has funded and used to mislead the american people and hold this administration hostage. the web of climate denial is nothing more than dirty energy corporations and their shady front groups spending over a quarter of a billion dollars each year to deceive americans about climate change. these corporations distort scientific consensus and turn it into an artificial political debate. they produce sham scientific documents like why scientists disagree about global warming, a report published by the heartland institute and sent to over 300,000 science teachers across the country. funding 300,000 documents to be sent to every science teacher in america over science which is patently untrue. that's how much money the fossil fuel industry has.

that's how hard they try to send up a smoke screen around this issue. to terrify teachers that they might be getting in trouble if they actually teach accurate science rather than the bogus documents which are sent to them by the fossil fuel industry, by their hand maidens, the heartland institute. these fossil fuel phone niece are on a fish to sow doubt and their efforts seem to be bearing fruit in this administration. the web of denial messaging strategy is highly sophisticated, disciplined, and politically controlled. conferences it, advertisements, websites, talking heads, this fossil fuel-funded farce may be a well-oiled machine and well-funded, but they are wrong. what do we do in the face of this web of denial? wewe need to look at the dollars and cents of it. not the big oil and king coal

green backs but the success of green energy. we are you shaling their power sector into a clean energy future that is good for our environment and good for our economy. coal cannot compete against wind, solar, and other renewables and natural gas in the free market. bit early 2020's, it could be cheaper to build new renewables from scratch than to continue operating old, dirty coal-fired power plants. that's called competition. adam smith is smiling in his grave watching this market force begin to take over, and that's why this renewable revolution has become unstoppable. it's because the cost of renewables is plummeting, the cost of solar has fallen 50 par to 60 -- 50% to 60% over the last five to six years. in fact, wind and solar are generally cheaper than coal and

nuclear energy right now. coal is losing the war against wind and solar in the free market. that's what we call it, the free market. the war on coal is a war that has been declared by the free market on coal, and it's lost that war. and it's not just happening here in the united states. it's happening all around the globe. mexico has a power option at the end of november of 2017 where the average price for solar was 1.9 cents per kill will he watt power. in 23017 solar in saudi arabia came in at 1.8 cents a kilowatt hour. in dubai it is 2.4 cents an hour. half of all the electricity installed in the world around the world was renewable. half of all new electrical generation capacity in the world

that was installed last year was renewables. so it's not just the united states. this is happening globally. the revolution is on. renewable energy deployment around the world has increased by 8% a year for seven years in a row, and globally more than $330 billion was invested in clean energy last year. this is a global clean energy race. this is a global job creation race. this is a global clean energy investment race. we are going to save all of creation by engaging in massive job creation as we have all of these people who are hired in order to install these new technologies. right now we have more than 50,000 megawatts of solar installed here in the united states. by 2020, we are projected to have more than 90,000 megawatts of solar. it is projected to add another 35,000 megawatts combined in

2021 and 2022. by the end of 2022, four years from now, we're going to have 250,000 megawatts of wind and solar in the united states. if you think of a nuclear power plant having 1,000 megawatts, the seabrook nuclear power plant the die ablow nuclear power plant, think of 250 solar and wind facilities. that's what we are talking about. and we have by the year 20, 500,000 people who will be employed in the industry. contrast that with the 50,000 people in the sole industry. who are they? they're roofers, electricians, engineers. they're people who are working with their hands to install all of this equipment. now, the president doesn't seem

to really care about those blue-collar workers, upwards of 500,000 by the year 20. but they're working hard. they are working for good wages. and they're also not running the rest of inhaling dangerous air that can be dangerous to their health. so that's where we are. we have this incredible opportunity that is before us p it's already happening. the president is in denial. and the climate change fight is not just a question of job creation. or economic imperative. it is about the moral imperative we have to act. we know climate change will get worse. we know that lives will get lost. we cannot sit back and do nothing. in 2015, pope francis came to capitol hill and he delivered his environmental sermon on the mountain taint. he told us that mankind created

this problem of climate change and now mankind must fix it. with the world's poorest and most vulnerable suffering, extreme famine, disease, displacement, we have a moral obligation to act. i agree with pope francis that the united states and the congress have an important role to play. we have a responsibility to help those less fortunate amongst us who will be harmed the most by rising seas, a warming planet and more pollution spewing into our air and water. that is why right now in the next congress i am standing here with my colleagues in this fight to ensure that we take climate action for a price on carbon, for investment in clean energy, for resilient infrastructure, for 100% renewable energy in our country. if there is a tactic on this bill, we will be fighting for

clean energy tax credits and to reduce our carbon emissions including for offshore wind, storage of electricity, for clean vehicles. we will be standing side by side in that fight in 2019 on the senate floor so that we continue this revolution. if there is an infrastructure package, we will be fighting for aggressive renewable energy standards for utilities in the federal government and for coastal infrastructure needs. and as we work on appropriations, we will fight for more funding for energy efficiency and programs that protect the health of children and families from climate change. the climate challenges facing our nation and the entire world are indeed great. but the united states has the technological imperative to lead on solutions. we have the economic imperative to create opportunities for jobs for all people, and we have the moral imperative to protect our planet for future generations. the rest of the world will not listen to us and follow us if we

do not in fact take these actions. you cannot preach temperance from a barstool. you cannot ask other countries to act when we ourselves are walking away from that responsibility. that's the moment that we're in, and by january 1 of 2019, this battle is going to be on. we've been given the warning and we're heeding its and we're going to have mighty battles out here on the floor to make sure that future generations do not look back at us and wonder why we ignored all of those warnings. -- that were given us to by the smartest scientists on the planet. now, i would like to yield to my great colleague from the state of new hampshire, a woman who has dedicated her career to the issues of clean energy up in her home state. i give you the great senator from new hampshire, jeanne shaheen. the presiding officer: the

senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: thank you, mr. president. thank you to my colleague, senator markey, and to senator whitehouse. i'm pleased to join both of you who have done such a tremendous job in leading on this issue of trying to get everyone to wake up to the challenges that we face from climate change and what that's going to mean, not just for us in new england but for people across this country and across the globe. last week, as you all have said -- and maybe the reason we feel so passionate about this is because we see it. we see it happening already in new england, as my colleagues detailed so well. we're on the cutting edge of these changes, and you don't have to have lived in new hampshire for very long to see what's happening as a result of climate change. last week the u.s. global change research program released its fourth national climate assessment, and that details the

profound effect that climate change is having and is going to continue to have on the environment, on the economy, and on our public health. the report makes it abundantly clear that every american -- every american -- is affected by climate change and that the threat it poses will get worse unless we take action. and as i said, people in my state of new hampshire have no doubt about the reality of climate change because we've been seeing it for years now. we've been experiencing it. the steady increase in temperatures, the rise in annual precipitation -- they're already affecting new hampshire's tourism and outdoor recreation economy. each year hundreds of thousands of sportsmen and wildlife watchers come to new hampshire to enjoy our mountains, our lakes, all of our beautiful natural resources. the outdoor economy -- hunting shall fishing, and outdoor recreation -- contribute more than $4 billion to new

hampshire's economy each year, but this is threatened now because rising teaches are shortening our -- rising temperatures are threatening our fall season, threatening our winter recreational activities including skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling. the new hampshire ski industry employs 17,000 granite staters, and the new hampshire department of environmental services warns that these jobs are threatened by climate change. and new hampshire's -- in fact all of new england's fall foliage is at risk. this is climate-month-olding by the -- this is climate modeling. new hampshire summers will feel like present-day summers in north carolina. while the presiding officer certainly understands that that works great for north carolina, it changes dramatically what happens in new england and what this shows is that this red

color, which is -- are the maple and beech and birch trees that produce our maple sir vice president syrup, that make such a things in our fall foliage, those are going to be done by 200, by the end of this century. all of this red that we're seeing throughout from pennsylvania, new york, across northern new hampshire and vermont and maine -- that's all gone by the end of this century. so this underscores, again, that if we fail to act on climate change, we're going to see a steep loss of jobs and revenue. that's going to affect our outdoor recreation industry. and it's going to affect our traditional maple syrup industry. new hampshire produces march more than 100,000 gallons of maple syrup annually, the

third largest marriage penalty maple syrup producer. we're seeing the affects. as we get into the sprigg, the temperatures are not getting cold enough at night to make the s.a.p. run in the membership -- the sap run in the maple trees. the days we're not seeing the fluctuation in temperatures that allows the maple syrup to be produced. the national climate asenior senatorment notes that the changing climate is putting more and more stress on sugar maples. if we fail to act, this could destroy new england's multimillion-dollar maple syrup industry. it's also affecting our wildlife. it's affecting their habitats and probably one of the most iconic symbols of new hampshire is our moose and yet they're being threatened. because of milder winters due to

climate change, ticks and other insects aren't dying off. that leads to infestation on our wildlife and our trees and according to new hampshire's fish and game department, the estimated moose population in new hampshire has decreased by more than 50% since the mid-1990's. that story is even worse for moose calves of the. a study found that winter ticks are the primary cause of an unprecedented 70% death rate of calves over a three-year period. on average -- and we can see this dramatically in these photos. 47,000 ticks were found on each calve that was monitored during the study. and to quote dr. peter peekins, a professor at u.n.h. who is a lead author on the study, he says the iconic moose is

rapidly becoming the new poster child for climate change in parts of the northeast. we are going to see moose totally disappearing from the northeast. and in fact, all of the northern part of the united states, if we don't take action. and as my colleagues have said, global warming is also impacting our fishing industry. new hampshire may have a small coast, 18 miles of coastline, but we have an important commercial fishing industry that contributes $106 million to the state and supports 5,000 jobs. unfortunately, because of climate change, the average annual temperatures in the waters off of southern new england have increased by about 2.2 degrees farenheit since the 1970's. and this change in temperature is driving some of new england's most iconic fisheries northward and farther out to sea. lobsters, for example, have migrated 40 miles

northward to the gulf of maine in the last decade. and as we can see from this graph -- photo illustration, it shows the red areas where we used to have lobster until the 1970's. they have totally disappeared, and those lobsters have moved north. north of cape cod, north, they're moving into northern maine and up into canada. they're totally gone from the new england sound. that's devastating to southern new hampshire fishing communities where lobster is their livelihood. ironically, as i think senator markey said so well, the lobster migration has contributed to an overabundance in the gulf of maine and that's caused price volatility in the lobster market. so we've seen dramatic fluctuations which also

affected our fishermen. and of course the impacts on human health have been dramatic because people are suffering from the impacts of climate change. rising temperatures increase the number of air pollution action days. they increase pollen and mold. they increase allergies. and all of these things are dangerous to some of our most vulnerable populations, including children. in new hampshire, we have one of the highest childhood asthma rates in the country because of air pollution that's moving, been moving primarily from the midwest but now is being exacerbated by climate change. the elderly are affected, those with allergies, those with chronic respiratory conditions. and rising temperatures facilitate the spread of insect-borne illnesses such as lyme disease which have been a huge factor for people in new hampshire and across new england.

now because new hampshire and the northeastern states and new england have been experiencing negative impacts from climate change, we've been working to reduce carbon emissions to try and transition to a more energy-efficient and clean energy economy. new hampshire is one of nine northeastern states that participates in the regional greenhouse gas initiative, or rggi. since the program launched in 2009 and massachusetts and rhode island are also participants, but cuban cuban -- cuban carbon emissions in rggi states have reduced by 51%. in addition, customers in rggi states saved an estimated $773 million on their energy bills,

thanks to energy efficiency. i'm a believer it is one of the most important ways we can reduce carbon eemissions. the whole sail price on energy -- wholesale price on energy has fallen. 6.4% and $773 million in energy savings. so climate change, as everyone who has spoken to this this evening has pointed out, is probably the greatest environmental challenge the world has ever faced , but we can do something about it if we take action. through smart energy policies, through thoughtful conservation measures, we can stop climate change from reaching dangerous irreversible levels, but we have to act now. so i urge my colleagues, i urge this administration to recognize the economic and environmental imperative of addressing

climate change before it's too late. thank you, mr. president. i yield back -- i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i'd like to talk tonight about the opioid crisis -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. the presiding officer: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: i'd like to talk tonight about the opioid crisis that has gripped my state of ohio and the country and talk about some lessons learned. there was an article in "the new york times" some of you might have seen on sunday about a town in ohio, dayton,ohio, and the progress they made in combating this opioid crisis, including a reduction in opioid deaths, which is significant. dayton has had some of the overdose death rates in our entire state of ohio and ohio is probably three or fourth in the country in terms of opioid overdose deaths. they have seen in dayton,ohio, in the last year about a 50%

decrease in opioid deaths. it is still unacceptable. unfortunately there are still people dying every year. but from this high watermark, progress has been made. why has that happened? well, i'm going to talk a little bit about that tonight and talk about some of the things that are actually working in our communities and give us a little sense of optimism about what might be able to happen over the neck couple of years as we try to turn the tide on this epidemic. for a little context, last year, we had the highest rate of overdoses, highest rate of overdose deaths in the history of our country. 72,000 americans, 72,000 lost their lives to overdoses from drugs. in my state of ohio, that number is particularly high to the point that it's the number one cause of death now in our state. i met with the director of the c.d.c., the centers for disease control today, talked about the opioid epidemic and talked about

the tragedy he is seeing in places like southwest ohio, dayton and cincinnati, my hometown, where we see inincidences -- incidences of hepatitis c increasing and even hepatitis a. these are diseases that are primarily increasing because of the sharing of needles and the opioid epidemic. so we have got our work cut out for us, don't we? in dayton, ohio, by the way, over the last few years, the death rate had gotten so high that the coroner's office was literally running out of space. there wasn't enough room to put all the bodies. i have held roundtable discussions in dayton and montgomery county which is the county around dayton. over the past several years and heard the bad news. i have often filled with montgomery county then-sheriff bill plummer who has been tireless in trying to focus law enforcement and the social workers and the treatment community and the business community and other community leaders on how to respond to

this problem. our first responders, of course, are as desperate as anybody to address it. it's been tough. you know, again, i have been in dayton, ohio, and had to talk about the fact that we had the worst rates in the country of deaths and therefore one of the worst in the entire country. so what's happened? how has dayton made this progress and this 50% reduction? well, "the new york times" highlights a number of reasons for it. they talk about greater community involvement. the ability for more medicaid recipients to get treatment. more narcan being distribute utahed -- distributed throughout the community. they talk about helping to deal with the stigma -- in other words, by reducing the stigma that's associated with addiction, more people will step forward to get treatment for it, and their families will be more willing to push them forward. that helps to unite communities against what is the biggest public health crisis we face in ohio and around the country. and i'd like to highlight tonight some of the things we

have done here in this body just in the last couple of years that contributes to some of the success that we're seeing. again, are we there yet? no, we're not. last year was worse than the year before, but i do believe that we're going to begin to make progress. frankly, i think we would already have seen some of these efforts at the federal level, state level, and local level which are taking root, make a bigger difference but for one thing, and that is this big influx of synthetic opioids, fentanyl. fentanyl, carfentanil, and other synthetics have taken over. i remember being in dayton, ohio, the city we're talking about tonight, about four years ago when for the first time i heard from a law enforcement official fentanyl is pushing out heroin. at that time, the big issue was heroin. it wasn't fentanyl. in fact, very few people knew about fentanyl. fentanyl has hit my state and our country so hard over the past several years, the last three, four, five years, that it's sort of overwhelmed the

system. so as we have begun to make progress on better education, better treatment, better recovery options, more narcan, we have also had a big influx of this incredibly powerful drug, 50 times more powerful than heroin, on average, and inexpensive drug. we'll talk in a minute about what we're doing about fentanyl. again, if we had not seen that influx, we would be getting -- we would be seeing more progress because of some of the things that we'll talk about that are happening in dayton, ohio. back in 2016, this body after four years of work passed legislation called the comprehensive addiction and recovery act. i was proud to co-author that with a colleague, sheldon whitehouse. it was bipartisan. it was nonpartisan. it was based on evidence. it was based on four conferences we had here in d.c. we brought in people from all over the country to talk about what is the best treatment option. what's the best way to ensure somebody gets their treatment successfully? how can we do a better job with

our veterans? how can we ensure that we're bringing our froanders into this and working with them and helping them to be able to deal with this crisis? all of that led to this comprehensive addiction and recovery act legislation. the first thing that the legislation did actually was it said let's look at this like a disease. and that may be -- of all the things that are in that legislation including significant new funding for our communities, maybe the most important thing is beginning to change the paradigm. lick we don't look at this as a moral failing but rather look at it as something that is a disease. something changes in your brain when you become addicted. and i can't tell you there are people i have met in my home state of ohio who because of an accident or an injury took an opioid, became addicted, physically addicted, shifted to heroin or fentanyl because the drugs were -- prescription drugs were hard to find or too expensive, and then overdosed, and in some cases overdosed and died.

but having said that, this legislation, this comprehensive addiction and recovery act legislation focusing on prevention, focusing on treatment, focusing on recovery, focusing on providing narcan to our communities has made a difference. there will be $608 million spent this year on these cara programs. our first year it was about $182 million. it's gone up every year since. why? because it's working. it was based on good evidence, and it's helping to offer innovative solutions to the stubborn addiction challenge we face in our country. dayton, ohio, montgomery county, has received $3.5 million in cara funding. so part of the reason they have had some success is they have taken this funding and used it in innovative ways. it includes $2 million for first responders. about $500,000 for the city of dayton to develop partnerships between first responders, treatment providers responding to overdoses as a team. if somebody overdoses, narcan is applied, their lives are saved. unfortunately, still in america

in most cases, the person goes back to the community, to the old team, the old gang. and often there is no follow-up. in dayton, what they have said is, you know what, somebody overdoses, narcan is applied. we will follow up with them. the team will include law enforcement, but it also will include treatment providers, maybe social workers. this funding has allowed them to pursue that. also, $1 million in montgomery county public health to analyze substance abuse issues and identify potential solutions to come up with more innovative and creative ways to deal with this. also in 2016, this congress passed another piece of legislation. the comprehensive addiction and recovery act, you remember, is funding that goes straight to programs to help on, again, prevention, education, innovative solutions. the second one was called the 21st century cures act. this provides funding directly back to the states, and the states then decide how it is spent. that funding is also making a big difference.

in each of the last two years, ohio has received $26 million in cures funding to affect the opioid crisis. all of your states have received funding, too. the funding is based on the degree to which you have a problem. so states like my state of ohio, west virginia, kentucky, have gotten significant amounts of money from this because we need it. again, montgomery county alcohol drug and mental health board, has received about $2 million in cures funding over the last two years in dayton, ohio. i have seen and heard about how that funding is being put to good use. just a couple of months ago, i was in dayton. i took part in a roundtable discussion with the montgomery county admhs board. asked how they are using their cures money. they are partnering with the dayton and montgomery county addiction services to provide 24/7 ambulance withdrawal support, a community treatment team to help people gripped by addiction get treatment in their

own homes, primary care for addicts, pregnant women and more. they are finding that's working, working not just again to have people being saved from an overdose by narcan but getting these people directed into treatment to actually help them with their addiction problem longer term. they are implementing impressive programs to help with some of the most vulnerable groups that are affected by this crisis, and that is mothers who are addicted. and their babies who are too often being born with what's called neonatal abstinence syndrome. because the mom is addicted, the baby is born with this syndrome which requires the babies, tiny, innocent baby to go through withdrawal. it's a very sad situation. it's happening in hospitals all over our country. go to your neonatal unit in your hospital, and you will find out that unfortunately the numbers of these babies has increased dramatically. we don't know the impact longer term on these babies who are

born to moms who are addicted. but there is a great risk there. what we do know is that hospitals across the country are being filled up with these innocent babies, and they need our help. after these babies get out of the hospital, by the way, often they can't go back to their moms or their dads because they are addicted, nor should they. the moms and dads sometimes are in treatment. they can't take their babies with them. what happens to these kids? well, there are some groups that have started, community volunteers who have stepped up in dayton, ohio, as an example, and started a group called bridget's path. bridget's path is a shining example of an organization that's dedicated to helping newborns who are dependent on drugs being able to recover longer term. as these innocent babies are taken through the withdrawal, they also need to be surrounded by love and support. earlier this year, i had the opportunity to visit bridget's path. it provides short-term inpatient care in a home-like setting for these newborns who are suffering

from prenatal drug exposure. a lot of volunteers are involved. some of the volunteers do something really important and really simple. do you know what it is? they hold the babies. literally, the human contact. based on all the psychological studies and looking at how you create healthy, well-adjusted babies, you have got to have that human contact. these babies who can't be with their parents because their parents are addicted or maybe the dad isn't around and the mom is addicted, volunteers come in and literally hold the babies and love these babies and support these babies. we need to provide as much care and treatment as possible to help these kids so that they can achieve their god-given potential in life. and by the way, the opioid legislation that the president signed into law just last month that this congress passed provides for the first time that organizations like bridget's path in dayton, ohio, entirely funded up to this point with

volunteers, with money from the community, but frankly they don't have the resources they need to take care of all the babies who need help, these babies whose family qualify for medicaid will now be able to get medicaid reimbursement under what's called the crib act which the president just signed into law. it provides $60 million in funding for babies and recognizes residential pediatric recovery facilities like bridget's path as providers under medicaid. this is a huge difference. it's going to enable not just bridget's path but other organizations like this to pop up around our state. that may not be affecting the overdose rate per se, but that's affecting something really important, the ability for these infants, these babies to be able to have a normal life, to be able to achieve whatever god has in mind for them and their life, which is not to be growing up in a family with addiction but rather to be able to escape the grips of addiction. i believe perhaps most importantly legislation we just

passed in congress recently adding to cures and cara and the crib act, dealing with fentanyl will help in dayton, ohio, and around our country. i mentioned fentanyl earlier, synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin, inexpensive. sadly, while, again, dayton has made progress, fentanyl remains the number one killer in dayton. they told me when i was there a couple months ago that cocaine and meth deaths, crystal meth, are rising in the dayton area. deaths from cocaine and crystal meth. why is that? typically you don't hear about people overdosing on cocaine, but you certainly do when fentanyl is mixed in with cocaine. that's what law enforcement is telling me around ohio has happened. these drugs often mixed with fentanyl are now deadlier than ever. fentanyl was involved in more than 70% of ohio's overdose deaths last year. from january until april of this year, despite the overall

reduction and overdose deaths, about 77% of the overdose deaths in montgomery county, in dayton, ohio, involved fentanyl. so, again, we're making progress but not nearly as much as we all want to make and a major reason for this is this influx of this deadly synthetic substance. unbelievably, we know that fentanyl is mostly manufactured in china and mostly comes to our country through our own united states mail system. and up to now, up until last month when the president signed this legislation, we did not have a way to screen these packages coming in from overseas, specifically from china coming in through the mail system into our communities, causing all this death and destruction. now we have in place something that closes a loophole in the international mail screening that requires the post office to do what the other carriers have had to do since 9/11, which is to provide law enforcement with advanced electronic data to be

able to identify these suspect packages, get them offline rather than coming into our communities. i think that's going to make a huge difference, not just because it's going to stop drugs from coming into our country but because by ruing the supply, you're going to see the cost go up on the street, which has been one of our great challenges. it's not the ultimate answer. the ultimate answer is better treatment and longer term recovery options, all the things we talked about in terms of taking care of moms and babies. but we've also got to do everything we can to reduce the supply of these drugs, and that legislation that the president just signed is going to help. we're also going to be helped by a new law that the president just signed last month. it says with regard to residential treatment programs, they are no longer going to be capped by an arbitrary limit of 16 beds. this is a vestige of the 1960's and 1970's when we wanted to deinstutionalize

people particularly with regard to mental health and we said that you can't get reimbursement from medicaid if you had more than 16 beds for mental health and substance abuse treatment. then the opioid crisis hits us and we find ourselves with no room at the inn, people being turned away at treatment centers and the period they're waiting to get in overdosing and dying, and i've heard these stories and heard these moms and dads talk about the pain of a child who finally says i'm ready. in one case her dad takes her to the treatment center. this was in a tele-town hall meeting i had. we have them every month and i hear these stories. these are people who aren't calling to tell their story but they end up telling it because we talk about this issue. in this case the dad said we took her, she was ready. there was no room. they couldn't accept her in the treatment center. so we took her back home. in the four weeks that she was waiting to get a slot in

the treatment center, what happened? she succombed once again to shooting up, in her case heroin and an overdose in her own bedroom. this arbitrary limit doesn't make any sense. if a treatment center is doing a good job, don't limit it to 16 beds. it's not doing a good job, by the way, it shouldn't be getting any reimbursement. but if it's doing a good job and successfully helping people to get beyond their addiction into recovery, we shouldn't be limiting it. this legislation does that. it actually takes off the cap. it has a five-year life because it has a cost to it. and i'm convinced that it's going to work and work well. in five years from now we will extend that even further. but this is something some of us have been working on for many years, many years, and it's now done. so again, progress is being made incrementally. some of this legislation we talked about tonight is contributing to that. we now need to ensure that we

implement this. we cannot at this point take our eye off the ball. i think when we look back at this year, 2018, and we're coming to the end of the calendar year now, we will see for the first time really in the last dozen years a reduction in overdose deaths. predict that's going to happen. and i say that in part because i spoke to the director of the centers for disease control today, the c.d.c. director. i say that because back in ohio i'm seeing these programs work. i'm seeing finally us beginning to turn the tide despite the influx of fentanyl. i will just say tonight if that's true, if we begin to see some progress -- and again i see it on the ground, i sao it in the -- see it in the reports from corner's and medical reports around ohio. if that happens let's not take our eye off the ball. let's not say we've succeeded, now we can move on.

we did that back in the 1990's with regard to cocaine we never solved the problem. it's like the tide. it keeps coming in. we've got to be vigilant. we've got to maintain the support that we've provided here in the united states congress to push back against this terrible addiction, this disease, and we've got to ensure that we're not just pushing down on one drug and having another drug pop up. as we make progress on fentanyl or make progress on heroin, let's also be mindful of the disastrous impact with cocaine and crystal meth and drugs we haven't even heard of yet, the new synthetic drugs that are coming our way. i believe that federal programs like cures are making a difference, working with our states that are also passing their own legislation and helping in many ways our local communities that are jumping in and figuring out innovative and creative ways, taking that federal dollar and leveraging it with private sector money with state and local money. i believe we're going to make

progress with the stop act, in reducing the supply and therefore raising the cost of the drug on the street. i think what you have seen in dayton, ohio, that was reported in "the new york times" can continue not just in dayton but in toledo, in columbus, in akron, in cincinnati, st. clairsville, all over our state and then all over our country. but we have a role to play here and that's to continue to be better partners, as we have been over the last two and a half years here in congress. better partners with our states, with our local communities, with our families. because ultimately this is an issue of the heart, isn't it. this is about the future. we have some pages here with us tonight, some young people who are 16, 17 years old, who come to this town because they are selected as bright young people. they are listening, or at least they are acting like they're listening tonight -- thank you -- it's about you. it's about what kind of future you're going to have

and what kind of future you're going to have for having safe and healthy communities. thank you, mr. president. i yield back my time.

the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 22 all postcloture time on the farr nomination expire at 12:00 noon on thursday, november 29, if the nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered, made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. further, that notwithstanding rule 22 the cloture vote on the kraninger nomination occur at 1:45 on thursday, november 29. and that if cloture is invoked on the kobes or kraninger nomination all postcloture time be yielded back and the senate vote on the nominations at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the minority leader but not before december 4. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session for a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: mr. president, we have 11 requests for committees to meet during today's session

of the senate, and they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. portman: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 6651 which was received from the house. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 6651, an act to extend certain authorities relating to united states efforts to combat hiv-aids, tuberculosis and malaria globally and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent, mr. president, that the senate proceed to immediate consideration of calendar number 545, s. res. 501. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 545, senate resolution 501, recognizing threats to freedom of the press and expression around the world and reaffirming freedom of the press as a

priority in efforts of the government of the united states to promote democracy and good governance. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the committee-reported amendment to the preamble be agreed to, the preamble as amended be agreed to and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 710 account submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 710 supporting lights on after school, a national is celebration of after-school programs held on october 25, 2018. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the

appointment at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m., thursday, november 29. further that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and the morning business be closed. further, following leader remarks the senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the farr nomination under the previous order. finally that all time during the recess, adjournment, morning business and leader remarks count postcloture on the farr nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: if there is no further business to come before the senate i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned