients, both through our shared heritage and shared struggles with addiction has allowed me to function as a bridge between them, the staff, and the community. this work has enabled me to be effective as a community support worker and mentor. most importantly, i am living

proof that recovery can happen, closed quote. these people provide an incredibly important service to the community. peer support programs also mean jobs for individuals who may not otherwise find those opportunities. and . smith explained to us, this job got her through hard times in her own journey with substance use and made her feel proud to support the community and help her people in such an important way. i'm grateful that the house has acknowledged the importance of these programs. and i'm hopeful that the senate will do the same very soon. i you, again, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: mr. speaker, i have no further speakers on this matter, and would encourage my colleagues to support this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i would urge my colleagues to

support this bill and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman yields back his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 5587, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? mr. walden: i move the house suspend the rules and pass the ill h.r. 5812. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from -- the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5812. a bill to amend the public health service act to authorize the director of the centers for disease control and prevention to carry out certain activities to prevent controlled bstances, overdoses and for

other purposes. speak pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert ex ryiteris -- extraneous materials into the record on the bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. this is our last bill of the day on opioids. we have -- this is the 25th piece of legislation that we have worked through, not only our cmitteut also now the house floor. i rise in strong support of h.r. 5812, the connections act. this legislation enhances and improves state-run prescription drug monitoring programs. these are really, really important. prescription drug monitoring progms or, as they're known, pdmp's, are useful tools in

helping identify and deter drug misuse and diversion. they allow health prescribers to identify patients exhibiting risky behaviors and assist those individuals in getting help. by strengthening the current efforts of the centers for disease control and prevention, in coordination with the substance abuse and mental health services administration, and the office of the national coordinator for health information technology, the connections act will help make state-run pdmp's more easily accessible, more user-friendly, more accurate, and better integrated across the country. so i want to thank my colleague from virginia, representative morgyn griffith, terrific member our committee, vice chair of the oversight and investigations committee, who has done a lot of the work investigating pill dumping and patient brokering and the kind of abuses we've seen that have helped inform our legislation. they've done over in the oversight investigations

subcommittee. he'll speak in just a minute. i want to thank my colleague from new jersey, representative frank pallone, as well. and representative brian fitzpatrick from pennsylvania. they've all worked together on this really, really important improvement. so with that, mr. speaker, i'll turn over to mr. griffith such time as he may consume to discuss his really important legislation in h.r. 5812. i recognize the gentleman from virginia. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. griffith: thank you, mr. chairman. i also want to thank ranking member pallone for his help on this bill. the connections act, as the chairman ha deals with state-run prescription drug monitoring programs, which are widely recognized as an important tool in fighting the opioid epidemic. these programs enable providers to better identify patients who may be at risk for abuse of opioid prescriptions. this is a critical first step in preventing abuse by those who may be vulnerable. the bill will improve federal support for state-run prescription drug monitoring programs, tome power those

states to success -- to empower those states to successfuy implement iprovements and build all of -- off of their existing programs. the legislation facilitates more widespread use by the providers. so what we're trying to do is right now we have 49 of 50 states that have prescription drug monitoring programs. they all are trying to talk to each other. particularly when you have a district like mine which kind of forms a sort of triangle in the southwest corner of virginia, you can get to west virginia, kentucky, north carolina and tennessee all within a single day. without le e physician in those areas, you need to know if your patient may have driven a few miles across the line in an attempt g me prescription drugs than maybe they ought to be taking. and so with the pdmp's are supposed to do is let the physicians know what's going on. but if our state prescription drug monitoring programs don't have the ability to talk to one another or interact efficiently, that creates a delay or a

dilemma for the physician who is trying to do the right thing and monitor what's going on and see for those who may be vulnerable oabout to step into an arena that they really don't want to get into, but they're suffering pain and they think this is the way to go. we want to stop that. we want to help the physicians. and what this bill does is it allows the physicians and allows the pdmp's run by the states to have more interactivity between the two or between the three or four or five, as the case may be, as it would be in my district. so the pdmp's are especially valuable for districts like mine, as we've discussed. and the pharmacies and doctors in other states who are just a stone's throw away can come back in and check to see what's going on. this legislation will give these states that abili a it's a good, bipartisan bill and io appreciate ranking member pallone for working on this with me in a bipartisan fashion. and i also appreciate greatly the leadership of our chairman, chairman walden, for making this

a major issue and allowing us to put forward so many bills, both this week and next, that deal with this very serious concern, and this is one step in the right direction to making sure that we try to ensure that folk don't go down the path of abuse. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. walden: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pporero tem the gentleman resees thealance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise in support of h.r. 58 12 the connections act -- 5812, the connections act. i was pleased to work with representative griffith on this bipartisan legislation. this bill authorizes funding to enhance and improve state prescription drug monitoring programs, among other prevention forts. this legislation codifies cd -- c.d.c.'s prevention for states program, which includes funding to improve state prescription drug monitoring programs. or pdmp's. as part of that program, the

c.d.c. will implement the activiti described in the national all schedules prescription electronic act.ting or nasper as the original democratic sponsor of nasper, i've been a long-time champion of pdmp's as public health tools that can prevent and respond to opioid abuse. the role of pdmp's in the current opioid epidemic has proven why our long-time interests and push for investments in this space is so critical. as the technology has matured, we've moved from working towards the goal of ensuring the interstate sharing of pdmp data to now aiming to make pdmp's more interconnected, realtime, and useble for public health surveillance and clinical decision making. in continuing to strengthen pdmp's, we'll improve our ability to prevent addiction from occurring in the first place, and help identify individuals who could benefit

from treatment or opioid use disorder. i wted to urge my colleagues, obviously, to support this legislation. and, mr. speaker, i know we've been here, gss, for about four hours now. we're done with the suspensions bills that are part of this opioid package. and i don't mean to negate in any way this package. i do think it's important. but i still want to say, as we conclude today, expresmy concern that collectely these bills that we're considering do not go far enough in providing the resources necessary for an epidemic of this magnitude. there's 115 americans dying every day and we have to ensure that people have access to treatment. the bills the house is debating and will pass this afternoon and over the next two weeks do not do enough to expand treatment for millions suffering from this crisis. and i would also be remiss again if i did not also mention the republicans' ongoing efforts to

repeal the affordable care act medicaid and take -- medicaid d gut medicaid and take away prit cal protections for people with -- critical protections for people with pre-existing conditions. the jue department just announced under president trump and attorney general sessions that they're not going to defend a lawsuit that's being brought by republican attorney generals in many states that would basically say that the affordable care act does not have to protect people anymore from pre-existing conditions. when discussing the opioid crisis on the floor this week and next, i urge my colleagues to remember that protecting and expanding access to care is the most critical piece of the puzzle. and in the efforts to roll back the affordable care act, such as another republican-led attack against the a.c.a. or gut medicaid, will hu t pple who need it the most with, that i am pleased to support this bill -- most. with that, i am pleased to support this bill and the package of bills we considered today.

and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to recognize once again our resident pharmacist, the gentleman from georgia, mr. carter, to seaon the . i'll yield three minutes to him. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. carter: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i'd also like to thank my colleague, mr. griffith, for all his work on this very important legislation. i'd also like to thank him for including language that requires a report on the impact of pdmp's on patient access to appropriate care. this is critical for epilepsy patients that can face barriers to accessing their schedule five nonnarcotic drugsnon-narcotic d control their seizures. several medications are classified as schedule five and therefore fall under monitoring requirements, despite the fact that they are non-opioid, non-narcotic, and there's no evidence to indicate these medications are being abused by people with epilepsy. this has led to unnecessary

delays in access to their prescribed therapy. a handful of states have passed legislation that removes non-narcotic drugs from reporting requirements. as we work through legislation intended to combat the opioid crisis, we need tsu that we do not limit access to legitimate care, especially to non-narcotic drugs. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia yields back. mr. walden: i know my thine w to mr. ed back so i fitzpatrick of pennsylvania, who is a co-author of this very important piece of legislation, i yield him such time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is rnized mr. fitat tha you, mr. chairman. mr. speaker, the opioid epidemic is devastating communities within my district and across the country. and last year alone bucks county, pennsylvania, has lost 232 individuals in drug-related deaths. a staggering 26% increase from

2016. as vice chair of the bipartisan task force, i'm proud toise today in strong support of h.r. 5812, the connections act. while my district is just one area in the nation that is struggling to cope with the opioid crisis, i believe the connections act will provide officials on the ground the necessary training techniques and resources they need to turn the tide on this epidemic. as a long-time proponent of states fully utilizing prescription drug monitoring programs to track controlled substance purchases, i'm proud of the pdmp enhancements in this bipartisan bill. our nation's drug epidemic is a complicated issue, mr. speaker. and our response must be multifaceted. this means a reduction in the unnecessary dispensing of prescriptions, which could be accomplished by tracking and reporting information that allows physicians, pharmacists and other health professionals to make informed clinical decisions and to identify troubling trends. i'd like to thank my colleague from west virginia, mr.

griffith, for his leadership on this imrtant piece of legislation, and i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the passage of the connections act. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. walden: mr. speaker, in conclusion i just want my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their incredible tenacity, their hard work, their -- bringing from their districts and the people they represent these ideas that formulate solutions that we're now going to enact into law. and move them over to the senate. we'll pass them here, move them over to the senate, eventually into law. i would also point out that starting in 2016, 2017, republicans in this congress passed care and the 21st century cures act, putting over $1.2 billion into the efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. and then we doubled down literally and figuratively and even more than that, i think we've got $4 billion in the latest spending bill, directed specifically at opioids.

and another couple billion at mental health services. both of these are big needs for our communities and for our citizens, both led by republicans and the trusm administration in terms of -- trump administration in terms of this most latest investment in the fight on opioids. i know president trump and the administration are doing a lot of work on their own. through using their executive powers, their administrative powers, to address the problems of the opioid epidemic. through the various agencies of the federal government. not only are they leading on that, but they're also partnering with our states and our local communities. we've got to make sure the money we appropriate gets all the way to the ground, gets into these community organizations thatre on the front lines of helping helping them get the services they need. record funding going in. it helps when we change these laws to modernize them so that people can get access to the care they need, they deserve, and together we're going to solve this problem. big step forward.

25 bills today. we'll have more later in this week. and another 25 or 30 next week. we know that this is an ongoing challenge for our country. it will be an ongoing effort for our committee. with that, mr. speaker, i urge passage of this particular piece of legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro ore: t gentleman from oregon yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 5812. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion in the opinion of the chair, 2/3's being in the affirmative, the bill is passed and without objection t mto reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess for a period of less than

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