Senator Boozman: (2:19 p.m.)

• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "Together with other measures in this bill, we can make a real difference and change the conversations we have around opioid abuse and addiction to focus not on the lives taken but on the lives that are being saved. The comprehensive response to this crisis shows - the comprehensive response to the crisis shows how committed we are as a nation to combating opioid addiction. I applaud the U.S. Department of Agriculture with this week's announcement of its partnership with communities across the country to fight the opioid epidemic in rural America, including Newport, Arkansas. Newport USDA is investing more than $150,000 to convert the former Jackson county jail into the White River Women's Shelter."

 

Senator Peters: (2:45 p.m.)

• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "116 lives that ended decades too soon, lost every day. Substance abuse disorders do not discriminate. We feel this pain in every region in our country, urban and rural areas in red and blue states. We know there's no silver bullet that will end this crisis overnight, but we do know how to fight it together, and that is what we are doing today. Tonight the Senate will pass the bipartisan Opioid Crisis Response Act, and this body will show a unity of purpose that, frankly, I wish we could show more often. As this important bipartisan legislation came together, I worked closely with my colleague, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, of West Virginia, to make sure that our nation's youth were not left behind."

 

Senator Markey: (3:00 p.m.)

• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "I rise today to speak about the pending legislation to address the opioid epidemic, a crisis the likes of which we have never seen in America. All of us know that this crisis is a nightmare. It is a scourge. The prescription drug, heroin, and fentanyl epidemic is a human tragedy happening in nearly every city and town of our country. Preliminary estimates indicate that opioid overdoses claimed an estimated 49,000 lives just last year, including nearly 2,000 people in Massachusetts. That's more than gun violence. That's more than car accidents. The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug overdose crisis in American history. A crisis of this proportion demands action at all levels, and I am pleased that the Senate is taking a step in that direction today."

 

Senator King: (3:16 p.m.)

• Spoke on opioid legislation.
  • "Let's do it now. And I believe we can do it as part of this discussion, as part of the final resolution of the bill that's going to be before us this afternoon, which I entirely support. But I think this is an important addition that will strengthen it and that will particularly strengthen the ability to deliver this care, this treatment that so important to so many people and families and communities, particularly in the smaller towns and rural areas of America and in my state of Maine."