| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
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FEMA's Role in Disaster Recovery
00:03:40
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|
unidentified
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for administering tax dollars of that volume. | |
| There has to be controls in place. | ||
| There's also an unexpected expectation of what FEMA is going to provide after disasters. | ||
| And it's different. | ||
| Everybody's disaster experience is different, whether you had insurance and whether you didn't have insurance, what other programs are available besides FEMA. | ||
| So, you know, I think FEMA plays a critical role in helping communities go from response to recovery. | ||
| All right, let's talk to callers. | ||
|
unidentified
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John is in Delaray Beach, Florida. | |
| John, you're in a hurricane area. | ||
| Yes, hi, thank you, C-SPAN. | ||
| So I've lived in South Florida since 1973, and welcome to the hurricanes season. | ||
| We also, these tornadoes, just our thunderstorms recently are getting violent with huge wind. | ||
| You can watch the rest of this on our free C-SPAN Now video app as we take you to the U.S. Capitol where the House is gaveling it. | ||
| You're watching live coverage on C-SPAN. | ||
| Question on HRES 458 and adoption of HRES 458 if ordered. | ||
| The first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. | ||
| Pursuant to clause 9 of Rule 20, remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute votes. | ||
| Pursuant to clause 8 of Rule 20, the unfinished business is the vote on ordering the previous question on House Resolution 458, on which the yays and the nays are ordered. | ||
| The clerk will report the title of the resolution. | ||
| House calendar number 30, House Resolution 458. | ||
| Resolution providing for consideration of the bill, H.R. 2483, to reauthorize certain programs that provide for opioid use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery and for other purposes. | ||
| Providing for consideration of the bill, H.R. 2931, to direct the administrator of the Small Business Administration to relocate certain offices of the Small Business Administration and sanctuary jurisdictions and for other purposes. | ||
| Providing for consideration of the bill, H.R. 2966, to require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to require an applicant for certain loans of the administration to provide certain citizenship status documentation and for other purposes. | ||
| And providing for consideration of the bill, H.R. 2987, to amend the Small Business Act to require a limit on the number of small business lending companies and for other purposes. | ||
| The question is on ordering the previous question. | ||
| Members will record their votes by electronic device. | ||
| This is a 15-minute vote. | ||
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unidentified
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And the first of two vote series of the day underway now here in the House. | |
| Members have been working on the debate rules for four bills. | ||
| One reauthorizes through fiscal year 2030 numerous expired public health programs that address opioid and other drug use disorders, many of which were established by the 2018 Support Act during the first Trump administration. | ||
| Also covered by this rule are several small business related bills. | ||
| One would require the small business administrator to relocate SBA offices from jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. | ||
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Hate and Warning
00:02:51
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unidentified
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While members are in this vote, we'll show some of the news conferences held earlier today by House and by House Republican and Democratic leaders. | |
| Well, good morning, everybody. | ||
| And let me begin with this first. | ||
| My thoughts and prayers go out and are with the victims of the anti-Semitic terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado recently. | ||
| The Jewish people should absolutely not have to face this violence anywhere, let alone in the United States of America. | ||
| Recently, two young people were shot and killed in our nation's capital in an anti-Semitic attack. | ||
| And if that wasn't enough, Holocaust survivors are now actually being burned alive. | ||
| This is the outcome of everyone not condemning anti-Semitism everywhere, especially on our college campuses, which have become a breeding ground for vile hatred. | ||
| And failing to condemn these acts are the same as enabling these acts. | ||
| And the lack of consequences for those failing to condemn these acts has resulted in Jewish people dying. | ||
| Let me be clear on that. | ||
| Things have got to change. | ||
| Otherwise, I hate to say it, buckle up because that's not the last attack that we've seen. | ||
| And we haven't seen the last attack on college campuses, synagogues, or communities coming to a place in your community. | ||
| This type of anti-Semitic behavior needs to be dealt with and it needs to be dealt with swiftly. | ||
| And everyone, I'm going to repeat, needs to condemn this. | ||
| And what makes the attack in Boulder even worse is that it was committed by an illegal alien. | ||
| Wow, that's a shocker. | ||
| Who could have predicted that? | ||
| And I hate to say it, he might not be the only one plotting an attack. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Because under Biden, he let in tens of millions of illegal aliens. | ||
| So the risk is even greater. | ||
| Folks, this is a serious situation that we need to begin to deal with and deal with it swiftly. | ||
| And that's why the Senate must pass the One Big Beautiful Bill. | ||
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Democrats Stand with Illegals
00:03:42
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| Congress must give our law enforcement officers the resource they need to detain and deport violent illegal criminals. | ||
| Given this shocking news, Democrats spent Memorial Day in El Salvador honoring and remembering MS-13 instead of here in our country honoring Americans who actually paid the ultimate sacrifice. | ||
| I mean, honestly, what's next? | ||
| Is a Democrat going to fly to Boulder to visit the illegal who burned Jews alive? | ||
| Is that what's next for the Democratic Party? | ||
| The contrast between Republicans and Democrats couldn't be more clear. | ||
| Democrats stand with illegals. | ||
| House Republicans stand with the American people. | ||
| Democrats voted to raise taxes on hardworking Americans when not one Democrat voted for the Big Beautiful Bill. | ||
| House Republicans, on the other hand, voted to avoid the largest tax increase in history. | ||
| Democrats want your small businesses to close and for you to lose your jobs. | ||
| House Republicans want Main Street to thrive and survive and flourish. | ||
| When we passed the One Big Beautiful Act, we kept our promises. | ||
| Despite constant doubt, now we urge our colleagues in the Senate to pass this transformational legislation. | ||
| The American people can't wait any longer. | ||
| This is a critical piece of history that we must get done. | ||
| Now I want to turn it over to Rep. Mark Mesmer of Indiana, a member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, Armed Services, and Agriculture Committee. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you to House leadership for inviting me here to speak on the incredible success of the One Big Beautiful Bill. | |
| House Republicans are committed to delivering the golden age President Trump promised the American people when he ran for office. | ||
| The reality is, because of the great investigatory work of Doge and the Trump administration have made public and our agriculture committee work in the House, there is actually far more fraud, waste, and abuse present in federal spending than anyone imagined. | ||
| What has been uncovered is appalling. | ||
| The One Big Beautiful Bill controls the growth of federal spending on SNAP and restores integrity to the bipartisan work requirements passed decades ago, protecting the SNAP program for those who truly need it. | ||
| For the first time ever, the bill holds states accountable for inaccurate benefit payments. | ||
| I believe our work marks a new era of efficiency and fairness by encourage modest state contributions. | ||
| I'm proud to say that the language passed on the House floor also includes historic investments in conservation to support the best stewards of our land, the American farmer. | ||
| The bill refuses to neglect rural America. | ||
| With incredible improvements to the farm safety net, our farmers will be supported as they bring healthy, safe, and affordable food to the kitchen tables of Americans. | ||
|
Economic Growth in Pockets
00:09:54
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unidentified
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What we passed in the House is both a lifeline to those who need it most and a promise to the American farmer that we cannot and will not take lightly the importance of their hard-earned contributions to our nation. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Thanks, Mark. | ||
| On Sunday afternoon, we witnessed yet another horrific anti-Semitic terrorist attack on U.S. soil. | ||
| While a peaceful group marched to call for the release of innocent hostages held by Hamas, an evil man launched a well-thought-out, deliberate attack intending to kill, quote, all Zionist people, end quote. | ||
| As he threw Molotov cocktails into the crowd, he shouted, free Palestine. | ||
| As you've already heard, we need to be clear about this. | ||
| The violence we are seeing against the Jewish community here in America is a direct result of the left's refusal to condemn and combat anti-Semitism. | ||
| Sadly, this evil ideology has not only been tolerated by the left, it has been encouraged and enabled. | ||
| When rampant anti-Semitic behavior exploded on college campuses in the wake of October 7th, Joe Biden and the Democrats refused to hold these universities accountable. | ||
| Even sitting Democrat members of Congress regurgitated talking points from Hamas terrorists and normalized riots that do the same. | ||
| It's unacceptable. | ||
| To add insult to injury, the Colorado terrorist was, again, an illegal alien who was allowed in the United States by the Biden administration. | ||
| For four years, Joe Biden and the Democrats failed open border policies, welcomed unknown members of potential terrorists into our nation, setting the stage for scenarios like the one that we saw this week. | ||
| By letting millions of unvetted illegal aliens into our communities, the Biden administration left a national security mess, and the Trump administration is racing to clean it up. | ||
| Border security and deportation efforts are urgent. | ||
| Lives are at stake. | ||
| Our one big, beautiful bill strengthens these efforts by providing additional funding for more deportations, more border patrol agents, and more border wall. | ||
| We're going to continue to work with the Senate to get this done for the American people. | ||
| And as we've said every week since we started this March, failure is not an option. | ||
| The safety of our communities depends on it. | ||
| With that, I turn it over to our leader. | ||
| Thank you, Whip. | ||
| We all mourn those who were the victims of these attacks here in Washington, D.C., as well as in Boulder, Colorado. | ||
| And it just unfortunately highlights this continued anti-Semitism we've seen around the country. | ||
| Last week, I met with Jewish leaders, and they're understandably concerned about this trend that keeps going on. | ||
| It's been going on for years. | ||
| You know, you go back to October 7th, and ever since then, it's been a growing equivocation between almost trying to equivocate what the people who attacked and murdered Jews in Israel and Americans and kept hostages with those in Gaza who we've seen what Gaza's become and all of those who want to clean up Gaza. | ||
| President Trump's made it clear. | ||
| Prime Minister Netanyahu's made it clear. | ||
| They want to turn Gaza back into a place where you don't have to fear for your life that it's going to be a terrorist hotbed. | ||
| And yet there are people that want to sympathize with the very terrorists who want to continue to not only carry out evil against Israelis, but against people here in America and all across the globe. | ||
| It's got to stop. | ||
| We're going to continue to bring legislation on the House floor to address it. | ||
| Now, I do want to talk about the one big, beautiful bill. | ||
| This House came together in a way that maybe surprised some people here in Washington. | ||
| We've defied the odds every step of the way from the first vote on the budget to the second vote on the budget to final passage. | ||
| But there's a reason for that. | ||
| And, you know, as the whip just said, we've said all along, failure is not an option. | ||
| I've been asked by some in the press, what's Plan B? when there were reports that the bill was going to fail. | ||
| And we were very clear. | ||
| And it wasn't just a talking point. | ||
| We said there is no plan B. | ||
| The American economy, the voters of this country demanded that Congress deliver on the promises that President Trump made to get this country turned around. | ||
| And what we do in this bill delivers on so many different fronts to help grow America's economy, to create jobs, to put more money in the pockets of hardworking families. | ||
| That's been the focus of this bill from the very beginning. | ||
| And I think there are some people that start reading too many Congressional Budget Office reports and ignore the lessons of history. | ||
| And there's an old saying that if you ignore the lessons of history, you're doomed to repeat it. | ||
| But I think it's important to go down that road of history and go back to 2017. | ||
| You don't need to go back that far to see how wrong the CBO has been when it comes time to make prognostications on economic growth. | ||
| They've always been wrong and they've always ignored what tax cuts will do to grow the American economy. | ||
| In 2017, when we started this process, when President Trump came in and said, we're going to make America competitive again, we were at a 35% corporate rate and we were losing jobs all across the globe. | ||
| Every month you'd see a great American company move to a foreign country and they would take the jobs along with them. | ||
| Millions of jobs were leaving America. | ||
| They were called inversions. | ||
| You don't maybe know that term as well anymore because we haven't had an inversion since we passed TCJA in 2017. | ||
| But if you go back, look at what CBO said about that bill. | ||
| They said it would cost a decrease in revenue to the tune of $1.5 trillion. | ||
| $1.5 trillion. | ||
| Now, you go look at the numbers, they were off by more than $1.5 trillion because what they left out of that report, just like they're leaving it out again, CBO is making the same mistakes. | ||
| They ignore economic growth. | ||
| What we saw in 2017 when we cut taxes is that businesses started growing. | ||
| They started giving pay raises to their workers. | ||
| They hired millions more people. | ||
| Unemployment went virtually to zero. | ||
| Inflation dropped dramatically. | ||
| People had more money in their pockets because wages were up. | ||
| And all of those things produced more money for the American Treasury. | ||
| It all happened, and yet CBO failed to recognize that. | ||
| And they're making the same mistake again. | ||
| And anybody who repeats CBO's analysis is also making those same mistakes. | ||
| If you ignore the growth that will come with keeping tax rates low, with helping businesses invest more in their workers, giving pay raises, putting more money in the pockets of waiters and waitresses, overtime workers not having to pay taxes on overtime, bonus depreciation, immediate expensing, all the things that will generate economic growth and ultimately put more money in the pockets of workers and send more money up to the federal treasury here in Washington. | ||
| CBO missed all of that in 2017, and they're missing it again this time. | ||
| That's the only way they come to a conclusion that it would increase the deficit. | ||
| This bill will actually reduce the deficit if you recognize the historical economic growth that has always been there. | ||
| To say you're going to get 1.8% growth at a minimum, we think you can get 2.5% to 4% growth. | ||
| Scott Bessant, the Treasury Secretary, says over 4% economic growth. | ||
| So I get that we've got to play by the rules of the referee, but the referee's been wrong. | ||
| We've got a referee that tries to sack our quarterback a lot. | ||
| And yet we still manage to play by those rules and deliver for the American people. | ||
| Because when this bill is passed and signed into law, hopefully by July 4th, when the Senate does their work, you're going to see economic growth in this country like we haven't seen in generations, meaning more pay in the pockets of workers, and you're going to see more Treasury money coming in because of the growth in the American economy. | ||
| It's happened before and it will happen again. | ||
| We just need to keep moving forward. | ||
| And the Senate's got the bill now, and I'm confident they're going to move it on and ultimately back to us to the President's desk. | ||
| And finally, you saw yesterday, the White House sent the rescissions package. | ||
| This is the first maybe of many. | ||
| We are now putting that in bill format. | ||
| We'll file that bill hopefully by tomorrow and then bring it up to the floor quickly and get rid of more waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. | ||
| This will deal with, obviously, the abuses we all saw at USAID, NPR, and public broadcasting. | ||
| So those are the things that are going to be in this rescissions package. | ||
| We're going to continue working with President Trump to root out waste, fraud, and abuse and get the American economy turning around again. | ||
|
Why Would Terrorists Target the Governor?
00:03:03
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| And the person who's leading that charge is our speaker, Mike Johnson. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Rarely do I get to raise the podium, so let me do this for a second. | ||
| Great to see you all this morning. | ||
| Look, our leadership team had very much looked forward to this press conference, our weekly press conference with you today, because we wanted to celebrate the historic passage of our big, beautiful bill four days before Memorial Day, our self-imposed deadline. | ||
| And that's a big achievement, and I'll address it. | ||
| But obviously, our attention has been diverted and our mood very much dampened by these atrocities that continue against our Jewish friends and neighbors. | ||
| It's really something that's been discussed already this morning, but this attack over the weekend was actually the second time in three weeks that our country's witnessed these horrific acts of anti-Semitic terror here on American soil. | ||
| And it was just, of course, a few miles down the road, two Israeli embassy staffers, a young couple who had planned to wed soon, were senselessly gunned down on the street. | ||
| And the killer said when they asked him what his motivation was, he said, quote, he did it for Palestine. | ||
| This weekend, an Egyptian terrorist in Boulder, Colorado, Mohammed Soleiman, lit at least 12 Jewish people on fire. | ||
| They were at a parade, an event there. | ||
| He told police he wanted to kill every single one of them. | ||
| And you know what he said when he yelled out during the attack? | ||
| He said, free Palestine. | ||
| We also can't forget that in April, a terrorist burned the governor's mansion in Pennsylvania, attempting to kill Jewish Governor Josh Shapiro and his sleeping family inside. | ||
| Search warrants found that the terrorists targeted Shapiro because of, quote, perceived injustices against Palestine. | ||
| There's a theme here. | ||
| Why would terrorists target a young innocent couple or peaceful protesters or the governor of an American state with no jurisdiction over a war that's happening 5,000 miles away? | ||
| Because it isn't about Palestine. | ||
| It isn't about Gaza. | ||
| It isn't about any particular conflict. | ||
| It's because these people want a complete and total extermination of the Jewish people. | ||
| And there is a targeted left-wing anti-Semitic terror movement on the rise in America. | ||
| And we have to address this first and foremost. | ||
| Members of this institution and the media have a moral obligation to call this out. | ||
| We do not equivocate, as the leader said. | ||
| We do not both sides this issue at all. | ||
| This is very clear. | ||
| It's light versus darkness. | ||
| It is an evil that we are confronting. | ||
| And we'll continue to call it out. | ||
| And the Trump administration and Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel will continue to pursue these anti-Semitic threats and actions against the Jewish people on our soil and to bring these violent criminals to justice. | ||
| And we will speak with moral clarity and we will demand the same of all of our colleagues and both parties to do that. | ||
|
Elon's Encouraging Conversation
00:15:18
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| And I hope they will. | ||
| According to DHS, Solomon, this criminal, this violent, sick individual that did this stuff over the weekend, applied for a tourist visa in 2022. | ||
| He applied for asylum. | ||
| He's been living in the U.S. on an expired visa since March of 2023. | ||
| If you apply Democrat logic to this case, Solomon was one of their constituents, as they say, and under their framing, he was just a Colorado man, right? | ||
| But when you see Democrats ramping up attacks on ICE agents and storming ICE detention facilities and calling for the dismantlement of ICE, just know that this is who they're defending. | ||
| This is the result. | ||
| Fortunately, President Trump has quickly slammed the border shut by simply enforcing existing law, but this administration needs the resources to detain and process and deport the millions of dangerous illegals who President Biden welcomed into the country. | ||
| And this is why we need the One Big Beautiful Bill. | ||
| One of the many reasons for President Trump's desk as quickly as possible to sign into law because it, among the other features in the bill, it includes $45 billion to expand ICE detention capacity, $1 billion to hire 200 immigration judges and to expand immigration courtroom space. | ||
| There's a billion dollars in there to hire 2,700 new ICE Office of Principal Legal Advisor Attorneys to expedite removal proceedings, and $14 billion for Aaron Ground transportation, sufficient to support at least 1 million removals per year. | ||
| We need to go find the other Solomons and get them out of America. | ||
| And that's what this bill will do. | ||
| We've got to get it signed into law as soon as possible. | ||
| Yesterday, the House, changing subjects here, the House did receive the rescissions package from the White House, and we were happy to receive it. | ||
| It's going to claw back $9.4 billion. | ||
| Wasteful spending. | ||
| 8.3 of that is in the foreign aid, USAID abuses area, and $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. | ||
| These are common sense cuts, and the American people are behind them. | ||
| I'll tell you why. | ||
| Just in the corporation public broadcasting space, don't forget, the NPR refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story. | ||
| They repeatedly insisted that COVID-19 did not originate in a lab, and they ran stories defending looting during the summer of love, if you remember all that. | ||
| Its CEO admitted that she regards, quote, truth as a harmful, quote, distraction from NPR's objectives. | ||
| PBS produced a movie titled Real Boy, which celebrates a transgender teens transition. | ||
| This is all with taxpayer dollars. | ||
| PBS has featured drag queens in programming for little kids. | ||
| There is no reason for any media organization to be singled out to receive federal funds. | ||
| We're in a different era now, especially those that appear to have so little regard for the truth. | ||
| On the foreign aid front, we're cutting things like $6 million for net-zero cities in Mexico, $4 million for sedentary migrants in Colombia, whatever that means. | ||
| $3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street. | ||
| $2 million for teaching young children how to make environmentally friendly reproductive health decisions. | ||
| We're not making this stuff up. | ||
| $1 million for voter ID in Haiti. | ||
| Haiti, while they oppose voter ID here. | ||
| This rescissions package is the manifestation of the Doge effort, which has transformed the way American people view government, and it's going to ultimately ensure greater accountability in government going forward. | ||
| In addition to codifying the work of Elon Musk and Doge this week, the House will continue to codify the President's executive orders. | ||
| We've got three of those on the floor this week. | ||
| The list, real quick, Representative Beth Van Dine's American Entrepreneurs Act ensures taxpayer-funded loans go only to Americans, codifying President Trump's executive order to end taxpayer-subsidized open borders. | ||
| Representative Brad Finstead's Save SBA from Sanctuary Cities Act moves SBA offices out of sanctuary cities and into non-sanctuary municipalities. | ||
| It will codify President Trump's executive order to protect American communities from criminal aliens. | ||
| And the last one this week is Representative Rob Bresnahan's CEAS Act, which aligns with recent action taken by the Small Business Administration to restore oversight capabilities to the SBA by limiting the number of for-profit small business lending companies. | ||
| These are common sense provisions. | ||
| They deserve to be signed into law, and this is a continuing series of things that we've signed into law, executive orders. | ||
| There are many more to come. | ||
| And you'll see the House continue that effort in earnest this week. | ||
| Let me take a few questions. | ||
| I can guess what they'll be. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Chad. | |
| Speaker. | ||
| How can you explain the fact that Republicans voted for the event home spending bill back in March, greenlighting this money, and two, three months later, then you want to take back that money? | ||
| That seems inconsistent. | ||
| Well, if you're talking about, for example, this USAID money and this kind of stuff. | ||
| But that was approved in the CR back then. | ||
| Yeah, yeah, it was. | ||
| And here's the point. | ||
| This is a critical point. | ||
| When I met with Elon in his office back in early February, he had just gotten into it. | ||
| They were just uncovering the USAID abuses. | ||
| And they went after USAID first for their review, their audits, because USAID screamed the loudest, opposed the loudest of this accountability measure. | ||
| And so they effectively put the scrutiny target on their own backs. | ||
| And Elon and I were in his office late one night. | ||
| We were talking about this, and I said he had just started, he had finished USAID. | ||
| They were just starting on Social Security. | ||
| And he was finding all these abuses. | ||
| And we were talking, and he and I were getting increasingly excited together about this new era of accountability. | ||
| And it occurred to me we were excited for different reasons. | ||
| And I said, you know, Elon, you're excited because you're looking at this as a data analyst and a scientist. | ||
| And I'm looking at it as a constitutional law attorney and a legislator and a novice historian, right? | ||
| But like, this is about more than saving money. | ||
| This is about restoring the framers' original vision for the Constitution. | ||
| The framers of our magnificent form of government, our matchless constitution, what they envisioned, and in fact, what they designed, was a small, lean federal government. | ||
| They wanted most of the power. | ||
| 206, the previous question is ordered. | ||
| The question is on the adoption of the resolution. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Those opposed say no. | ||
| In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Massachusetts see wickedness? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I ask for a recorded vote. | |
| A recorded vote is requested. | ||
| Those favoring a recorded vote will rise. | ||
| A sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. | ||
| Members will record their votes by electronic device. | ||
| This is a five-minute vote. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And members now voting on the rules of debate on four upcoming bills. | |
| One measure reauthorizing several expired public health programs through 2030 that deal with opioid and other drug abuse disorders, many of which were first established by the 2018 Support Act. | ||
| Also covered by the rule are several small business-related bills. | ||
| One of the bills would require the small business administrator to relocate SBA offices from jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. | ||
| Another vote series is slated for 4.30 p.m. Eastern Time. | ||
| While members cast their ballots now, we'll show more remarks by House Republican and Democratic leaders from earlier. | ||
| And again, this is a five-minute vote. | ||
| Demand and ensure greater accountability going forward, and that is a huge innovation. | ||
| Background, yeah. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Elon Musk was sort of making, alluding to electoral threats against Republicans who voted for the big, beautiful bill. | |
| I mean, he spent $290 million in the 2024 election. | ||
| How much of a threat is this to keeping the majority in Campaign Corps? | ||
| Look, let me just address the Elon controversy and tell you that I consider Elon a friend. | ||
| He's obviously brilliant. | ||
| I just told you we credit him with all the big changes with Doge and everything else. | ||
| It's curious to me what happened this week. | ||
| And I just, I mean, full disclosure, Elon and I had a great conversation about a half hour long talk on Monday this week, Monday morning. | ||
| And we talked about the big, beautiful bill because he made, I think he was trying to make a joke a couple of days earlier. | ||
| It can't be big and beautiful. | ||
| And I started the conversation. | ||
| Oh, yes, it can, my friend. | ||
| It's very beautiful. | ||
| So we talked about all the record level of savings. | ||
| My friends, no government in the history of mankind has ever cut $1.6 trillion in a piece of legislation. | ||
| We're doing that here. | ||
| I mean, the extraordinary level of savings and the historic level of tax cuts at the same time and all these great policy prescriptions. | ||
| And I talked Elon through all that and explained to him what we're doing and that this is just the beginning of a long process of making government more efficient and effective, of cutting wasteful spending, fraud and abuse. | ||
| And you can't do it all in one bill. | ||
| It took Congress decades to get to this situation. | ||
| It's going to take us a little while to get out of it. | ||
| But we have a very specific plan to do that. | ||
| And Elon was encouraged by that conversation. | ||
| We had a great, it was a very friendly, very fruitful conversation together. | ||
| And he and I talked about the midterm elections. | ||
| And he said, I'm going to help. | ||
| We've got to make sure that the Republicans keep the House majority. | ||
| We can't have the president impeached, which is what the Democrats would do on day one, as we all well know. | ||
| And we've got to continue this. | ||
| The Trump administration needs four years to do all this reform, not two years. | ||
| The Biden administration, Biden Harris, made such a disaster of every metric of public policy, it's going to take us more than one bill to fix it all. | ||
| Elon and I left on a great note. | ||
| We were texting one another, you know, happy text, you know, Monday. | ||
| And then yesterday, you know, 24 hours later, he does a 180 and he comes out and opposed the bill. | ||
| And it surprised me, frankly. | ||
| And I don't take it personal. | ||
| We don't take it personal. | ||
| You know, policy differences are not personal. | ||
| I think he's flat wrong. | ||
| I think he's way off on this, and I've told him as much, and I've said it publicly and privately. | ||
| I'm very consistent in that. | ||
| But am I concerned about the effect of this on the midterms? | ||
| I'm not. | ||
| Let me tell you why. | ||
| Because when the Big Beautiful Bill is done and signed into law, every single American is going to do better. | ||
| This bill is geared for middle and working class Americans, and they are going to feel the effects of it. | ||
| And they're going to feel it before the midterm election. | ||
| So I have no concern whatsoever. | ||
| I'm absolutely convinced that we're going to win the midterms and grow the House majority because we're delivering for the American people and fulfilling our campaign promises. | ||
| And we'll see how that happens. | ||
| Second row, Robert. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, ma'am. | |
| What is the second reconciliation package? | ||
| What would be in that second package once we get to midterm? | ||
| You know, I'm not going to tell you that this morning. | ||
| Great question. | ||
| No, yeah, let's get the first one done. | ||
| Leader has been around Washington a while. | ||
| Look, I said this is the beginning of a process, and what you're going to see is a continuing theme of us identifying waste-fraud abuse in government, which is our pledge of common sense, restoring common sense, and fiscal sanity. | ||
| So we have lots of ideas of things that might be in that package. | ||
| But as you know, for the first reconciliation package, for the Big Beautiful bill, we worked on this for about 14 months. | ||
| I mean, this wasn't something we just drew up overnight. | ||
| So we'll go through that same laborious process, and it'll be fruitful in the end, and we'll do right by the American people. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Front row. | |
| Mr. Speaker, you mentioned that you talked to Elon on Monday, made this 180. | ||
| What do you think changed? | ||
| Why do you think he's coming out against this now? | ||
| And have you spoken to the president and Elon since the influence? | ||
| Well, I'll tell you, I called Elon last night and he didn't answer, but I hope to talk to him today. | ||
| I mean, it's not, you know, it's very friendly, and we've laughed about our differences on policy before. | ||
| I'm not upset about this. | ||
| And I just think he understands, and he's acknowledged to me before, that this is so serious that we can't fool around with it. | ||
| I mean, the debt cliff is approaching very quickly, right? | ||
| All the things that are in this bill are so important for the U.S. economy. | ||
| It's going to be jet fuel for the U.S. economy. | ||
| All boats are going to rise. | ||
| And the sooner we do that, the better. | ||
| And the risk of not getting it done is enormous, not just for the Republican Party, but for the country. | ||
| We've got to do this. | ||
| We're going to have the largest tax increase in U.S. history at the end of the year if we fail. | ||
| And all the other calamities that we've talked about. | ||
| So we've got to get it done, and I think Elon... | ||
| The yeas are 217. | ||
| The nays are 208. | ||
| The resolution is adopted. | ||
| objection a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. | ||
|
Take Conversations Off Floor
00:01:44
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| Could members please take their conversations off the floor? | ||
|
Supporting Mental Health Parity
00:15:17
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| The House will be in order. | ||
| The chair will receive a message, Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Messages from the Senate. | |
| Mr. Speaker, Madam Secretary, I have been directed by the Senate to inform the House that the Senate has agreed to, without amendment, H. Congress 24, a concurrent resolution authorizing the use of Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center for an event to celebrate the birthday of King Kamahami I. first. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Kentucky seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the legislation and to insert extraneous material in the record on H.R. 2483 without objection. | ||
| Pursuant to House Resolution 458 and Rule 18, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for consideration of H.R. 2483. | ||
| The Chair appoints a gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Desjardins, to preside over the Committee of the Whole. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The House is in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of H.R. 2483, which the Clerk will report by title. | |
| Union calendar number 84, H.R. 2483, a bill to reauthorize certain programs that provide for opioid use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery and for other purposes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the first time. | |
| General debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce or their respective designees. | ||
| The gentleman from Kentucky, Mr. Guthrie, and the gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Pallone, each will control 30 minutes. | ||
| The chair recognizes the gentleman from Kentucky. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today in support of H.R. 2483, the Support Act for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act. | ||
| When the Committee on Energy and Commerce led the way on the original Support Act seven years ago under the leadership of Chairman Greg Walden, the opioid crisis looked different. | ||
| Overdose deaths were largely driven by prescription and semi-synthetic opioids like oxycodone and heroin. | ||
| When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, government-enforced lockdowns hurt patients in recovery and sent more people into despair, increasing the amount of people taking illegal drugs for the first time. | ||
| Since then, we continue the heartbreaking stories about the toll illicit fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances have on our communities. | ||
| The rate at which Americans are dying from fentanyl poisoning is just devastating. | ||
| At our first health committee hearing in this Congress, we listened to the testimony of Ray Cullen, who lost his son Zach to fentanyl poisoning. | ||
| Nobody should have to experience this pain. | ||
| Earlier this year, the House took a critical step to get illicit fentanyl off our streets in passing the HALT Fentanyl Act, an act which is led by my friend Congressman Morgan Griffith. | ||
| I am proud today, leading the reauthorization of the Support Act. | ||
| By passing this bill, we continue our work to help improve treatment and recovery opportunities, bolster prevention initiatives, and fight the fentanyl crisis. | ||
| This bill is about offering hope to those in despair. | ||
| Those battling substance use disorder, their families and loved ones, and health care heroes and first responders who need continued support to help save lives. | ||
| I would like to thank Congresswoman Petterson on all of the members who have supported this important bipartisan piece of legislation. | ||
| I am hopeful that by reauthorizing programs with proven success and increasing access to treatment, we can continue to address and prevent these tragic drug-related deaths and restore hope and healing to those who need it. | ||
| I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill, and I'll reserve the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Kentucky Reserves, the gentleman from New Jersey is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 2483, legislation that reauthorizes the Support Act. | ||
| Last Congress, this bill passed with strong bipartisan support right here on the House floor under suspension of the rules. | ||
| But today it's coming up under a rule because a lot has changed since last year. | ||
| As we all know, there's a new administration, and the Trump administration is attacking mental health and substance use response efforts on every front. | ||
| Republicans want to move forward with this legislation at the same time that they are silently watching as the Trump administration dismantles SAMHSA, the very agency that is responsible for carrying out the programs that the Support Act reauthorizes. | ||
| Thanks to our efforts in recent years, we've made significant improvements in combating the opiate overdose epidemic that has devastated families in every community throughout our nation. | ||
| But those improvements are now threatened as the Trump administration guts the very programs and funding that have helped us turn the corner. | ||
| In the past few months, the Trump administration has completely eroded the mental health and substance use treatment landscape as we know it. | ||
| It has fired hundreds of workers at SAMHSA, including key senior officials such as the director of the Center Focused on Mental Health. | ||
| The Department continues to refuse to respond to my repeated requests about how many SAMHSA employees have been terminated and how many additional firings are planned. | ||
| It has eliminated, the Trump administration has eliminated entire offices that are responsible for collecting data on mental health and substance use and helping people locate treatment services. | ||
| These actions will only make it harder for people seeking treatment to find care. | ||
| And the Trump administration is also eliminating SAMHSA altogether without congressional reauthorization. | ||
| It will be combined with other agencies that the Trump administration doesn't care about under the banner of a larger, quote, make America Healthy Again office. | ||
| These critical programs to treat mental health and substance abuse will be deprioritized or eliminated in favor of Kennedy's or Secretary Kennedy's pet projects like destroying Americans' access to vaccines. | ||
| And Congress has received zero, zero information from the administration about how this new office will work and how the work of SAMHSA to address the mental health and substance use treatments needs of our communities will be prioritized. | ||
| The Trump administration is also rescinding more than a billion dollars in essential funding that states rely on through block grants. | ||
| It has also proposed eliminating dozens of different mental health and substance use programs, including eight programs reauthorized by the Support Act. | ||
| And this includes programs to train first responders who respond to opioid overdose calls, provide residential treatment to pregnant and postpartum women, and support people in long-term recovery. | ||
| If Republicans really support these programs, they should be opposing the President's budget, which lays out plans to cut the very programs they claim to care about. | ||
| In fact, the Trump administration budget goes further and proposes eliminating nearly all of the Support Act programs as they propose to eliminate all the so-called programs of regional and national significance. | ||
| This is the umbrella under which nearly all of the Support Act programs reside. | ||
| They've also proposed gutting the mental health block grant, the substance abuse block grant, the state opioid response grants, consolidating them into one program with a deep funding cut. | ||
| So just let me be clear, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| This is not a budget proposal in the traditional sense. | ||
| This is a roadmap for what the Trump administration plans to do unless the federal courts prevent them from proceeding. | ||
| Their expansive and limitless view of the President's authority knows no bounds. | ||
| If DOGE wants to cut entire agencies, eliminate programs, and impound funds, they will do it regardless of the law. | ||
| And the Trump administration is making clear that funding treatment and prevention for mental health and substance abuse issues is not a priority. | ||
| And unfortunately, Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate silently sit by and watch all the destruction and illegal actions. | ||
| House Republicans have not conducted any oversight of this administration. | ||
| And let us not forget also, Mr. Speaker, last month, House Republicans passed the biggest cut to Medicaid in history as part of their scheme to fund giant tax breaks for billionaires. | ||
| As the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office just announced this morning, the GOP tax scam now cuts 16 million people, up from 13.5 to 16 million people from their health care, all to give tax breaks to their billionaire friends. | ||
| Medicaid covers 40% of all Americans with opioid use disorder. | ||
| Gutting the program will leave millions of Americans without access to life-saving care. | ||
| And we can't just go back to business as usual after that devastation was supported and passed by my Republican colleagues. | ||
| So all of these actions completely undermine the efforts we have made to address substance use disorders in communities across the country. | ||
| They will have disastrous and deadly consequences on the millions of Americans impacted by substance use disorder. | ||
| And yet House Republicans are here on the floor today pretending that we're conducting business as usual here in Washington. | ||
| Well, if that were the case, I would join them in supporting the legislation, just as I did last Congress. | ||
| But this administration is not conducting business as usual, and Republicans are doing absolutely nothing to fight back. | ||
| So therefore, Mr. Speaker, I can't support this bill while our mental health and substance use treatment infrastructure is being gutted by the Trump administration. | ||
| There needs to be a functioning agency to implement the programs in this bill. | ||
| There needs to be actual funding for the agency to carry out these programs. | ||
| Neither will exist under what Trump has done or is proposing. | ||
| If Republicans were really interested in continuing to combat the opioid overdose crisis, they would finally join us in opposing the illegal actions of the Trump administration rather than hiding behind this legislation today. | ||
| And with that, I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from New Jersey, Reserves, the gentleman from Kentucky is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. President. | ||
| I just want to point out, as they have had efficiencies in HHS in this area, we've been reporting to us there's no material changes in the programs before us today, showing that the Trump administration has drug substance use disorder and drug addiction as a number one top priority, a number one priority. | ||
| And I just don't understand the logic. | ||
| The best way to send a message to the President that you support these programs is to vote no on the bill. | ||
| I don't just don't understand that logic. | ||
| I hope we can get a bipartisan support and we'll put the bill on the president's desk and I believe the president will sign the bill. | ||
| I will like to yield two minutes to my good friend, the chairman of the subcommittee on energy, Mr. Latter from Ohio. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank the chair of the full committee for yielding. | ||
| I appreciate it. | ||
| I rise in support of H.R. 2483, the Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025. | ||
| The Support Act is one of the most impactful bills the Energy and Commerce Committee has worked on during my time in Congress. | ||
| Simply put, we came together to implement bipartisan policies that would save lives. | ||
| Gone are the days that substance abuse and addiction are a far-off problem that doesn't impact each one of our district. | ||
| Instead of hearing the words, I know someone who knows someone, too often we hear, I know someone personally addicted who's impacted by addiction. | ||
| That is why it's absolutely essential we reauthorize the Support Act, which will ensure we have the right tools at our disposal to fight the scourge of fentanyl and opioids in our communities. | ||
| We must continue vital resources for prevention, education, treatment, recovery, workforce, and law enforcement to help patients struggling with substance abuse. | ||
| This reauthorization ensures that we will continue to make progress, we will continue to fight back, and we will continue to save lives. | ||
| I want to again thank the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the gentleman from Kentucky, for his leadership on this legislation. | ||
| Let's fix it. | ||
| Let's promote treatment before tragedy and stop the drug poisonings. | ||
| I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, and I yield back the remainder of my time. | ||
| Our reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields back. | |
| Gentlemen from Kentucky, Reserves, the gentleman from New Jersey is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield now four minutes to the gentleman from New York, who's the ranking member of the Environment Subcommittee. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from New York is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for yielding. | ||
| SAMHSA's stated mission is to lead public health and service delivery efforts that promote mental health, prevent substance misuse, and provide treatments and supports to foster recovery while ensuring access and better outcomes for all. | ||
| It is not an exaggeration to say that the public servants at SAMHSA work every day to prevent overdoses and suicides and save lives. | ||
| As a longtime champion for behavioral health parity and access to treatment, and as co-chair of the Congressional Addiction Treatment and Recovery Caucus, bipartisan in nature, there have been a few questions on my mind. | ||
| For instance, how many public servants need to be fired at SAMHSA before we say enough? | ||
| How many suicide prevention trainings need to be canceled before Republicans can speak out? | ||
| How many life-saving naloxone trainings need to be canceled for Republicans to say something, say anything? | ||
| How many lives need to be lost before Republicans tell the Trump administration to stop the decimation of SAMHSA? | ||
| I have other questions too, simple ones like how many people work at SAMHSA currently? | ||
| What divisions have no staff left at all? | ||
| What programs have they had to cut in local communities? | ||
| In February, following the firing of probationary employees, I started asking these questions, and since the firing of nearly 50 percent of SAMHSA staff, I have continued asking those questions. | ||
| To date, I have gotten zero answers. | ||
| Zero. | ||
| Currently, we have lost 50 percent of SAMHSA staff, and it's not HHS or the Trump administration that shared that with Congress. | ||
|
Specifically Exempted Programs
00:15:30
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| We only have confirmation that SAMHSA lost half its staff from the press and from the former SAMHSA employees. | ||
| That simply is unacceptable. | ||
| As a Congress, if we say we care about behavioral health, if we say there's a crisis, then we should be ashamed that we are okay not knowing this. | ||
| For four months, we have been asking questions, and instead of answers, we have even more concerning questions. | ||
| I shared with our Energy and Commerce Committee Chair that as the committee that has jurisdiction over SAMHSA, how do we not have these very important answers? | ||
| This affects every community in the country, and our first action should be finding out these answers. | ||
| If the administration refuses to come in, then let's bring in the fired employees. | ||
| These people are some of the most dedicated public servants who did this work for all the right reasons, and they served an incredible need. | ||
| On behalf of all Americans, I thank all of the fired SAMHSA employees for their service to our nation. | ||
| You deserved better, and frankly, all Americans deserve better. | ||
| Our loved ones should have access to effective addiction treatment, prevention and recovery support, and behavioral health support and services. | ||
| The recent actions of this Trump administration are betraying the goal of access to behavioral health treatment and support. | ||
| RFK and Donald Trump have proposed to eliminate SAMHSA as an independent agency, burying it somewhere in the so-called Administration for a Healthy America, or AHA. | ||
| Let's remember that the whole reason Congress moved SAMHSA into an independent agency was to ensure that behavioral health was prioritized despite the long-standing stigma. | ||
| Instead, AHA would take us back to the time that behavioral health is tucked away in another agency and deprioritized. | ||
| When the agency is gutted, the programs in the mission suffer. | ||
| And ultimately, the individuals we are trying to help with their mental health and substance use struggles will simply not get the support they need. | ||
| People will die. | ||
| I beg my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, let's reverse course. | ||
| We have an obligation to protect SAMHSA's mission and all of our constituents who SAMHSA serves. | ||
| Like many of my colleagues, I support the programs in this package. | ||
| But it's completely disingenuous and, frankly, outrageous that Republicans are here today trying to pat themselves on the back, as doing something meaningful for those struggling with addiction, while the entire agency we are authorizing programs for is being dismantled. | ||
| The people doing the work we are authorizing have all been fired. | ||
| And the administration is proposing even more draconian cuts for mental health and substance use programs in the 2026 budget. | ||
| Gentlemen, one additional minute? | ||
| Yes, I do. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlemen, so give me a break. | |
| It's like we're trying to heal a bullet wound with a band-aid. | ||
| So I'm regrettably going to have to vote no and would respectfully ask my Republican colleagues to pause today's vote and instead focus our attention on responding to the actual crisis at SAMHSA. | ||
| Let's stop this performance and instead let's do the right thing and walk out right now and meet, make calls and work together to stop this madness. | ||
| Let's actually do something to meet this moment before it's too late and we have no longer have an agency focused on behavioral health. | ||
| This is truly a performative vote. | ||
| If Republicans are too scared to say anything when the agency is being decimated and the mission is on the line, but they want to go home and say they voted for support. | ||
| But they won't mention that. | ||
| It will never be implemented because the funding and staff are gone. | ||
| Let's return to my initial question. | ||
| How many lives need to be lost before Republicans tell the Trump administration to stop the decimation of SAMHSA? | ||
| If Republicans go forward with this vote today, while staying silent as this administration takes the chainsaw to SAMHSA, then it's clear that they are willing to let SAMHSA lose all of its capacity to serve its mission to save lives. | ||
| With that, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields back. | |
| Gentleman from New Jersey, Reserves, gentleman from Kentucky is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I will yield two minutes to the chair of the subcommittee on health important worker on this piece of legislation, my good friend from Georgia, Mr. Carter. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from Georgia is recognized for two minutes. | |
| I thank the gentleman for yielding. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of Chairman Guthrie's support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025. | ||
| This critical legislation reflects House Republicans' ongoing commitment to fighting the opioid and fentanyl crisis that is devastating families across this nation. | ||
| Under the leadership of President Trump and Chairman Guthrie, we are finally seeing real progress. | ||
| Listen to these figures, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| For the first time in years, opioid overdose deaths have declined, dropping from over 83,000 in 2023 to under 55,000 by the most recent data. | ||
| Those are good numbers. | ||
| They did not happen by accident. | ||
| It happened because we took bold action to secure our borders, to prioritize treatments, and invest in recovery programs that work. | ||
| We can help continue this trajectory by advancing the Support for Patients Communities Reauthorization Act, which is one of the single largest congressional efforts to address our opioid crisis. | ||
| Through the Support Act, we are reauthorizing prevention programs and recovery services, ensuring first responders can access and administer naloxone, and ultimately restoring hope and healing by putting a stop to drug overdose and poisoning. | ||
| I thank Chairman Guthrie for his work on this important issue, and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this legislation. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, let's pass this bill. | ||
| Let's secure our borders. | ||
| Let's stem the tide of the growing fentanyl crisis and let's save lives. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman yields back. | |
| Our reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Kentucky Reserves. | |
| Gentleman from New Jersey is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| You know, I have a great deal of respect for the chairman of the Health Subcommittee, but he goes on to talk about how the Republicans are supporting these programs. | ||
| And it's simply not true. | ||
| Look, I have in front of me the budget. | ||
| This came from the Department of Health and Human Services, right? | ||
| Budget in brief, right? | ||
| On page 35 through 36 of the document, it says, and I quote, the budget eliminates the following programs to align investments with the administration's priorities. | ||
| And it lists the following programs. | ||
| First responder training. | ||
| Well, there's so many. | ||
| I don't want to read them all. | ||
| But the chairman mentions helping first responders. | ||
| That program, first responder training program, is eliminated under the budget, right? | ||
| Pregnant and postpartum women program, building communities of recovery, treatment, recovery, and workforce support, comprehensive opioid recovery centers, youth prevention and recovery initiatives. | ||
| These are all eliminated. | ||
| Now, I understand that the president is trying to prevent fentanyl from coming in from the border. | ||
| I obviously support that. | ||
| But the chairman mentioned, the chairman from Georgia said, we still need treatment, we still need education. | ||
| Well, of course we do. | ||
| But that's not what's going on here. | ||
| The budget eliminates these programs. | ||
| And so you can't just come here on the floor and say, oh, I support all this and then authorize the programs. | ||
| They're very programs that are being eliminated so there's no funding and no staff to carry them out. | ||
| It's not fair. | ||
| You're giving the impression of the public that you're doing something that you're not. | ||
| And I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from New Jersey Reserves, gentlemen from Kentucky is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I will yield two minutes to my good friend, Vice Chair of the Health Subcommittee on Energy and Commerce, my good friend from Florida, Mr. Dunn. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Chairman. | ||
| I rise today in support of H.R. 2483, the Support Act reauthorization. | ||
| This bill is a critical piece of legislation that will help bolster prevention, treatment, and recovery for millions of Americans suffering from substance abuse disorders. | ||
| Thanks to the investments from the original Support Act in 2018 and the efforts of the Trump administration, we're finally starting to see a decrease in the overdose death rate. | ||
| Florida is a shining example of this progress, and Florida pilot programs have taken innovative steps such as using long-acting injectable to help fight opioid addiction. | ||
| I'm encouraged by the number, and I also firmly believe that Congress needs to continue the programs to make this response possible. | ||
| One Support Act program that I'm especially excited for is the First Responder Training Program, which helps ensure that the first responders are prepared and trained to administer Narcim. | ||
| I also strongly believe in the residential treatment program for pregnant and postpartum women. | ||
| This program is vital to help the new moms obtain treatment for substance abuse disorders. | ||
| Programs in this bill can change the lives of those who are suffering from substance abuse disorders when they have nowhere else to turn. | ||
| For these reasons, I stand in strong favor of this bill, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same. | ||
| With that, I yield back to the Chairman. | ||
| Gentlemen from Kentucky Reserves, gentleman from New Jersey is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield three minutes now to the gentlewoman from Oregon, Maxine Dexter. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleladies recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today not just as a member of this body, but as a physician who has spent nearly two decades caring for patients in the intensive care unit, many of them fighting for their lives because of a system that has failed to support them before crisis hit. | ||
| In Oregon's 3rd District, we see every day how critical prevention, treatment, and recovery programs are. | ||
| We need those programs my colleague from New Jersey just referred to as being cut. | ||
| This bill does nothing to repair those cuts. | ||
| These aren't abstract policy ideas. | ||
| They are the difference between life and death for many of my constituents. | ||
| They are critical for the health and safety of Oregonians and Americans across this country. | ||
| That's why efforts to sustain and strengthen these programs matter deeply to the communities I represent. | ||
| They are essential for the parents working two jobs while navigating recovery, for the young people trying to build a future after surviving an overdose, and for families trying to heal. | ||
| But let's not kid ourselves. | ||
| While Republicans bring this reauthorization bill to the floor, they stand by as the Trump administration dismantles the very agency responsible for implementing these programs. | ||
| They've fired experts, erased offices, and rescinded over a billion dollars already allocated to state and local response. | ||
| And just two weeks ago, they passed the largest Medicaid cut in history out of this chamber, despite the fact that Medicaid covers 40% of Americans addicted to opioids. | ||
| This wasn't fiscal accountability. | ||
| It was a decision to directly undermine the access of care for millions of people who need it most. | ||
| These are people who desperately need our compassion and care. | ||
| Do not be fooled by this game of smoke and mirrors. | ||
| This kind of hypocrisy cannot go unchallenged. | ||
| Claiming to support recovery while simultaneously gutting the programs that make it possible is politics at its worst. | ||
| You cannot honestly stand for people's need to access treatment while kneecapping the agency that is accountable for providing it. | ||
| Lives are at stake, and the American people are watching. | ||
| They do know what it means when elected leaders say one thing and do another. | ||
| And they deserve honesty and real action. | ||
| Thank you to my colleague from New Jersey for this debate. | ||
| And with that, I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlelady yields back. | |
| Gentleman from New Jersey Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Kentucky is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I just want to point out that the Medicaid reform specifically exempted people with substance use disorder from being defined as able-bodied for the purpose of the work requirement, specifically exempted them. | ||
| So we understand that people, that Medicaid is a big payer for people with substance use disorder recovery services, and our bill exempted them, so that will continue. | ||
| I would like to yield two minutes to my good friend from Ohio, Mr. Balderson. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Chairman is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Communities in my district and across the country continue to feel the devastating impact of the opioid and fentanyl. | ||
| We all know someone who's been affected, and many of us felt that loss ourselves. | ||
| The Support Act, first signed into law by President Trump in 2018, brought vital resources to those on the front lines, patients, families, first responders, and recovery providers. | ||
| Since then, overdose deaths have dropped significantly. | ||
| But, as we all know too well in the Appalachia of Ohio, there is much more work to be done. | ||
| Today's reauthorization builds on that progress. | ||
| This bill ensures across to life-saving medications for first responders, expands treatment for pregnant women, strengthens prescription drug monitoring, and supports recovery centers and workforce re-entry programs. | ||
| By continuing this critical work, we can save more lives, restore more families, and bring hope to communities hit hardest by the addiction. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Chairman yields back. | ||
| Our reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Kentucky, Reserves. | |
| Gentleman from New Jersey is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield one minute to the ranking member of the Agriculture Committee. | ||
| Gentlewoman from Minnesota. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlelady is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Overdose deaths are preventable, and we should be using all the tools at our disposal to save American families from the pain of losing a loved one to opioids. | ||
| It's past time we treat the opioid crisis like the public health crisis that it is. | ||
| And my bipartisan Reconnections Act will do that by helping get overdose education and prevention tools like naloxone into the hands of those who need it. | ||
| I'm proud that my common sense bill is included in the Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act. | ||
| It's great to see my colleagues recognizing the urgency of the crisis, but we have to be clear-eyed about the moment we're in. | ||
| Medicaid is the country's single largest payer of both mental health and substance use services. | ||
| And it's on the chopping block if my Republican colleague's budget bill is signed into law. | ||
| We have to protect Medicaid at all costs. | ||
|
Medicaid Cuts Debate
00:15:40
|
||
| And I will continue standing up against any cuts to these life-saving benefits. | ||
| Thank you to everyone who's been part of this fight. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| This bill will save lives. | ||
| With that, I yield the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Jenny, gentlelady yields back. | |
| Gentleman from New Jersey Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Kentucky is recognized. | ||
| I want to point out one more time that in the Medicaid reform, people with substance use disorder and mental health issues are exempted from having to comply with the work requirement so that hardworking taxpayers who go to work will provide the categories we're just talking about today with Medicaid. | ||
| They're just not going to provide able-bodied, and able-bodied is exempted from the able-bodied requirement if your substance use disorder recovery and mental health. | ||
| So I will now yield two minutes to my good friend from Florida, member, great member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Ms. Kamack. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlelady is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to Chairman Guthrie for your leadership on this bill and on this issue. | ||
| I have a hard time listening to opposition to this bill. | ||
| Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle for the last four years have continuously voted against the HALT Fentanyl Act, have stood in opposition to any effort to curb the opioid crisis in this country, which up until recently was killing 100,000 people every single year. | ||
| And that's why today I rise to urge passage of the Support Act, because this ongoing addiction crisis, fueled in large part by fentanyl, is still killing Americans. | ||
| And this legislation builds on the hard work that Republicans started back in 2018 under President Trump. | ||
| And guess what? | ||
| That work has made a difference. | ||
| Instead of studying something over and over, this bill, along with other legislation, has directed resources to the ground where it's intended. | ||
| Overdose deaths have dropped by nearly 30,000 last year, and that's not just a number. | ||
| That's moms, dads, sons, daughters who are still with us today as a result of Congress stepping up. | ||
| This reauthorization keeps the momentum going, and it makes sure that first responders, first responders like my husband Matt, who is a paramedic and a SWAT medic firefighter, has the resources that they need to save lives in the field. | ||
| And it doesn't stop there. | ||
| This bill supports a full range of evidence-based treatment options from emergency overdose reversal to long-term recovery tools like medication-assisted treatment, counseling, and peer support. | ||
| The Support Act has the backing of more than 160 different organizations dedicated to substance abuse disorder treatment and recovery. | ||
| And it expands care for pregnant and postpartum women, strengthens prescription drug monitoring, and helps individuals in recovery re-enter the workforce and rebuild their lives. | ||
| That is what real solutions look like. | ||
| Not another study and stop playing politics with people's lives. | ||
| Please, we need to support prevention, treatment, and recovery at every single level. | ||
| I want to thank Chairman Guthrie again for leading on this issue, and I urge every single one of my colleagues to support this bill. | ||
| Let's get it done. | ||
| And with that, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlelady yields back. | |
| Our reserve, gentleman from Kentucky Reserve, gentleman from New Jersey is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about not only the Support Act and the ineffectiveness of what's going on today with this reauthorized bill, but also about the Medicaid cuts, which also affect people who are impacted by behavioral or mental health problems. | ||
| You know, I put up the budget before. | ||
| This is the President's budget. | ||
| This is the Health and Human Service Department's budget. | ||
| And again, I don't understand how my Republicans and colleagues can come here and say, we're reauthorizing this program, so what are you complaining about? | ||
| Well, the programs that I mentioned that are cut in the president's budget, I'm not going to go through them again, but I mentioned the first responder training, the comprehensive opiate recovery centers, the youth prevention and recovery initiatives. | ||
| All these programs are reauthorized by the bill before us today. | ||
| But in the budget, the president eliminates the programs. | ||
| No funding, no staff, no nothing, right? | ||
| So how do you say that you're doing anything when the Trump administration is publicly laying out its plans to eliminate the very programs that you're reauthorizing? | ||
| I mean, my colleagues on the other side are applauding their efforts to pass this bill, even though it's meaningless. | ||
| How do you support a bill when the programs that reauthorize are said to be eliminated by the President of the United States and your own party? | ||
| Now, you know, the same thing is true with regard to the Medicaid cuts, right? | ||
| I hear my colleague who I respect, the chairman of our Energy and Commerce Committee, keep saying that Medicaid cuts in the budget bill that they passed a couple weeks ago only affects the able-bodied. | ||
| It doesn't affect people with substance use disorders or those struggling with mental illness because they're exempt from the work requirements or the paperwork, if you will, that's in this bill that CBO says is going to take 16 million people will lose their health insurance. | ||
| Just this morning, CBO revised their analysis of the Republican budget bill and said, we said it was 13.5, but now because of the changes before the bill went from the Energy and Commerce Committee to the floor, it's now 16 million people that will lose their health insurance, primarily because of all this red tape. | ||
| Now, you know, taking health coverage from 16 million Americans is entirely unacceptable. | ||
| And there's no amount of rationalizing that Republicans can do to make it any better. | ||
| They said they're, quote, that they have exemptions from this paperwork. | ||
| Well, those exemptions have never worked. | ||
| We have the example from the state of Georgia, which admitted that there were 300 to 400,000 people under expanded Medicaid that were eligible for Medicaid under the state program, but only 4,500 of those 3,000 to 400,000 qualified because of the paperwork. | ||
| So it doesn't matter what you say. | ||
| Eliminating these people is simply unacceptable. | ||
| And it just means they're going to go without health insurance and the costs are going to go up for everybody else because they're now the hospitals, the nursing homes that take them are not going to get paid. | ||
| And then all your private insurance and other insurance bills are going to go up. | ||
| Your premiums are going to go up. | ||
| Your deductibles are going to go up. | ||
| Look, I just want to use, if I can, two examples from organizations that represent people with disabilities and know that the Republicans are taking away their health coverage regardless of what they say about this, about the red tape. | ||
| This is from a coalition of 425 disability and aging organizations. | ||
| And I quote, they say, we strongly oppose Medicaid cuts in any form, whether it's done by imposing work requirements, repealing the eligibility and enrollment rule, or further eliminating the way states fund their share of Medicaid costs. | ||
| These proposals all lead to the same result. | ||
| People with disabilities and older adults will lose care and support that keep them healthy and independent. | ||
| That is the bottom line. | ||
| No rationalizing away what's happening here. | ||
| This is from the cystic fibrosis foundation. | ||
| I could give you so many examples I want to use up all the time. | ||
| The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation says, and I quote: while people with chronic illnesses like cystic fibrosis may be exempt from work requirements, we know exemptions for people with disabilities and caregivers do not work. | ||
| Exemptions may not happen automatically and can require complex paperwork and regular recertification, even for those with chronic lifelong conditions. | ||
| Bottom line is: doesn't matter what you say, doesn't matter how you do it, 16 million Americans are going to lose their health insurance under this legislation. | ||
| And no amount of rationalizing on your part is going to change that. | ||
| And with that, I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from New Jersey Reserves, gentlemen from Kentucky is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I just want to remind you, Mr. Speaker, that we spend about almost $700 billion in Medicaid. | ||
| This bill goes into effect in 10 years from now we're going to spend $1.1 trillion in Medicaid. | ||
| I just want to make sure that point is made. | ||
| I will now yield two minutes to my good friend and great leader on the Energy Commerce Committee from California, Mr. Obernulti. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise in strong support of this bipartisan bill that reauthorizes the Support Act programs from 2018. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, we are facing an epidemic of fentanyl overdoses in this country, and this bill provides meaningful steps in countering that. | ||
| The programs that this bill reauthorized provide naloxone for first responders, funding for prevention programs, funding for treatment programs, funding for recovery services. | ||
| And the efficacy of these programs can be shown in the difference in overdose deaths that we have seen in this country between when the program was first implemented in 2018 and last year. | ||
| We've seen a dramatic decline in overdose-related deaths, but more work remains to be done. | ||
| Last year, Mr. Speaker, over 50,000 Americans lost their lives to opioid overdoses. | ||
| That's why this bill is so important to reauthorize. | ||
| And I'd like to thank my friend and the chairman for including my bill, the 988 Cybersecurity Lifeline Bill, in this bill. | ||
| I hope everyone in the chamber is aware of the 988 lifeline and the vital services that it provides. | ||
| It provides crisis mental health counseling to 24F7 to Americans that are facing mental health crises and in danger of committing suicide. | ||
| But, Mr. Speaker, recently the crisis line was taken down by a cybersecurity incident, and I think we should all be able to agree that that is unacceptable. | ||
| My bill will solve that problem by improving information sharing between law enforcement agencies and the operators of the lifeline, which will keep that lifeline up for the people who need it. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this is a great bipartisan bill. | ||
| I urge its support. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The chairman yields back. | |
| Our reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Kentucky Reserve, gentleman from New Jersey is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I just yield myself one minute. | ||
| You know, I appreciate what the gentleman from California is saying, but the bottom line is if these programs are successful under the Support Act, and I agree they have been, the numbers, you know, in terms of people dying, people who are severely impacted by opioid opioid use and overdoses, I mean, clearly they've gone down because of the Support Act programs. | ||
| But that's the very reason why the Republicans should speak out against the administration that's rescinding a billion dollars in grants that are going for these treatment centers. | ||
| Why they should speak out against the budget on the part of President Trump that I've decided several times today that eliminates these programs. | ||
| Why they should speak out against these cuts in the staff for these programs. | ||
| It's the very fact that the programs have been successful is why the administration should prioritize the programs and the Republican leadership on our committee and in the House should say what you're proposing, what you're doing, President Trump, is not acceptable because it's going to reverse this. | ||
| It's going to reverse the trend where opioid use and overdose goes down. | ||
| It's going to reverse it if we don't have these programs. | ||
| That's why they're successful. | ||
| And to just say we're going to reauthorize the Support Act, which is meaningless because they're eliminating the programs, that's not the answer. | ||
| The answer is for all of you to get up, go down to the White House, join us, and say, what you're doing, President Trump, is not acceptable. | ||
| It's going to reverse the progress that we've made. | ||
| And I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman Reserve, gentlemen from Kentucky, is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I will yield two minutes to my good friend from Michigan, a very strong leader on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr. James. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Dramatic pause for effect, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I rise today to speak in favor of the Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act. | ||
| I want to thank my friend Chairman Guthrie for his very hard work and leadership in getting this done. | ||
| Fentanyl is a scourge on our nation, leaving a trail of heartbreak and destruction in its wake. | ||
| We cannot allow this poison to continue tearing our families apart, and I'm proud that House Republicans are once again leading the fight to protect our communities and get fentanyl off our streets. | ||
| Nationally, in 2022, the United States saw over 107,000 overdose deaths. | ||
| 107,000 in one year. | ||
| That's 45 more time more deaths in one year than we lost during the entirety of the 20-year war in Afghanistan. | ||
| It's unconscionable. | ||
| While I'm thrilled to see that opioid overdose deaths have declined from an estimated 83,000 in 2023 and 54,000 in 2024, there's still so much more that we have to do. | ||
| The Support Act plays a critical role by ensuring first responders have access to life-saving naloxone, increasing treatment options, and bolstering support services. | ||
| I'm especially pleased to see that provisions of my Road to Recovery Act were included in this Support Act. | ||
| The bipartisan Road to Recovery Act reauthorizes life-saving resources vital to addressing opioid addiction and substance abuse across the country. | ||
| It provides critical resources for SAMHSA's National Helpline, a free, confidential 24-7, 365-day-a-year treatment, referral, and information services for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders. | ||
| This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the American people are tired of Democrats and Republicans bickering. | ||
| I would imagine both Democrats and Republicans agree on fentanyl, and any step in the direction on fixing this scourge is a step in the right direction. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, with this bipartisan legislation that we're taking and this action that we're taking to save lives, I encourage all of my colleagues to support this crucial legislation. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, with that, I yield back. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman yields back. | |
| Our reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Kentucky Reserve, gentleman from New Jersey is recognized. | |
| Mr. Speaker, can I inquire? | ||
| Do you have one more speaker, then I'll reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman reserve, gentleman from Kentucky, is recognized. | |
|
Gentleman from Kansas on Opioid Crisis
00:15:33
|
||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I will yield two minutes to one of our freshman members, not a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, but has been on the front lines of the opioid crisis in Topeka as Attorney General of Kansas. | ||
| And it's great that we have his expertise in the Congress. | ||
| And I will yield two minutes to my good friend from Kansas, Mr. Smith. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Kansas, you're recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I want to thank the Chairman for his leadership on this issue. | ||
| This is a subject near and dear to my heart. | ||
| I come from a part of the country in southeast Kansas where I've got a lot of classmates, friends, and neighbors who have struggled with addiction over the years. | ||
| I know them personally. | ||
| When I started in public service, it was all about methamphetamine in our part of the world. | ||
| It was the clandestine meth lab in the trunk of a car or an abandoned barn or an old house. | ||
| And we dealt with that as a matter of public policy by putting SudaFed behind the counter, made it harder for people to pilfer SudaFed and go out and cook up their own meth. | ||
| We knew that that was going to cut down the number of clandestine laboratories, but it wasn't going to decrease the demand. | ||
| It was just going to increase the demand for meth to come across the southern border, and that's what happened. | ||
| And they created trade routes. | ||
| And then along came the 90s. | ||
| And unrelated to methamphetamine, we had a lot of big drug companies, some bad actors, who decided they were going to make more money by doing a lot of stuff they shouldn't have done to incent the medical community to prescribe more opioids. | ||
| And they did. | ||
| And it was illegal. | ||
| And when I got to serve as Attorney General, we joined together Republicans and Democrats. | ||
| We didn't think about party affiliation. | ||
| We sued some of these companies and we held them accountable. | ||
| When I left office, we'd recovered about $340,000, $350 million from my state of Kansas to deal with drug treatment from Purdue Pharma and other companies that had peddled addiction for profit. | ||
| Doesn't sound like a lot of money in this chamber, but to put it in context, that was many times more than the state of Kansas had ever spent on addiction treatment and intervention and prevention. | ||
| We have an obligation to support these folks who are struggling down the street from us with addiction. | ||
| It shouldn't be a partisan issue. | ||
| It's more than just closing the border, although we have to do that. | ||
| It's about helping folks change their behavior and their lives. | ||
| And there's a lot that needs done. | ||
| This is one piece of it. | ||
| I'm a little bit disappointed that this has been something of a partisan debate. | ||
| It never has been for me. | ||
| It never was in my previous public roles. | ||
| It should not be now. | ||
| I want to thank the chairman for his leadership, encourage all my colleagues to support this bill. | ||
| And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. | ||
| Chairman yields back. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
No further speakers. | |
| Gentleman from prepared to close. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Kentucky Reserve. | |
| Gentleman from New Jersey is recognized to close. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, can I just ask how much time remains on our side? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman has eight minutes. | |
| Okay. | ||
| I'm prepared to close, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman is recognized. | |
| I just want everyone to understand my opposition to this bill. | ||
| While the Support Act was first passed in 2018 with bipartisan support, the idea was to address the opiate crisis by authorizing programs that aim to prevent substance use disorder, increase access to treatment, and promote recovery. | ||
| But the Trump administration has unlawfully gutted the agency responsible for carrying out these programs that the Support Act reauthorizes. | ||
| And congressional Republicans are trying to have it both ways, and you really can't. | ||
| They're trying to have it both ways. | ||
| They're saying we're going to reauthorize the Support Act, but then they silently stand by as the Trump administration dismantles the very program under SAMHSA or the very agency, SAMHSA, that actually implements the Support Act. | ||
| And the Trump administration is moving forward with its unauthorized and illegal plans to eliminate SAMHSA altogether and combine mental health and substance use programs under this unrelated agency called the New Administration for a Healthy America. | ||
| And believe me, Secretary Kennedy has not explained in any way what this new administration will do or how it will continue any of the programs under SAMHSA. | ||
| So what has the administration done? | ||
| First, they've fired hundreds of workers at SAMHSA, including key senior officials, such as the directors of centers focused on mental health and substance use treatment. | ||
| They've eliminated entire offices authorized by this statute, including the National Mental Health and Substance Use Policy Lab and the Center for Behavioral Health, Substance and Quality, which has been opposed by dozens of leading mental health and substance use groups that don't want these agencies eliminated because they actually play a major role in helping people with mental and behavioral health problems. | ||
| Rescinded. | ||
| The Trump administration has rescinded over a billion dollars from state and local behavioral health programs under mental health and substance use block grants. | ||
| This is the money that goes back to the states, the counties, and the towns to open up the centers, particularly for young people. | ||
| That's where this all happens. | ||
| It happens at the local level, where people are treated, where the education programs take place. | ||
| That billion dollars is gone. | ||
| I mean, I'm sure it's in the courts, and the courts may say, well, you can't do it, hopefully, but they have rescinded it. | ||
| And then lastly, disregarded. | ||
| The Trump administration has disregarded the will of Congress by preparing to eliminate 40 different mental health and substance use programs. | ||
| And I'm not going to go through them again. | ||
| I listen. | ||
| They're all in the President's budget. | ||
| But it's terrible. | ||
| It's things like the Centers for Youth. | ||
| It's the Centers for First Responders who are the ones that go and see people with overdose and try to make sure they don't die. | ||
| So again, all of this is happening. | ||
| And the House Republicans say, oh, don't worry about that because we're going to reauthorize the Support Act. | ||
| And this is two weeks after the biggest cut to Medicaid in history with their GOP tax scam. | ||
| My only point is very simple, Mr. Speaker, and that's this. | ||
| The Energy and Commerce Committee is an authorizing committee. | ||
| Sure, you can get up here and say, we're going to authorize this program because we care about all the programs under the Support Act. | ||
| You can say that, but it's meaningless. | ||
| It makes no sense for us to authorize or reauthorize a program, whether it's substance use, abuse, or whatever it is, and give the impression to the public that somehow we're accomplishing something by authorizing or reauthorizing a program where there's going to be no agency to carry it out, no money, no staff. | ||
| I just think it's just not fair. | ||
| It's trying to give the impression that you're doing something when in fact you're not. | ||
| And I feel obligated to expose that and to say, no, we're not going to vote for this hollow bill that actually does nothing because it gives the impression that we're doing something that we're not. | ||
| And with that, Mr. Speaker, I would yield back the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from New Jersey yields back. | |
| The gentleman from Kentucky is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. President. | ||
| This isn't a hollow exercise. | ||
| This is our opportunity. | ||
| It's our opportunity to say these programs are important to us. | ||
| Article 1 of the Constitution clearly gives us legislative authority. | ||
| It's all legislative authority will vest in the Congress of the United States. | ||
| We authorize these programs. | ||
| I don't think the answer is to say we believe in these programs, therefore we're not going to vote to authorize them because we don't believe they're going to be carried out. | ||
| It's our job to authorize them, to work the appropriations process, and then do the oversight to make sure these are implemented. | ||
| If the White House and the President can do this more efficiently, I'm all about doing them more efficiently. | ||
| But our job is to ensure that the mission is accomplished. | ||
| And if they can do that with different agencies, we need to have that debate. | ||
| I think that's important. | ||
| But it starts with authorizing the program, and in this case, reauthorizing the program. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I just want you to know there are no reasons to vote against this in substance. | ||
| In the language of this bill that we have before us was negotiated by both the House and the Senate with the Democratic leaders and the Republican leaders in the House and the Senate. | ||
| So it was bipartisan discussions. | ||
| It's bicameral discussions. | ||
| That's the text of the bill before us. | ||
| And so what we're here today is not a hollow move. | ||
| That's not it at all. | ||
| We're here today to say these are important to us. | ||
| If you have discussions what's not important, the first thing we need to do is come together as a House and say these issues are important to us as a House. | ||
| Let's get this bill through the Senate and put it on the President's desk. | ||
| And I strongly believe the President will sign this bill because he believes, as we all believe, that people are hurting. | ||
| They're hurting with substance use disorder. | ||
| You have the supply coming across the border that he's shutting down and trying to shut down. | ||
| But we also have to deal with the demand side and not just to slow down the demand, which is important, but change people's lives. | ||
| Because when they're with substance use disorder, it is just chaotic on themselves, on the families in which they live, and the friends that they have. | ||
| And this truly changes people's lives. | ||
| It's a bipartisan bill, bipartisan. | ||
| Everything in it is bipartisan, been discussed. | ||
| And I just encourage my colleagues to vote for this bill, reauthorize these provisions, fight for them to get them through the Senate, put them on the President's desk, and then fight for their authorizations through the appropriations process as well. | ||
| And I'm committed to doing that, and I look forward to hopefully a bipartisan vote on this bill. | ||
| And with that, I will yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman yields back. | |
| All time for general debate has expired. | ||
| Pursuant to the rule, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. | ||
| In lieu of the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Energy and Commerce printed in the bill, an amendment in the nature of substitute consisting of the text of the Rules Committee print 119-4 shall be considered as adopted. | ||
| The bill, as amended, shall be considered as the original bill for the purpose of further amendment under the five-minute rule and shall be considered as read. | ||
| No further amendment to the bill, as amended, shall be in order except those printed in Part A of House Report 119-130. | ||
| Each such further amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report by a member designated in the report, shall be read or shall be considered read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report, equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall be subject to an amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question. | ||
| That was clear. | ||
| It is now in order to consider amendment number one printed in part A of House Report 119-130. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Pennsylvania seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk. | ||
| The clerk will designate the amendment. | ||
| Amendment number one, printed in part A of House Report number 119-130, offered by Mr. Bresnahan of Pennsylvania. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Pursuant to the House Resolution 458, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Bresnahan and member opposed, will each control five minutes. | |
| The chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as such time as I may consume. | ||
| Gentlemen's recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman Guthrie, and thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Today I rise on my amendment to the H.R. 2483, the Support Act. | ||
| Opioid like fentanyl are incredibly dangerous. | ||
| Last year, our nation lost just over 80,000 people to drug overdoses. | ||
| That is 220 per day. | ||
| In my home state of Pennsylvania, someone dies of a drug overdose every two hours. | ||
| As we work to stop these dangerous drugs from entering the country, it's important we make available the necessary resources to reverse opioid overdoses as they happen. | ||
| Emergency opioid overdose reversal drugs are a lifeline, having the ability to save so many lives. | ||
| Currently, HHS regulations refer to certain name-brand drugs, such as Narcan, which can limit usage of other versions that may be more readily available. | ||
| My amendment would require HHS regulations or guidance documents to include any opioid overdose reversal drug approved by the FDA when referring to these emergency drugs. | ||
| This will expand and ensure better access to these life-saving drugs. | ||
| I lost my 16-year-old cousin to a drug overdose. | ||
| It is incredibly important to me that we are not limiting access to these resources. | ||
| By adjusting current regulations and language, we are protecting our children, our families, and our communities. | ||
| I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to save lives and support this amendment. | ||
| I reserve the remaining part of my time. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania Reserves. | ||
| Does anyone seek time in opposition? | ||
| Does the gentleman from New Jersey seek time in opposition? | ||
| I have no statement to make with regard to the legislation. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| The claim time in opposition, Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection. | |
| Yes. | ||
| Gentleman is recognized for five minutes. | ||
| Again, I'm not speaking on the bill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields back. | |
| The gentleman from Pennsylvania is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, we're prepared to close. | ||
| The gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, in closing, I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| The gentleman yields back. | ||
| The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Those opposed, no. | ||
| In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. | ||
| amendment is agreed to it is now in order to consider amendment number two printed in part a of house report 119-130 For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Virginia seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk. | ||
| The clerk will designate the amendment. | ||
| Amendment number two, print it in part A of House Report number 119-130, offered by Mrs. Kiggins of Virginia. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Pursuant to House Rule House Resolution 458, the gentleman from Virginia, Ms. Kiggins, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. | |
| The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Virginia. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| Gentleladies recognize. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today in support of my amendment. | ||
| More than 50 million American adults consider themselves to be in recovery from a substance use disorder or mental health condition. | ||
| In order to ensure that more patients can reach recovery, we must bolster treatment integration and wrap-around services for patients suffering from substance use disorder and addiction. | ||
|
Gentlewoman From Colorado's Amendment
00:03:29
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unidentified
|
This amendment directs the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to convene a public roundtable to examine the use of electronic health records among certain providers and issue a report of the findings. | |
| This would better inform policymakers about the existing landscape and uptake of certain providers utilizing electronic health records. | ||
| In closing, I urge support of this important amendment as well as the underlying bill. | ||
| Thank you, and I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
| Gentlewoman reserves. | ||
| Does any member for what purpose does the gentleman from New Jersey seek recognition? | ||
| I would claim the time in opposition. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman is recognized for five minutes. | |
| I have no statement to make at this time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields back. | |
| The gentlelady from Virginia is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close. | ||
| Gentlelady is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, in closing, I urge my colleagues to vote yes on my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| The questions on the amendment offered by the gentlelady from Virginia. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Those opposed, no. | ||
| In the opinion, chair, the ayes have it. | ||
| The amendment is agreed to. | ||
| It is now an order to consider Amendment 3, printed in Part A of House Report 119-130. | ||
| Oh, here she is. | ||
|
unidentified
|
She's here. | |
| You're gonna go anywhere? | ||
| Okay, you don't have to do that. | ||
| She's doing your declaration. | ||
| I have an amendment at the desk. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentlelady from Colorado seek recognition? | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chair. | ||
| I have an amendment at the desk. | ||
| The clerk will designate the amendment. | ||
| Amendment number three, prints it in part A of House Report number 119-130. | ||
| Offered by Ms. Pedterson of Colorado. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Pursuant to House Resolution 458, the gentlelady from Colorado, Ms. Pedterson and an opposed member opposed, will each control five minutes. | |
| The chair recognizes the gentlelady from Colorado. | ||
| Oh, thank you, Mr. Chair. | ||
| I yield myself such time as I may use. | ||
| Gentlemen, gentleladies recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chair. | ||
| I am here to beg for your consideration and support of my amendment to address something that happened with the reconciliation bill that changed the 1115 waiver. | ||
| Now, this sounds incredibly wonky. | ||
| An 1115 waiver to Medicaid is something that we're not going to be able to go home and talk to constituents about what we were able to do for them. | ||
| Nobody knows what the 1115 waiver is. | ||
| But when you talk about the impacts that this has made, this is especially impactful when it comes to Colorado and what we've been able to do to address the opioid epidemic. | ||
|
1115 Waivers Explained
00:13:35
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unidentified
|
In Colorado, we were able to utilize the 1115 waiver by proving that by covering substance use disorder treatment, we could save money over time. | |
| What happened in the reconciliation bill was language that said you actually had to prove that it was cost neutral upfront and that you couldn't prove the cost savings over time. | ||
| What this language will do is it will take our ability in Colorado away to utilize this waiver that has drawn down hundreds of millions of dollars for substance use disorder treatment. | ||
| In fact, we were the second in the nation to implement this waiver, and a total of 37 states now take advantage of this. | ||
| And 83% of people who are treated in the rural parts of Colorado and across the nation are on Medicaid. | ||
| So this will significantly impact red states, blue states, and especially the rural places across the United States. | ||
| Like many people, my family has been impacted by the opioid epidemic. | ||
| When I was just six years old, my mom hurt her back. | ||
| She was over-prescribed opioids and became addicted like so many Americans. | ||
| Through my struggle fighting to save my mom's life, I saw how broken our system was, and that's when I worked as a state legislator to change that. | ||
| What I saw in my mom's fight when she was overdosing at a high rate when fentanyled coming into the supply chain and she was begging for help with nowhere to go was that Medicaid did not cover substance use disorder treatment. | ||
| You actually had to go through this waiver process. | ||
| And I ultimately was able, I watched my mom being churned in and out of the ER, being kept alive in the ICU in critical condition. | ||
| And the state of Colorado and the federal government spent over a million dollars in one year keeping her alive in the ER while denying her access to the care that she so desperately sought. | ||
| And I was finally able to go through a very complicated court order process to get her the care covered that she needed. | ||
| My mom now is about to celebrate eight years in recovery. | ||
| She works at one of the places that saved her life and gives back to the community. | ||
| She is a taxpayer. | ||
| She's an example of what's possible when we actually invest in people and give them the care that they need. | ||
| And because of her story, we were able to implement this waiver to really increase our capacity as a state to address the opioid crisis. | ||
| We know that more people have died than all World War wars combined. | ||
| And these are people that we didn't have to lose if we actually had the system to support them. | ||
| By rolling back this language, you are decimating the substance use disorder treatment across the United States in 37 states, and many right now who are in the process of applying for the waiver and looking to Colorado as an example. | ||
| So this would mean less than hundreds of millions of dollars of treatment that we would be denied. | ||
| The first year alone, we treated 58,000 people with the care that they needed in Colorado. | ||
| And this is five years with implementation. | ||
| It's the reason why we now have a 35% reduction in overdose deaths in Colorado. | ||
| It is overwhelmingly the reason. | ||
| And I want to tell you why addressing the Medicaid barriers is so important. | ||
| People who struggle with a substance use disorder, this brain disease, it increases the likelihood of a decrease in employment. | ||
| And so 80 to 90 percent of people who are struggling with a substance use disorder qualify for Medicaid. | ||
| So when you don't cover the treatment that they need, the health care that they need, and you also dismantle the health care system that they're relying on, the people that are the most vulnerable, you are disproportionately impacting this community. | ||
| And so on a day when we are working on ensuring that some of the critical programs at the federal level are funded in this bill that is an important piece of this, we also have to support the structure and the payment, the payment system that supports the people on the ground who are doing this work. | ||
| It took us years to bring the study, bring the waiver, prove that this would be cost savings over time, and implement it. | ||
| And with that, thank you. | ||
| I will see. | ||
| I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
| The gentlewoman has no time remaining. | ||
|
unidentified
|
This is the gentleman from Conservative Speaker. | |
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Kentucky seek recognition? | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise to claim time in opposition to the amendment. | ||
| Gentleman is recognized for five minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Speaker. | ||
| I yield myself as much time as I may consume. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Speaker. | ||
| Madam Speaker, I really appreciate my friend from Colorado's hard work on this issue and a leader in Congress on substance use disorder. | ||
| I actually didn't know the story of my friend from Colorado's mother, and certainly when you're touched by an issue, you certainly become passionate about it. | ||
| I greatly appreciate her passion on the issue. | ||
| The Section 115 waivers are important to the Medicaid program, and states are the laboratories for democracy. | ||
| And 1115 waivers provide key state flexibility to test new authorities and ideas in the Medicaid program. | ||
| In substance use order alone, 115 waivers were pivotal in early efforts to lift the IMD exclusion, an obsolete edifice of the Medicaid program that undermines access to mental health care and substance use disorder, care by only allowing for Medicaid to reimburse for care inpatient facilities with fewer than 16 beds. | ||
| Under President Trump's guidance in 2018, states were able to use 1115 waivers to waive the IMD exclusion and expand access to care as the opioid epidemic began to grow worse. | ||
| After five years of state experimentation with 1115 waivers to lift the IMD exclusion, Congress stepped in and ultimately lifted the IMD exclusion. | ||
| We took on that initiative in 2023 alongside the rest of the Support Act and were able to get that signed into law even when the Senate blocked the rest of the Support Act because it was important to get it done. | ||
| 1115 waivers have been on the books for decades and states have used them in a multitude of ways to transform the Medicaid program. | ||
| A key tenant of those waivers though is that they have to be budget neutral. | ||
| This wasn't a problem when 1115 waivers are used to lift the IMD exclusion. | ||
| States were able to clearly demonstrate how early access to care reduced emergency room services. | ||
| Nonetheless, the Biden administration in their use of 1115 waiver authorities and put forth new guidance that allowed states to rely on so-called hypothetical expenditures that let states spend Medicaid dollars on services that were over budget and unrelated to the core functions of the Medicaid program. | ||
| Some examples of this included paying for air conditioning systems for beneficiaries for providing for payments for legal support for beneficiaries. | ||
| This isn't to say that HVAC system in a hot climate or legal supports aren't important or may have some potential relation to someone's health, but they fall far outside the scope of what Medicaid is intended for and they open the door for states to draw down federal funds for services that are oftentimes entirely funded by the states. | ||
| In 2023, as the then subcommittee chairman for Energy and Commerce's Health Subcommittee, I raised concerns with that direction with the Biden administration that they were moving towards these waivers. | ||
| Specifically to CMS, I wrote, and I quote, the committee is also concerned about the potential for fraud, waste, and abuse in the calculation and application of states' budget neutrality limits under the 1115 Medicaid waivers, unquote. | ||
| As chairman of the full committee, those concerns remain. | ||
| And two weeks ago, House Republicans began to take steps to address this. | ||
| In the bill that we passed, the reconciliation bill, we included key language to require stricter adherence to the budget neutrality requirements for 1115 waivers. | ||
| And it doesn't matter if the president is Democrat or Republican who's proving these waivers, it needs to be budget neutrality. | ||
| And we need to be good stewards for programs like Medicaid and to make sure that it's spending its physically responsible manners and that we aren't just writing blank checks to states and spend money however they choose. | ||
| I will close by saying I greatly appreciate the leadership my friend from Colorado has shown, a leader in this House in ensuring that we deal with as much as we possibly can in every way possible substance use disorder. | ||
| I just believe we need to stick to the budget neutrality and I oppose the amendment and I will yield back my time. | ||
| The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Colorado. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Those opposed say no. | ||
| In the opinion of the chair, the no's have it. | ||
| The amendment is not agreed to. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And Madam Speaker. | |
| Madam Chair, I ask for a recorded vote. | ||
| Pursuant to Clause 6 of Rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Colorado will be postponed. | ||
| It is now in order to consider Amendment 4, printed in Part A of House Report 119-130. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Virginia seek recognition? | ||
| Madam Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk. | ||
| The clerk will designate the amendment. | ||
| Amendment number four, printed in part A of House Report number 119-130, offered by Mr. Whitman of Virginia. | ||
| Pursuant to House Resolution 458, the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Whitman, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. | ||
| The chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia. | ||
| Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| Gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Madam Speaker. | ||
| I rise today in support of my amendment. | ||
| In 2018, the substance use disorder prevention that promotes opioid recovery and treatment for patients and communities, otherwise known as the Support Act, was signed into law. | ||
| In the years since, the bill has provided states and localities with the tools to combat the opioid crisis. | ||
| The crisis, the scourge of this nation that as of 2024 took the lives of nearly 80,000 Americans. | ||
| That's nearly 240 Americans every day last year. | ||
| Folks, that's equivalent to a jet airliner crashing every day. | ||
| And if that were happening every day, it would make the headlines. | ||
| People would be up in arms saying, what are we doing about air safety? | ||
| Which we should be doing that, but we should also be addressing issues with the opioid crisis. | ||
| While I'm encouraged to see that number beginning to recede, it's still way too high. | ||
| The number drop in 2023 is a good direction, but there's still lots of work to be done. | ||
| That's why today I rise in support of an amendment to H.R. 2483, the Support Act. | ||
| This amendment would require the Department of Health and Human Services to convene a public hearing to improve awareness of, access to, and information related to funding opportunities related to mental health and SUD programs within SAMHSA, S-A-M-H-S-A. | ||
| This would be a review not only of current funding activities but future funding activities. | ||
| These activities would increase much-needed awareness of important tools within states and localities. | ||
| Many times there are tools there that people are not aware of or local governments aren't aware of. | ||
| This is going to expand that and make sure that everybody's aware of the full scope of tools that are available to address the scourge of this fentanyl. | ||
| By closing this knowledge gap, we're going to help patients, providers, and families with key access. | ||
| And again, it's about getting treatment for this addiction. | ||
| This is a very debilitating addiction. | ||
| It is a biochemical addiction. | ||
| It is something that takes a lot of effort in order to separate people from that addiction. | ||
| And this effort saves lives. | ||
| It makes a difference in families. | ||
| The families that have been victimized by this addiction crisis will tell you how debilitating it is, not just to their loved ones, but also to families. | ||
| I mean, this crushes families in the things that they have to endure and the folks that have this biochemical addiction to opioids. | ||
| Madam Speaker, in closing, I urge support of this important amendment as well as the underlying bill. | ||
|
Motion to Rise
00:04:42
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| Thank you, and I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
| Gentleman Reserves. | ||
| Does any member seek time in opposition? | ||
|
unidentified
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Seeing none, the gentleman from Virginia. | |
| Seeing none, the gentleman from Virginia is recognized. | ||
| Madam Speaker, in closing, I urge my colleagues to vote yes on my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| The gentleman yields back. | ||
| The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Virginia. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Aye. | ||
| Those opposed say no. | ||
| In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. | ||
| The amendment is agreed to. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from Virginia seek recognition? | ||
| I move that the committee do now rise. | ||
| Is on the motion that the committee rise. | ||
| All those in favor say aye. | ||
| Aye. | ||
| All those opposed say no. | ||
| The ayes have it. | ||
| The motion is adopted. | ||
| Accordingly, the committee rises. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| Madam Chair. | ||
| Madam Chair. | ||
| You'll read that. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, having had under consideration H.R. 2483, directs me to report that it has come to no resolution thereon. | ||
| The chair of the Committee of the Whole of the Whole House on the State of the Union reports that the committee has had under consideration H.R. 2483 and has come to no resolution thereon. | ||
| Pursuant to Clause 12A of Rule 1, the chair declares the House in resets subject to the call of the chair. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Today in the House, members are considering legislation to update and reauthorize opioid abuse treatment and prevention programs, signed into law by President Trump during his first term in 2018. | |
| Later this week, lawmakers will consider several small business-related measures, including one to remove and relocate small business administration offices from sanctuary cities. | ||
| Watch live coverage of the House when members return here on C-SPAN. | ||
| On Thursday, Commerce Secretary Howard Luttnick is on Capitol Hill to testify on his department's 2026 budget request before a House Appropriations Subcommittee. | ||
| Live coverage starts at 11 a.m. Eastern on C-SPAN 3. | ||
| C-SPAN now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org. | ||
| Mr. President, no doubt about it. | ||
| This is today's historic in many ways. | ||
|
unidentified
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The proceedings of the United States Senate are being broadcast to the nation on television for the first time. | |
| This week, we mark the 39th anniversary of the U.S. Senate's first live television broadcast on C-SPAN 2. | ||
| Join us as senators take to the floor to reflect on this landmark moment in American democracy. | ||
| Thanks to C-SPAN 2, this public service allows our constituents to see the swearing in of newly elected members, watching all-night sessions during Votoramas, and tune in to history being made. | ||
| That's why on its 39th birthday, Senator Grassley and I wanted to highlight how important it is for all television providers, including major streaming services like YouTube TV owned by Google and Hulu Plus Live TV owned by Disney, to provide the American public with C-SPAN and the opportunity to see their government work on the Senate floor. | ||
| C-SPAN does not receive one penny of taxpayer dollars. | ||
| It's funded primarily from satellite and cable providers. | ||
| We're at a different stage in our history and a lot of people are seeing their news this way so we need to expand it and make sure we're on all of those platforms as well as the ones we already are on. | ||
| So thank you again to Senator Grassley for working with me to highlight C-SPAN's critical role. | ||