the workforce to say, how could this be? over eight million men out of the work, if'sforce together? i can itly with the opportunities out there the jobs that are being offered. they found that almost half of those men acknowledged taking pain medication on a daily basis. on a daily basis. what does that mean? there is another study by the brookings institute, brookings says, again, about half the people who they surveyed, almost half said that they were taking pain medication on a regular basis. one said the day before, one said son a daily basis. what they also said is, asked a further question, how many of you are taking prescription drugs? third of the people acknowledge -- thirds of the people being a -- two-thirds of the people acknowledge taking prescription drugs. these are shocking statistics. i do not believe this is overreported. i believe it is underreported. because who is going to say that

they're addicted to pain medication? i mean, that's -- one, there's reasons in the legal system not to do that. but there's also other reasons not to do it. a lot of people still feel like it's something they can't talk about. we've changed that to a certain extent. the stigma has been removed to a certain extent, and here in this body i think we've helped by talking about drug addiction as a disease, which i believe it is. and we need to treat a disease as you would other diseases. it's not a moral failing. it's a disease that has to be medically treated. but still there are people who are not coming forward, feel that stigma, no question about it. probably eight out of the ten people in my state who are addicted are not getting any kind of treatment. i think this is another issue that we've got to face for all the right reasons, to help these people get their life back on track, to help these people be able to achieve what god's purpose is for them --

certainly is not to be an addict and not to be actively using, and not to be causing all the pain and disruption it causes all through our society. the number one cause of crime in my state of ohio and pretty much every county i represent is this issue. it's not necessarily the drug use. it's the crime that goes along with it, the property crimes and theft and fraud and so ton pay for the drug habit. if you go to the emergency room in ohio, you will find that it's the number one issue they talk about. our neonatal units, sad but true, more and more babies being born with what's called neonatal abstinence syndrome which means their moms were addicted. these kids have to be taken through withdrawal as babies, provided morphine and other drugs just to get them through withdrawal. it is incredibly sad. we don't know what the long-term impact is on these kids, but it is a huge problem, the number one problem i see back home in our hospitals who have taken care of babies. if you go to our prisons, our

jails, go to our courtrooms, what's the number one issue? drugs. primarily opioids. of the 72,000 people who died of overdoses last year, by the way, the biggest single killer was not just opioids but it was fentanyl, this new synthetic opioid that's come in mostly from china. it's outrageous that continues to happen. and we're taking steps to address it. but my disappoint is all of us are affected by this. all of us. you may not think you are, although more and more people see it directly because their friends or family or themselves are caught up in this, but all of us are affected, including our economy. and so as good as these economic numbers are, i'm so glad that we passed that tax reform legislation because i thi it has spurred this economic growth. it's increasing wages, doing so many good things. but the next step is to say how do we take these people who are not, who are not in a position

to get on that first rung of the economic ladder much less the second and third and climb up, because of their addiction, how do we get them back on track? get them to face up to their addiction, get into treatment, get them into that longer term recovery which we know works better to get them off of their addiction and get them back into a productive life where they can reconnect not just with work, but with their families, with their friends, with their community, with their faith. the drugs become everything, as i've heard from so many addicts and recovering addicts. the american action forum released a report early this month that found that ohio lost about 86,000 workers and about $72 billion in economic growth from 1999 to 2015 due to the opioid addiction. so this affects all of us and it certainly affects our economy. and that's the next step that we must take. back in 2016 congress started to

get more engaged in this issue. we called the comprehensive addiction recovery act. senator senator sheldon whitehouse and i were the coauthors. today we're able to announce grants to ohio to ensure some of the gaps are filled where people get addicted, overdosed, narcan is applied, the miracle drug that reverses the effects of that overdose and yet they go back to the community. we don't want that. we want to get them into treatment. these grants will help. we passed legislation called the 21st century cures act that provides funding back to the states. cara goes to nonprofits and other programs that are working, evidence-based programs that help on treatment, recovery and prevention. cures goes to the states directly and allows the states to spread that funding out where it will help. every state is a little different, has different kinds of needs. so we're starting to see some progress on the ground. but again, the nenlt has come in and -- the fentanyl has come

in and kind of overwhelmed the progress i've seen. on the fentanyl side, we passed legislation just last week that finally says to our united states post office, you must screen these packages coming in from overseas because we know this poison, the number-one killer, 4,000% increase in fentanyl overdose deaths in my state of ohio in the last five years. it's the number one killer now. we know it's coming to the post office, your p.o. box, an abandoned warehouse from our post office. we finally said to them you've got to close this loophole because there's a loophole. they don't have to provide law enforcement the data on these packages to be able to find that needle in the haystack which is too hard to find without that data. private carriers have to provide that data to law enforcement. the post office does not. that's going to change when the president signs this legislation next week. we're going to start to push back to keep some of this poison out of our communities. but we need to do more. the legislation we passed also

provides more funding for treatment. it gets rid of an outdated rule that says you can only have 16 beds in a treatment center if you get medicaid reimbursement. that's a vestige of years past during the deinstitutionalation of folks who had behavior health issues. but it doesn't work today because we want these good treatment centers that are doing a good job to be able to expand the number of beds they have for residential treatment because that's what works for some people. and unbelievably today they have to turn people away. even though they're ready, they can take these people but they have the 16-bed limit. there are too many cases, and i know of people in ohio who have told me that when they were ready or in one case a father told me when his daughter was ready finally to go to a treatment center, he walked her down there, they went to the treatment center, she was ready to enter, she had come to that point in her life where she realized that she needed to do

this, and they told her there was no room. no room at the inn because 16-bed limit. in the next two weeks while she was waiting to get into that treatment center, you know what happened. she used again. she was addicted. she overdosed and she died in her parents' home. that father is really happy about this legislation. it also includes language to help with regard to these moms and kids we talked about earlier, and that's important as well. it helps to ensure there's a safe plan for these mothers who are addicted to allow them to taper off from their use of drugs so their babies are born in a healthy state and don't have to go through what i talked about earlier, which is incredibly sad to see. tragic. where literally these babies born with this neonatal

abstinence syndrome have to be taken through withdrawal. and it also includes the crib act, legislation that again is bipartisan, as all these bills i'm talking about. senator dick durbin and i worked on the i.m.d. exclusion, the issue of the 16 beds for years, many years. we finally got it done. the crib act is one that provides support for these babies we talked about because often the babies can't go back to their folks. their parents are addicted. where are they going to go? there are nonprofits that have sprung up that provide help for these babies, transition to get them into the right foster care, perhaps to get them with a grandparent or great-grandparent which is happening more and more in my state because the parents are not capable, able to take care of these kids. the parents need to focus on, we hope, on their own treatment and recovery. sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, but the point is the baby can't be with them. and these organizations are in a position to help because these

organizations, like richmond's path, in dayton, ohio, they have volunteers come in to hold the babies, to show the babies love that they need so desperately. they couldn't get reimbursement under the federal government. now they can under the crib act that we just passed. so this will help the babies, the moms, treatment, keeping the poison out. it is helpful. and as we've discussed this afternoon, in combination with a stronger economy that comes from the kind of fiscal and economic policies we have pursued here and especially the tax reform, also regulatory relief, that combination can lead to great things because it can provide that opportunity if, again, people are ready to get on that next rung of the ladder to be able to find that opportunity for themselves and their family because they dealt with their addiction. a rising tide can lift all boats and this growing economy gives us an opportunity to bring people out of the shadows and into a productive life with

work, family, faith. in the midst of opioid epidemic, we've got to do more to catch those who fall through the cracks, those who were gripped by this addiction, be able to find more meaning and purpose in our lives and we now have that opportunity. that's what's exciting it. mr. president, i'm pleased our new opioid legislation is going to be signed into the law by the president next week. i'm pleased to see the progress with the economy based on the policies that we have passed here to provide people with a little more take-home pay to give companies more incentive to invest, to level the playing field internationally so american workers who were being disadvantaged. it's coming together, it's working. let's combine that with an equal focus on dealing with the opioid crisis. we'll be able to see so many other people take advantage of their american dream. i yield back my time.

mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum. the presiding officer: the senate is not in a quorum call. mr. brown: oh, i'm sorry. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. each year the department of education honors schools that have a record of helping students excel.

this year 16 ohio schools were among the 349 national blue ribbon schools honoring the heart work -- hard work of students, teachers, and parents and everyone who works to make these schools a success from cafeteria workers to students to principles to parents to neighbors. these schools represent the great diversity in our state. rural and small-town schools, urban and suburban schools all designated as exemplary high-performing schools. i would like to read the names. bath elementary school, bluffton elementary, central elementary school. hazel harvey elementary school, india foster elementary school, maple elementary school, mother

teresa school, oakwood elementary school, st. andrews-st. elizabeth elementary school and twin oak elementary school. the 16th of these schools and the other school of these 16 is particularly close to my heart. it's called the mansfield spanish immersion school. it sits on ukwood avenue. it is the new school in the building where i went to elementary school then called brinker hof elementary has since become a spanish -- both of my brothers attended there. the school reopened as a public magnet school a decade ago with a class of 11 kindergarteners under the leadership of our neighbor jody nash. over the past ten years under principal nash and now under

current principal dave kosta, there are 250 students. the school expanded to add seventh and eighth grade. core subjects are taught in spanish, helping the students learn a second language from a young age many these students don't just excel in spanish, it is consistently ranked a top school and got high marks for serving students from diverse backgrounds. there are not a huge number of people in mansfield, my hometown, whose parents are speaking spanish at home. most of these students are learning spanish for the first time -- for the first time in their families. two years ago, the old bringeroff school or mansfield spanish immersion school

received a national title one service dish a -- distinguish award. awards like this means so much to a community that a reminder that academic excellence isn't limited to exclusive private schools or wealthy communities on the coast. too many people in this town -- in this town of washington want to refer to us as the rust belt, that outdated offensive term that demeans our workers and devalues who we are. it devalues the incredible work schools like this are doing in our state, preparing our students for the global economy of the future. these schools are not rusty, they are thriving. congratulations to all 16 of this year's ohio blue ribbon schools, all examples to our state and to our country and why we are so proud of them. mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. brown: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk should call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that at 4:45 today the

senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of the following nominations: executive calendar 1007, david james porter, 1081, ryan nelson, 1082, richard sullivan, 627, william ray. 628, liles clifton burke. 629, michael juneau. 634, mark norris, 638, 907, jeremy kernodle, 895, 905 susan brirn, 945, james handlin, 987, lance walker.

i ask consent that the senate vote on the nominations in the order listed with two minutes of debate equally divided prior to each vote, that for each nomination confirmed the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, that no further motions be in order and that any statements relating to the nominations be printed in the record. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nominationings, which the clerk shall -- nominations which the clerk shall report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, david porter of pennsylvania to be united states circuit judge for the ninth circuit. a senator: mr. president, i ask for the yeas and nays and yield back all time. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. without objection, all time is yielded back. the question is on the nomination. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are 50, the nays are 45. the nomination is confirmed. the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order, please. the senate will come to order, please. the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the votes in this series be ten minutes in length. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i yield back all time. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the next nomination. the clerk: the judiciary, ryan douglas nelson of idaho to be united states circuit judge for the ninth circuit. the presiding officer: the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second?

there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: is there any senator in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the ayes are 51, the nays are 44. the nomination is confirmed. the clerk will report the next nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, richard j. sullivan of new york to be united states circuit judge for the second circuit. the presiding officer: the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 79. the nays are 16. the nomination is confidence. -- the nomination is confirmed. the clerk will report the next nomination. the clerk: the judiciary,

william m. ray ii of juror injure to be a united states district judge for the northern district of georgia. the presiding officer: the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: