to restore communities currently plague by addiction and drug abuse. mr. president i yield the floor. >> mr. president. . . is a bill that we have been working on for three years. both senator portman, senator whitehouse, senator klobuchar, i want to thank them for their partnership and leadership on this bill. this is something that the four of us got together on because we saw in our own states the public health epidemic that was happening with our constituents, individuals struggling with addiction, people who were

addicted to prescription drugs and overusing and misusing prescription drugs, and then the price of heroin on our streets so low and people going to heroin and also a combination of heroin and a deadly drug called fentanyl. so i very much want to thank senators portman, whitehouse and klobuchar for the work that we've been doing together over the last several years on this bill and to see this bill come to the senate floor. this is a very important piece of legislation that will help us address the public health epidemic facing my home state of new hampshire and this country. this is something i've come to the floor on on several occasions before. and traveling around my state, i can't tell you the number of stories that i've heard from people in new hampshire and what we're facing, and the number of lives that are lost, the number of lives that are devastated by heroin and fentanyl and the misuse of prescription drugs. this is a life-or-death issue in

my state. the number of drug overdose deaths has been staggering. and before i came to the senate, i served as attorney general of our state, and so i worked with law enforcement on these issues, whether it was methamphetamine, cocaine or other illegal drugs. but i've never seen anything like this. as of last week, the chief medical examiner's office reported, had recorded that there were 420 -- 420 drug deaths in 2015. and that was a dramatic increase in new hampshire from the year before. the year before we had about 320 drug deaths. so this is over a person dying a day in my state. many more than die in traffic accidents are dying from the drug overdose. and it's a combination, again, of the driver of this -- heroin and fentanyl.

fentanyl is 40%, 50% more powerful than heroin. and when the drug dealers mix it up with the heroin, it's a killer. as eric spofford told me, who is an incredible guy in recovery, opened treatment facilities in our state, he got it right when he said fentanyl is a serial killer because that's what it is. in the month of february alone, there were 14, 14 suspected opioid overdose deaths just in the city of manchester. 14 just in one city in my state. that is a record high in manchester, new hampshire. these are not just numbers that we're talking about here. behind every statistic is a life , a life that is taken from us far too soon and has been tragically lost. a mother, a daughter, a son, a brother, a neighbor, a friend, a

coworker. this hits all of us, and these are people who are being lost from this horrible, horrible epidemic. behind the statistics and behind the headlines we see every day in the news, there are family members, friends, and communities who have been deeply impacted by this public health crisis. like the mother from greenville, new hampshire, who wrote to me. she spends her days actually doing incredibly important work. helping people who are struggling with addiction. she helps them, and yet she came home and has been coming home to see her own son struggling with heroin. she told me, as i tried to comfort those who have been affected by this tragedy, i think that my son will be next. in la cone i can't, a -- in laconia, a man helps those struggling to get treatment, but

he feels helpless when they're faced with a five-month waiting period for a rehabilitation facility, he wrote in five months these individuals may be dead. a parent from salem, new hampshire, contacted me and told me her son is struggling with heroin addiction, and she needed help finding a treatment program for him since she couldn't afford to pay for treatment herself. and parents don't know where to go. i met many parents who want to get help for their kids, and they're having a hard time finding a place and knowing where to go. another mother of three children had to revive her son from an overdose before the paramedics could arrive. or like the griffin family from newton, who i got to know well, who lost their beautiful 20-year-old daughter courtney to an overdose. now, courtney's father, doug, and courtney's mother pam, they made it their mission to bring

awareness to this issue and to make sure that others don't suffer from the same tragedy that they have suffered and the life lost in a beautiful young woman named courtney who had so, so much of life before her and so much potential. doug and so many -- doug and pam and so many other dedicated people in new hampshire are working tirelessly to turn the tide against this epidemic. over the past two years, i've made it a priority to travel the state and hear from our public safety community, treatment providers, addiction experts, families, individuals in recovery about finding effective strategies to address this problem. on ride-alongs with the police and fire, i've been to overdoses. i've seen them bring people back to life, administering narcan, only to say that they face this every single day. and if we don't focus on prevention and we don't focus on

treatment, then the important work that our first responders are doing, then we're not going to get at this problem and make sure people get out of this cycle of addiction that are struggling. treatment facilities in new hampshire are certainly working tirelessly, and individuals stepping up to expand our capacity in new hampshire to support individuals who need help, and they need more support. and i want to take a moment to recognize some of their hard work. amongst so many others that i'm grateful -- and there are so many working hard together in new hampshire -- hope for new hampshire recovery, families in transition, willows programs, the farnum center, west bridge community services in manchester, hope on haven hill in rochester, bonfire recovery in dover, granite house in dairy; i've gotten to meet so many incredible people who are dedicating their lives to this. new freedom academy in canterbury. visiting these facilities and

hearing directly from these dedicated professionals who work there and the work that they're doing, you know, you've got average people coming together, whether to organize a 5-k race, to gain resources and support for people who are on the front lines, and this is what they're saying, those who are on the front lines, tackling this epidemic and reversing the tide of addiction will take a comprehensive, thoughtful approach and includes strategy for treatment, education, support for recovery and interdiction. that's why we have to pass cara. cara is important because it embodies the comprehensive approach that so many in my state told me they need. here's what it p looks like. gives more support to first responders and law enforcement, expanding the availability of lifesaving drugs like narcan that our first responders are using every day. because cara will help make this happen, it's been endorsed by the national fraternal order of

police, the national association of attorneys general, including our own attorney general, joe foster. it strengthens prescription drug drug monitoring programs to help prevent doctor shopping. this is something i've been advocating for since i was attorney general of our state, so that our public health officials can have the tools. because we know from sam is a research -- from samsa research started with misusing or overusing prescription drugs and transferring to heroin. so this is critical. and it increases access to treatment including evidence-based medication assisted treatment. it helps people have more access. we need to turn the tide. over 130 stakeholder groups have gotten behind this legislation, groups that are on the front line of this issue. just to name some of them, endorsed by the national council for behavioral health, american psychological association, american society of addiction, medicine community, the antidrug

coalitions of america, faces and voices of recovery, mental health america, young people in recovery, the national association of state and alcohol and substance abuse directors, among many others. and i thank these groups for their feedback. it would support additional resources to identify and treat incarcerated individuals suffering from substance use disorders. it would expand prevention; so important that we address prevention. and it would also establish a campaign to bring greater awareness to the association between the overuse and misuse of prescription drugs and what happens as people misuse prescription drugs and then go to heroin and deadly drugs like fentanyl. this bill has overwhelming bipartisan support. 39 bipartisan is cosponsors. and i see my colleague from new hampshire on the floor. i want to thank her for her sponsorship of this legislation. this crisis does not discriminate. it doesn't care.

heroin, fentanyl, this devastating impact of this drug does not care whether you're a republican, a democrat, an independent; whatever your background, this is something that affects all of us. and like the high school student from manchester who wrote to me sharing how concerned he is about the negative impact this epidemic is having on his city, when he walks home from school, he sometimes sees discarded needles on the sidewalk and tragically he lost his best friend to a fentanyl overdose. or abbey, who leaves in the sea coast region, who struggled with an opioid use disorder through her pregnancy until she was finally able to receive help and treatment and enter into recovery. i met abbey, and i'm so inspired by her because she shows us that we can make a difference and we can turn this around. or a woman in londonderry who spoke with me at a community forum, terrified her brother

would suffer a recurrence because he wasn't getting the treatment and she was worried about his path to a successful life with his still suffering from a substance abuse disorder. or angela from nashua who has turned her story into a rallying cry for others. angela lost her mother to a heroin overdose 17 years ago, has adopted the children of several of her aunts and uncles who have lost their battles with addiction. after all this, angela's son and his girlfriend have become addicted to opioids and his girlfriend overdosed in angela's home. her son is still battling with heroin addiction. there are so many groups that are working to support these individuals, and we need to give them our support, but they cannot and should not have to do this alone. i really appreciate -- i see my colleague, senator shaheen, here from new hampshire, her leadership on this. i'm a cosponsor of senator shaheen's stand-alone legislation which would provide emergency appropriations in order to combat the heroin and

prescription opioid crisis facing our state of new hampshire, and in fact she and i have both written to health and human services and asked them to designate this as a public health emergency because we've seen the impact in our state and we've seen the lives that are being lost and impacted by this. so i'm cosponsoring senator -- i'm going to be cosponsoring senator shaheen's amendment tocare -- to cara and supporting this on the floor and i very much support her getting a vote on this, and i hope that that happens. in addition, i do appreciate that the president has put in additional resources in his budget to address this issue, and this is an issue that as i look at we all have to work together on. at the end of the year, there was also important funding that was passed that cara would provide a very important framework for. last year during the appropriations process, congress worked to increase by 284%

funding for programs at c.d.c. and samsa related to combating opioid abuse. these dollars actually haven't been distributed yet, and so it's important that we cast cara to make sure that as we go forward with the dollars that have already been appropriated and as we go forward in the appropriations process this year, that we have the framework to properly redirect this funding to prevention, treatment, first responders, to make sure that we have the feedback of 130 stakeholder groups of law enforcement throughout the country to ensure that these dollars are appropriately spent to address the epidemic that we're facing. i was honored and i have been honored to work over the last several years again with senators portman, whitehouse and klobuchar in introducing this bill. in fact, i also want to thank

the head of drug policy in the administration, director boticelli, and he really summed it up well when we asked him what he thought about cara. he said in a hearing before the judiciary committee in january there is clear evidence that a comprehensive response looking at multidimensional aspects of this that are embedded in the cara act are tremendously important. we know we need to do more, and i think that all of those components put forward in this bill are critically important to making headway in terms of this epidemic. the comprehensive addiction and recovery act would be a significant step forward in a federal response to this public health epidemic that is facing new hampshire and so many other states in the country. i urge my colleagues to support this critical legislation, to listen to the people of new hampshire and to the people of this country who are asking us to act. this is what they're saying in

new hampshire. in manchester, i wake up every morning with a fear that i will find my son dead and i am crying out for help. in spafford, i want my voice to be heard so that no one else falls through the cracks. in londonderry, addiction can happen to anyone. in tilton, we need action and we need it right now. we have an opportunity on this floor right now in this debate in very thoughtful legislation, very bipartisan legislation, the comprehensive addiction and recovery act, to take act now. we owe it to all those who have lost their lives, their families who have been impacted and those who are struggling with addiction, the first responders in our community, the people who are working hard to turn this around in new hampshire and across this country. to all i thank them for the incredible work they're doing.

we need to pass this legislation. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting passage of the comprehensive addiction and recovery act. this bill will make a difference, and i believe it will help save lives in new hampshire and across the country, and no doubt that passing this bill will make a difference. we will all need to continue to do more. we will all need to continue to fight for more and more support through the appropriations process in any way that we can, and i intend to keep up this fight because i know that lives are on the line. i know that this issue is impacting my state. i know that this issue as i talked to the mothers, the daughters, the fathers, the sons, the friends that are telling me the stories of the people that they have lost, that we can turn this around but it is so important that we pass this legislation. and, mr. president, i want to again thank my colleague from the state of new hampshire for her work on this, and with that

i yield the floor. mrs. shaheen: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mr. shaheen: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 30 minutes. i wonder if the chair would advise me when it's about 30 minutes from my time being up? the presiding officer: the chair will so notify. mrs. shaheen: i'm pleased to join my colleague from new hampshire on the floor and the others who have spoken so eloquently about the heroin and opioid epidemic that is ravaging families and communities in every one of our states. as senator ayotte said so well we have seen in new hampshire that we are at ground zero for this epidemic. it is -- in terms of the percentage of people affected in new hampshire, we're losing a higher percentage than almost every state in the nation, and this is something that we need to work together to address and

we've got to respond much more robustly i think than we have done at the federal level because this epidemic has become a pandemic. it's affecting young and old, urban and rural, rich and poor, white and minorities. as others have spoken, the senate is now considering the comprehensive addiction and recovery act or cara. i want to congratulate the sponsors of the legislation because this is a good bipartisan bill. it's important as we look at what we need to do to address the epidemic that we face. but in addition to the authorizations and the good work that's in the cara legislation, we also need to provide the resources that law enforcement and health professionals who are on the front lines of dealing with this crisis are going to

need because despite heroic efforts, law enforcement and treatment professionals are increasingly overwhelmed by the sheer scope and scale of the opioid and heroin crisis. everywhere i go in new hampshire, the lack of resources is abundantly clear. our communities need additional funding and they need it urgently, so that's why i have introduced an amendment cosponsored by the author of cara, senator whitehouse, and i'm pleased that my colleague from new hampshire has also joined in sponsoring -- cosponsoring this amendment. what it would do is provide $600 million in emergency funding for critical programs that we know will help address this crisis. i'm on the floor today to urge the majority leader and the leadership of this senate to allow a vote on this legislation, because this is a nationwide emergency of the first order, and it's time for us in congress to treat it like

a nationwide emergency. in 2014, more than 47,000 americans died from lethal drug overdoses, more fatalities than from car accidents. so each day 120 americans die of drug overdoses, two deaths every hour. in our state of new hampshire where we have 1.3 million people, we're losing more than a person a day to drug overdoses. here we have a map of america that shows the increases in deaths from drug overdoses. we can see in 2003 the majority of the map is lighter colored, so it means it doesn't have the same number of deaths. in 2008, we can see this dark red color which shows the drug overdoses, the deaths from drug overdoses increasing.

and here in 2014, we see the impact of those 47,000 people lost. the presiding officer, like in new hampshire, is at ground zero in the state of arizona. in west virginia, in tennessee and kentucky, they're seeing the same dramatic increase in the number of deaths from drug overdoses. this chart represents overdose deaths per 100,000 people, and again it demonstrates how truly national in scope the crisis has become. no state is immune from the scourge. across the country, our communities are asking why this is happening. they're asking why so many of our family members and neighbors are overdosing on these drugs. and sadly, as people have spoken on the floor, one of the primary reasons is because so many people are becoming addicted to

prescription opioid drugs, better known as pain killers. so in 2012, 259 million prescriptions were written for these drugs. almost one for every american. that's more than enough to give every american adult their own bottle of pills. during a three-month stretch in 2015 in new hampshire, 13 million doses of schedule two pain killers were dispensed at new hampshire pharmacies in just one three-month period. 13 million pills in three months for a state with a population of 1.3 million, and nearly 80% of these prescriptions were for heavy pain killers like oxycodone, morphine and fentanyl. if we look, we can see how this graph dramatically tracks the increase in drug prescribing and

the number of deaths that result. the number of drug overdose deaths has risen as opioid prescriptions have increased. so let's go back to this chart for a minute. because this orange line is the number of deaths, the green line is the number of prescriptions that are being written. we're missing the data for the year 2012, but there is no doubt that those deaths track the number of prescriptions for pain killers that are being written. the national institutes of health have found that people who are addicted to opioid pain killers are 40 times more likely to be addicted to heroin. so when someone gets addicted to pain pills and can no longer get prescriptions, they turn to drugs like heroin and fentanyl. what i heard from law enforcement in new hampshire and from the medical community is that people turn to heroin

because it's cheaper and easier to get than prescription drugs after they become addicted, and of course we've seen that drug traffickers are taking advantage, they're flooding our streets with these drugs, and in many of our communities, that bag of heroin is cheaper than a six-pack of beer. and of course the end result is a staggering increase in overdose deaths, which we can see on this chart. again, in 2014, nearly 21,000 people died from opioid abuse. there were more than 10,000 deaths from heroin. that's a 222% increase from 2009 levels. and so we can see these are opioid deaths, these are deaths from cocaine and these are deaths from heroin, and we can see the red line and the green line have gone up dramatically. a professor at johns hopkins school of public health, brendan

saliner, describes the opioid addiction as, i quote, a chronic relapsing illness, just like diabetes. we know that treatment is the only effective answer. again, what i have heard from law enforcement in new hampshire is that they know they can't put drug users in jail, but that's not the answer to deal with this challenge. we need to put the bad guys in jail, but we need to provide treatment to the people who need it because that's the only effective answer, and unfortunately it is a tragic reality that nationwide nearly nine out of ten people with substance use disorders don't receive treatment. they are being turned away and denied treatment due to a chronic lack of resources. my colleague from new hampshire spoke very eloquently about some of the people she has heard from. we've heard from people in the same way in new hampshire. of the 1.3 million people in our state, it's estimated that

100,000 people, almost 10%, are currently seeking treatment for substance use disorders. and we're able to offer services to only a small fraction of that total. over the last decade, the number of people admitted to state treatment programs increased 90% for heroin use and 500% -- 500% -- for prescription drug use. with the largest increases occurring in the past several years. and so as we can see from this chart, lack of treatment is a national problem. the darker the green, the more people in that state who are not receiving treatment for addiction. so sadly, new hampshire is a very dark green. so is arizona, the presiding officer's state. and we can see this dark green pattern coming down the east coast and going up the west coast.

in 2014 in kentucky, 82,000 people needed addiction treatment but failed to get it. in tennessee, 116,000 people. in arizona, 157,000. in nevada, 55,000. in north carolina, 200,000 people. these are all people who needed treatment who didn't get it. and when people don't get treatment, they are overdosing in overwhelming numbers. and, sadly, this map of the united states shows where the overdose death rates are the highest. the darkest the color, those death rates are greater than 19 per 100,000 population. and again, we can see many of the same states, like new hampshire, that have the most difficulty in people finding treatment are the states where we're seeing the highest death rates. in 2014 in kentucky, 1,100 people died from a drug overdo overdose. in tennessee, 1,200 people.

in arizona, 1,200 overdose deaths. in nevada, 500. in north carolina, 1,300. in recent days, i've had a chance to visit three treatment centers in my home state -- head rest in lebanon, serenity place in manchester and sea coast youth services in seabrook. these treatment centers are staffed by skilled, dedicated professionals. they're saving lives every day. but they tell me that for every life they save, many more are being lost for lack of treatment capacity, lack of facilities and lack of funding. and, you know, i had a chance on some of those visits to meet with some of the people in recovery, and i can remember one young man up in lebanon at head rest who had been in and out of prison because of crimes committed when he was using. and one of the things he said to me was, you know, it costs thousands of dollars to keep

someone in prison, the figure he used was $35,000. he said, don't -- don't you all know that it's cheaper to give somebody treatment? it is absolutely more cost-effective for us to provide treatment to people who are in recovery. people who need help. i heard from a young woman in manchester who said that she had been arrested for drug use. and she said, you know, i'm not a criminal. she said, my problem is i need treatment to deal with these drugs. another young woman who was in her early 20's, who had been in and out of the manchester jail, the valley street jeal, and she said -- street jail, and she said, you know, they don't provide treatment in the valley street jail. so i've learned when i get picked up, i don't tell them that i have a drug problem or that i have mental health issues, she said, because if i do, they put me in the bubble

where i get observed 24 hours a day, regardless of what i'm doing. and what i need is treatment. i don't need to be in the bubb bubble. well, that's why this supplemental amendment would increase resources for treatment and recovery, because the answer is treatment. our amendment includes $300 million for the substance abuse prevention and treatment block grant program. this program is the premier federal initiative to boost state and local resources for prevention, treatment and recovery support. and in 21 states, this block grant represents at least 75% of the state agencies' substance abuse prevent budget. and in some states, sadly, it is the only funding for substance abuse prevention. so if we're going to get a handle on this problem, we've got to provide some additional resources for the treatment that these programs need. this funding will result in an

immediate increase in the number of addicted individuals who will receive lifesaving treatment, and it will also save taxpayer dollars in the future, just like i heard from that young man at head rest, who said it's cheaper to provide treatment than to build prisons. he's absolutely right. the national institute on drug abuse estimates that for every dollar spent on substance use disorder treatment programs, there is a $4 to $7 reduction in the cost of drug-related crimes. and outpatient treatment programs can result in savings that exceed costs by a factor of 12-1. i live in strafford county in new hampshire. it is used -- it has used the modest funding from this block grant program, the substance abuse and treatment block grant, to accomplish important things, including expanding its peer-based addiction recovery efforts and working in schools to engage at-risk students in

the middle school years. because if we can prevent addiction, that's obviously the best thing we can do. but unfortunately many prevention and treatment efforts in strafford county remain chronically underfunded. i recently learned about one local woman, a mother and waitress, who overdosed in front of her two-year-old child. fortunately she received inpatient treatment and now she's doing well. but others have not been so lucky. like cities and counties all across america, strafford has a month's long waiting list for those needing treatment. and when people with substance use disorders are turned away, they remain on the streets, desperate, often committing crimes to support their addiction, always at constant risk of a lethal overdose. vice news in new hampshire recently profiled the opioid epidemic. the reporter interviewed one desperate user who said this --

and i quote -- "i tried to get help and stop but at the treatment center they said i'd have to wait three months. i had to go to the hospital and tell them i was going to kill myself just to get admitted." that should not happen in america. another critical tool in the effort to stem the tide of this crisis are prescription drug monitoring programs. these state-run programs collect, monitor and analyze electronically transmitted prescribing and dispensing data submitted by pharmacies and dispensing practitioners. now, we know monitoring works. we've seen -- we've got the data to show that it works. but only half of the 50 states are receiving federal support. so what this amendment would do, the emergency supplemental amendment, it would include $50 million for the c.d.c. to expand and bolster state drug monitoring programs.

our amendment also allocates $10 million to improve access in high-risk communities to medication-assisted treatment services for heroin and prescription opioids. because numerous studies have shown the effectiveness of including medication in the treatment of some individuals with substance use disorders. so medications like methadone, norphrino and natural trex on-- naltrexon have been shown to reduce abuse. our supplemental spending amendment would also speed emergency resources to law enforcement agencies. because while, as i said i've heard from police in new hampshire that they can't solve this problem by putting people in jail, they can help to solve it by putting traffickers in jail and by breaking up those networks that are supplying drugs. in recent years, the opioid epidemic has spread to small

towns and rural areas in every part of the country. and if we went back to that first map of the united states, we could see just how much the spread has been to rural parts of this country. heroin traffickers in new york expressly target new hampshire, vermont and maine, all states with a large rural population. we don't have any real urban areas in our states. but we can see the spread of those drugs in northern new england. this amendment will provide $230 million in emergency funding for edward byrne memorial justice assistance grants and $10 million for cops antiheroin task force grants. the byrne j.a.g. grant program is the nation's cornerstone crime-fighting program and it's proved its effectiveness in each of our states, which is why it enjoys such strong bipartisan support. but the program has suffered

cuts. in new hampshire, we received $1.7 million in byrne funding in 2007. last year we received less than $1 million, almost a 50% reduction. you know, i had the chance to travel with senator hoeven down to our southern border of texas last spring because we both are on the department of homeland security appropriations subcommittee and we talked to some of our customs and border patrol employees who were down on the border in loredo who were interdicting drugs down on our southern border. and one of the things they talked about is that drugs are coming across our southern border and they're going up the interstate highway system. so they're going up interstate 95 to northern new hampshire. they're going up interstate 35 up through the middle of the country.

and we've got to provide law enforcement with the funds they need to interdict those traffickers. we need an infusion of new funding to mobilize so that the programs are more aggressive for stopping opioid traffickers and dealers. our amendment requires that byrne j.a.g. funds be used directly to combat the opioid crisis for this emergency funding, and that will allow for programs that emphasize treatment over incarceration, like drug courts. in new hampshire, we've seen what a difference it can make to have well-resourced, ambitious law enforcement initiatives. from may to december of last year, a high-intensity drug trafficking area task force, so the hida task force, based in bedford, new hampshire, carried out operation trident. they drew on federal, state and local law enforcement resources in new hampshire and massachusetts, which makes sense. the more we cooperate, the

better we can respond. operation trident resulted in 240 arrests. they took down four major hero heroin/fentanyl trafficking organizations. they dismantled three processing mills and they seized more than $1.2 million in assets. but what we've got to do is to continue to re-create these successes all across the country by moving aggressively to take down the gangs and other trafficking organizations that are feeding the opioid epidemic. and to do that, we've got to provide resources. this emergency funding amendment doesn't create any new programs. instead, we fund proven and effective initiatives like byrne j.a.g. and the substance abuse prevention and treatment block grants. these initiatives have earned broad bipartisan support because all of us senators have seen the good work that they do in each of our states. and by allocating emergency

resources to these proven programs, this amendment will provide law enforcement and treatment professionals with the resources they need to go on the offensive, to mobilize a real war on opioid trafficking and addiction. and perhaps most important, our emergency supplemental funding amendment funds the programs that are included in the cara bill. and i want to thank senator whitehouse and the other drafters of cara who have made important statutory and program programmatic changes to improve programs that help treat addiction. but cara, as important as it is, is an authorization bill and it doesn't provide any funding. if we support making the changes in the law that are included in the cara bill, then we should also support the funding needed to make these programs work. and this is a quote from the

national governors' association. recently they came together and they endorsed emergency appropriations to address this crisis. they wrote -- and i quote -- "governors applaud the introduction of legislation that would provide emergency assistance to states working on the front lines of the opioid crisis. investment is needed to help states mount an effective response to opioid addiction, from increasing prevention and education regarding the dangers of illicit drugs, to strengthening state prescription drug monitoring programs, expanding access to addiction treatment, and enhancing support for law enforcement." the fraternal order of police has endorsed this amendment. they've written this bill will help our state and local law enforcement officers by giving them the necessary funding and tools to battle their community's heroin and opioid

problems. something needs to be done. " end quote. i ask unanimous consent to place the take tenial order of police -- fraternal order of police order into the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: thank you. we've also gotten support from groups like the manner academy of pain management, the american public health association, the american society of addiction medicine, association of women's health, ob streetic and neonatal nurses for the partnership of drug free kids, from the american college ever physicians, the national association of state alcohol and drug abuse directors and again i won't read this whole list, mr. president, but i would ask unanimous consent to enter the list into the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: now, the question is, why do we need emergency funding. well, some of my colleagues have argued that additional funds are not needed because there was enough money for the opioid crisis in last year's omnibus. and, yes, it's true there is

additional funding for these programs in the omnibus. i sit on the appropriations committee. i was one of many on that committee who worked very hard to fight for those dollars. but with spending caps in place, these increases our modest at best. and the majority of my supplemental amendment appropriates resources to two programs. the substance abuse prevention and treatment block grant and the burn jag program. these programs have been critically underfunded in recent years. for example, the substance abuse prevention and treatment block grant received a small increase in the omnibus. that was good. but the reality is that over the last ten years, funding for this program has not kept up with health care inflation. so we've got a 26% decrease in the real value of funding despite the small increase we got in the appropriations process. in order to restore the block

grant to its purchasing power from ten years ago, ten years ago now before we had the explosion of the opioid and heroin crisis, but just to get back to that level, congress would need to allocate an additional $483 million for fiscal year 2017. my amendment provides $300 million for this program. it's a downpayment, only a downpayment on where we need to be. and the burn jag program has been flat funded for the last three years. 15 years ago again before the explosion of the heroin opioid crisis, congress provided more than $1 billion in support to state and local law enforcement through burn, jag and block grant funding. by 2015 that number was reduced to $376 million. so right now despite the

explosion in this heroin and opioid crisis, we're providing only about one-third of the support that we provided 15 years ago. the reality is that criminal justice prevention and treatment have been chronically underfunded and as a result deaths have continued to rise. the presiding officer: the senator has consumed 27 minutes. mrs. shaheen: thank you, mr. president. i should be finished shortly. now, we've talked to the department of justice and to health and human services, and they are both ready to get this funding at the door immediately because there is no time to wait. law enforcement and health care providers on the front lines need this money and they need this money now. now, in the past congress has risen to the challenge of epidemics. in 2009, congress appropriated nearly $2 billion in emergency funding to fight swine flu which claimed the lives of about

12,000 americans. and that emergency appropriations bill passed the senate 86-3. 51 senators who voted for that bill are still serving in this chamber including 23 republican senators and every member of the republican leadership. and last year congress approved $5.4 billion funding to combat the ebola outbreak in west africa, an outbreak that killed only one american. surely we can come together now, this year in this session to fight a raging epidemic right here at home. we can't avert our eyes from 47,000 americans who are being killed by lethal overdoses each year. we can't accept that nine out of ten americans with substance use disorders go without treatment. we can't ignore the fact that law enforcement officers and the communities across this country are overwhelmed by aggressive drug traffickers and a rising tide of opioid-related crimes.

cara will help fight the heroin and opioid epidemic in the longer term, but i urge my colleagues to also support this emergency supplemental funding amendment because it will provide urgent emergency funding to ramp up this fight in the months immediately ahead. this is a nationwide crisis. it is time we mobilize a nationwide response that is equal to the challenge. so i urge my colleagues, i urge the majority leader to allow a vote on my amendment, to pass this out so we can give our local communities and our states the resources they need. thank you, mr. president. i yield the