ms. hassan: thank you. mr. president, i rise today to discuss an issue that is devastating families and communities in my home state of new hampshire and across the united states. the fentanyl, heroin, and opioid crisis. this crisis is the most pressing public health and safety challenge that new hampshire faces. it does not discriminate. it affects people in every community and from every walk of life. in 2016 alone, 485 people in new hampshire lost their lives as a result of this epidemic. and the rising use of synthetic drugs like fentanyl is making matters worse killing people faster with smaller amounts. last year 72% of drug-related deaths in new hampshire involved fentanyl. behind these numbers are real people. moms and dads, sons and daughters who are dying, and their loss reverberates in pain and suffering for the family and friends who they have left behind. mr. president, the family of my state have a long-standing tradition of sharing their stories and their priorities with their elected officials w

ms. hassan: thank you. madam president, i rise today to ask my colleagues to reauthorize federal funding for the children's health insurance program. children's health insurance has never been a partisan issue. in the past the children's health insurance program passed with bipartisan support. it was passed with senator kennedy and senator hatch. tens of millions of kids from all over the country have received access to preventive care, doctors' visits, prescriptions and dental and prescription coverage as a result of this act of congress. it is not a partisan issue in the great state of nevada either. more than 60,000 nevada kids have benefited from nevada checkup. thanks to the medicaid expansion, our rate of uninsured children has fallen by half. making our program one of the biggest successes in the country. today nine million children from low-income families nationwide, including 27,000 from nevada get their health insurance through chip. if congress continues to do nothing, those nine million childre