Anna Eshoo

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate the passage of the Senate amendment to H.R. 390, the Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act of 2017 in the House on November 27, 2018 by voice vote. The legislation has been presented to the President for his signature and I urge him to quickly sign the bill into law. H.R. 390 is the culmination of years of work in Congress to help ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria who suffered horrific oppression at the hands of ISIS. The legislation will better channel humanitarian, stabilization, and recovery aid to genocide survivors through organizations currently working on the ground to help displaced populations return to their homes and rebuild their communities. Iraq is home to some of the oldest Christian communities in the world, yet less than 200,000 Christians remain in Iraq, down from 1.4 million in 2002. In March of 2016, Congress took historic action when it declared that the brutal and systemic persecution of Christians, Yazidis, and other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria by ISIS constituted genocide, one of only three times in history that Congress has made such a declaration. Despite the powerful message Congress sent when it declared these atrocities as genocide, and appropriated hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance for these communities, U.S. aid has not reached these populations due to longstanding policies and practices of the federal government that prevent faith-based groups and other organizations from distributing foreign aid. Many of these faith-based groups are the only organizations working directly with survivors on the ground and have the expertise and knowledge of the region, its history, and culture to deliver this aid in the most effective way possible. Outdated policies in the Executive Branch should not stand in the way of the U.S. helping these suffering communities. H.R. 390 supports entities conducting investigations into the perpetrators of these crimes to ensure they are held accountable. It is critical that evidence be collected and preserved so it can be used in court. It is also critical that our government works with foreign governments to identify and apprehend suspected perpetrators. Finally, the bill requires the U.S. government to identify and determine warning signs associated with genocide and crimes against humanity to help policymakers better respond to future campaigns against at-risk populations. As the daughter of parents who fled religious persecution in the Middle East, I'm proud to have helped carry H.R. 390 through the Congress with the bill's sponsor in this effort to help the tens of thousands of survivors of genocide in Iraq and Syria, Congressman Chris Smith. He's been a tireless advocate on behalf of these persecuted communities and I applaud him for the work he has done to get this bill through Congress and to the President's desk.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate my constituent, Keshav Goel, of Monte Sereno, California, on being selected as a George J. Mitchell Scholar. One of our nation's most prestigious scholarships, the program was created 20 years ago by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance and named in honor of Senator George J. Mitchell's contributions to the Northern Ireland peace process. The program selects future American leaders for one year of graduate study in Ireland. Keshav Goel is one of 12 Mitchell Scholars selected this year out of 370 students who applied from more than 200 Congressional Districts across the U.S. Keshav is a dual major in Biology and Economics at Williams College. Understanding that socioeconomic inequality is one of the greatest public health concerns in the U.S., he has conducted research on ailments that disproportionally affect the world's poor. Growing up in Monte Sereno, California, Keshav co-authored his first published clinical paper at the age of 16 on the automated detection of congenital heart defects in newborns. He is currently conducting a year-long senior biology thesis to uncover the causes of asthma which disproportionately impacts children in impoverished countries. He has also conducted health economics research with Harvard Medical School to assess the quality and effectiveness of federally funded clinical trials. Outside the classroom, Keshav serves as a peer mentor with an organization in Western Massachusetts that provides drama therapy to adolescent survivors of trauma. An aspiring physician, Keshav will study Immunology and Global Health at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Keshav embodies the spirit of leadership and academic excellence that led to the creation of the Mitchell Scholarship program. I congratulate him on his selection as a George J. Mitchell scholar and wish him every success during his year in Ireland.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I erroneously voted YES on roll call vote number 418, and I would like to reflect that I intended to vote NO.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor NASA's Kepler Space Telescope on its retirement and to commend the many thousands of NASA personnel who designed and maintained Kepler and analyzed data received from it. Launched in March, 2009, Kepler spent nine years in deep space collecting data that indicate our sky is filled with billions of hidden planets--even more planets than stars. Now Kepler has run out of fuel, and will be retired in its current safe orbit, away from Earth. ``As NASA's first planet-hunting mission, Kepler has wildly exceeded all our expectations and paved the way for our exploration and search for life in the solar system and beyond,'' said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. ``Not only did it show us how many planets could be out there, it sparked an entirely new and robust field of research that has taken the science community by storm. Its discoveries have shed a new light on our place in the universe, and illuminated the tantalizing mysteries and possibilities among the stars.'' Kepler showed us the diversity of planets in our galaxy, and concluded that 20 to 50 percent of the stars visible in the night sky are likely to have small, possibly rocky planets similar in size to Earth. Many of these could possibly sustain life. ``When we started conceiving this mission 35 years ago we didn't know of a single planet outside our solar system,'' said the Kepler mission's founding principal investigator, William Borucki, now retired from NASA's Ames Research Center and the recipient of the 2013 United States National Academy of Sciences' Henry Draper Medal for his work with Kepler and the 2015 recipient of the Shaw Prize in Astronomy. ``Now that we know planets are everywhere, Kepler has set us on a new course that's full of promise for future generations to explore our galaxy.'' Kepler's retirement doesn't mean the end of its contributions to our scientific knowledge. Future missions will build on its results and scientists will mine the data Kepler collected for years to come. NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley manages the Kepler and K2 missions for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Mr. Speaker, I'm very proud to represent NASA Ames and its extraordinary programs that advance our knowledge of our planet and beyond. I ask the entire House of Representatives to honor Kepler and each person and organization who contributed to its extraordinary success.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of a remarkable woman, Barbara Hayms Weiss, who was born on March 15, 1931 in Chicago and passed away on July 21, 2018, in Palo Alto, California. She was predeceased by her beloved husband, Paul. Barbara and Paul lived in Los Altos Hills and Palo Alto where they raised three children. They supported Jewish causes, arts organizations, and Democrats, especially women candidates. Barbara earned her B.A. in Sociology from San Jose State University in 1976 at the age of 45. She then completed her M.S.W. with a focus on gerontology in 1981 from U.C. Berkeley. She worked at Little House in Menlo Park and joined Paul's auto dealership, Key Chevrolet, as a Dealer-Academy trained potential successor, and helped run the agency until they sold the business in 1988. Barbara was also Board President of the Jewish Community Center of Palo Alto. Barbara and Paul moved from their large home in Los Altos Hills to a condominium in Palo Alto, where they continued, via their Donor Advised Fund at the San Francisco Jewish Federation, to support causes that were important to them. They enjoyed frequent trips to Santa Fe, New Mexico for the Opera and SWAIA Indian Market, where they collected stunningly beautiful Pueblo pottery. According to Barbara's son Mark, his parents ``just wanted America to continue to give opportunities that they got and wanted to back the right people to accomplish that.'' Barbara leaves her son Mark Weiss of Palo Alto and his wife Terry Acebo Davis; Linda Weiss Moulding of San Carlos and her husband Mark Moulding, Rick and Nancy Weiss of Los Altos Hills, and her grandchildren Aaron and Jon Lipinski of San Carlos. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the life of Barbara Weiss, a patriot, a mother and a highly accomplished woman. I will always miss her, as will all those who were privileged to know her and admire the values she lived out so faithfully over a lifetime.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during roll call vote number 413, 414, and 415 on September 28, 2018, due to recent surgery. Had I been present, on roll call vote number 413, I would have voted YES; on roll call vote number 414, I would have voted NO; and on roll call vote number 415, I would have voted YES.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during roll call vote numbers 409, 410, 411, and 412 on September 27, 2018, due to recent surgery. I would like to reflect how I would have voted: On roll call vote number 409, I would have voted NO. On roll call vote number 410, I would have voted NO. On roll call vote number 411, I would have voted NO. On roll call vote number 412, I would have voted NO.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during roll call vote number 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, and 408 on September 26, 2018, due to recent surgery. Had I been present, on roll call vote number 402, I would have voted ``no,'' on roll call vote number 403, I would have voted ``no,'' on roll call vote number 404, I would have voted ``yes,'' on roll call vote number 405, I would have voted ``yes,'') on roll call vote number 406, I would have voted ``present,'' on roll call vote number 407, I would have voted ``no'', and on roll call vote number 408, I would have voted ``no.''

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during roll call vote number 400 and 401 on September 25, 2018, due to recent surgery. Had I been present, on roll call vote number 400, I would have voted ``yes,'' and on roll call vote number 401, I would have voted ``yes.''

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bipartisan legislation, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Innovation Act and I'm very proud to have Representative Susan Brooks as my partner. This legislation is the product of negotiation and compromise between the House and the Senate and I'm pleased that my colleagues were able to reach agreement on a bill that ensures our nation is prepared to respond to a wide range of public health emergencies, whether man-made or occurring through a natural disaster or infectious disease. In 2001 our nation endured the horrific attacks on September 11th and the anthrax attacks that followed shortly thereafter. Congress realized that our country was not prepared to coordinate responses to mass casualty events or chemical attacks, and in 2006, I wrote legislation with then-Representative Richard Burr to address these shortfalls. That important legislation, the original Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, was signed into law the same year. The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Innovation Act we're considering today is critical to our national security. The legislation updates the original PAHPA by directing federal agencies to respond to new and emerging threats, and strengthens our nation's existing preparedness and response programs. The reauthorization meets the challenges that we face today and those we anticipate facing in the future. Events over the past few years including Zika, the reemergence of Ebola, and the constant looming threat of a biological attack by another nation or hostile non-state enemies underscore the real threats our country continues to face. In 2017, our nation experienced the most destructive hurricane season in recent memory, followed quickly by the most deadly flu season in decades. This year, parts of our country have already faced devastating hurricanes and the season is not over yet. Our experience with each of these hazards reminds us that our country is not yet adequately prepared to deal with potentially devastating widespread public health crises. That's why this legislation is so critical. The legislation provides the authorization and federal resources to invest in programs that allow the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to maintain its nimble and flexible framework while responding to the existing and emerging threats our country may face. It also directs BARDA to address antimicrobial resistance which is critical to our nation's biodefense If we have a chemical or biological attack that leaves individuals with burns or open wounds, the medical countermeasures BARDA has developed to treat that attack will be useless if those injured contract secondary antibiotic resistant infections. BARDA was created by my original legislation and has been extremely successful in investing in drugs that are needed to be stockpiled, and where the federal government is the only customer. There is no other market for these products and that's why BARDA is so important. BARDA has worked with over 190 partners and brought 35 medical countermeasures through research and development to FDA approval No private company has a track record that compares to what BARDA has accomplished in just over 10 years. This bill restores multiyear appropriations for the Project BioShield Special Reserve Fund. My original legislation provided advanced appropriations for Project BioShield for the purpose of accelerating the research, development, purchase, and availability of effective medical countermeasures against biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats. Restoring multiyear appropriations offers our partners with the government the certainty they need to invest in these important medical countermeasures which are a matter of national security. I urge the appropriators to fully fund the multiyear appropriations this legislation authorizes. I'm proud that our legislation incorporates many provisions that were important to Members in both the Republican Conference, the Democratic Caucus, and to our colleagues in the Senate, to meet the needs of vulnerable communities during natural and manmade disasters. The legislation also reauthorizes the HHS National Advisory Committee on Children and Disasters and authorizes the Children's Preparedness Unit at the CDC. This is critically important to address the persistent gaps in our nation's preparedness and response for the most vulnerable in many crises, our nation's children The bill also establishes an Advisory Council for People with Disabilities and an Advisory Council on Seniors to focus on the needs of these special populations during a public health emergency. It includes a proposal to prioritize bringing nursing homes back onto the power grid at the same time as hospitals after a disaster. It includes provisions related to regional health partnerships, pregnant and postpartum women and environmental health. I'm proud of this legislation and I urge my colleagues to support the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Innovation Act.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during roll call vote number 397, 398, and 399 on September 13, 2018, due to recent surgery. Had I been present, on roll call vote number 397, I would have voted NO; on roll call vote number 398, I would have voted YES; and on roll call vote number 399, I would have voted YES.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during roll call vote numbers 394, 395, and 396 on September 12, 2018, due to recent surgery. I would like to reflect how I would have voted: On roll call vote number 394, I would have voted ``yes.'' On roll call vote number 395, I would have voted ``yes.'' On roll call vote number 396, I would have voted ``yes.''

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during roll call vote number 393 on September 7, 2018, due to recent surgery. Had I been present, I would have vote no on roll call vote No. 393.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during roll call vote numbers 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, and 392 on September 6, 2018, due to recent surgery. I would like to reflect how I would have voted: On roll call vote no. 386 I would have voted NO. On roll call vote no. 387 I would have voted NO. On roll call vote no. 388 I would have voted YES. On roll call vote no. 389 I would have voted YES. On roll call vote no. 390 I would have voted YES. On roll call vote no. 391 I would have voted YES. On roll call vote no. 392 I would have voted NO.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during roll call vote number 382, 383, 384, and 385 on September 5, 2018, due to recent surgery. Had I been present, I would have voted: on roll call vote no. 382, I would have voted NO; on roll call vote no. 383, I would have voted NO; on roll call vote no. 384, I would have voted YES; and on roll call vote no. 385, I would have voted YES.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during roll call vote number 380 and 381 on September 4, 2018, due to recent surgery. I would like to reflect how I would have voted: On roll call vote no. 380, I would have voted Yes. On roll call vote no. 381, I would have voted No.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of an extraordinary American, a true patriot, and one of the most highly respected and beloved members of my congressional district, James P. Thurber. Jim Thurber was born on June 3, 1928, and died on June 16, 2018, at the age of 90. He lived a full and exceptionally productive life, and he will be missed by all who were privileged to know him. Jim Thurber graduated from Milton Academy, Stanford University and George Washington University where he received a Master's degree in International Relations. He also attended the National War College from 1973-1974. Jim married the love of his life, Emily (Emy) Forrest in 1950, and together they raised four children: James Perry Thurber III (Debra McGibbon); Harriette Thurber Rasmussen; Alexander Forrest Thurber (Courtney Graham); and Mary Thurber Martin, and have 12 beloved grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. Prior to his long Foreign Service career, Jim Thurber was a reporter and editor for the Wall Street Journal and worked at Stanford University as an academic administrator. He served with courage, dignity and effectiveness in the Foreign Service for 23 years. When he was serving in Islamabad, Pakistan, the U.S. Embassy was attacked, and Jim earned the State Department's Award of Valor for his actions during that crisis. He served as Director of the USIA's operations in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, and he retired as Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Canada in 1990. Jim Thurber spent his entire life in service to his country. His public service included serving as Mayor of the City of Los Altos, and June 3, 2002 was designated by the City as Jim Thurber Day, for the Mayor who served the most consecutive years in that office. He served as President of the Los Altos History Museum; President of the Foothill-DeAnza Foundation; Director of the Campaign Ethics Foundation; and Treasurer of the Foreign Service Association of California. He served on the boards of many organizations, including the Los Altos Community Foundation; the Santa Clara County Airports Commission; the League of Conservations Voters; Goodwill Industries of California and many more. Jim was extremely active in the Democratic Party in California and was an elected member of the Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee and the California State Democratic Central Committee. Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in extending our sincerest condolences to Jim Thurber's wife, Emy, and to his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, and in doing so, honor a great, good and gentle man who loved his country and served it with distinction. Jim made our world better, and our country and our community stronger. How blessed I am to have known him and been inspired by his integrity and patriotism.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of an extraordinary American, a true patriot, and a highly respected member of my congressional district, Ralph Arnold Kuiper. Ralph Kuiper was born on March 29, 1939, in New Jersey, and grew up in a small town in Southern California. He graduated from Corona High School where he excelled in art, academics and sports, and went on to Stanford University where he studied Mechanical Engineering. He also earned a Master's degree and a Ph.D. from Stanford. Ralph worked at Lockheed's New Products division where he served in management positions including Director of Research at Lockheed Technology Center. During his long career he mentored emerging engineers and high school students. After retirement, Ralph became a full time volunteer in the community, serving as a coach for children's sports, supporting the World Affairs Young Ambassadors Program and the Los Alto Youth Theatre. He was Chair of the Peninsula Chapter of the World Affairs Council for 13 years, and served 14 years on the Board of the Los Altos Stage Company. He and his wife travelled extensively and supported everything Stanford, especially the Freeman Spogli Institute, football and basketball. Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in extending our sincerest condolences to Ralph Kuiper's wife, Carol, and to their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, and in doing so honor a great, good and gentle man who loved his country and served it with distinction. Ralph made our world better, and our country and our community stronger. How privileged I am to have known Ralph and represented him.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of an extraordinary American, a true patriot, and one of the most highly respected scientists in the world, Dr. Burton Richter. Burt Richter was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 22, 1931, and died July 18, 2018, at the age of 87, in Palo Alto, California. He attended Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania and earned his Bachelor's degree and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the High Energy Physics Lab at Stanford in 1956, became a full professor there in 1967, and he retired as the Paul Piggott Professor in Physical Sciences in 2006. Burt Richter was an extraordinary scientist. For his discovery of the J/psi subatomic particle, called ``the greatest discovery ever in the field of elementary particles,'' he won and shared the Nobel Prize in 1976 with Samuel Ting of MIT. The discovery, called the 'charm quark', became part of the Standard Model of particle physics, describing how subatomic particles interact. Dr. Richter was the Director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, now SLAC, from 1984 to 1999. During his tenure he oversaw the construction of the Linear Collider and designed the SPEAR, the Stanford Positron Accelerator Ring, which is still in use today. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He served as President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and the American Physical Society. Dr. Richter was honored with the National Medal of Science, the Enrico Fermi Award and the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award. In 2010, he published the book ``Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Climate Change and Energy in the 21st Century,'' which explains the facts of climate change to non-scientists. Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in extending our sincerest condolences to Dr. Richter's wife, Laurose, his daughter Elizabeth, son Matthew, daughter-in-law Cheryl, and his grandchildren Allison and Jennifer. In doing so we honor a great and good man who loved his country and served it with great distinction. Burt Richter advanced the betterment of our world and our country. How blessed I am to have known him, to have been the beneficiary of his wise counsel, and to have been inspired by his integrity and patriotism. Simply put, there was no one like him.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Massachusetts for yielding time to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with serious concerns about the missed opportunity in this legislation to take strong action against the Chinese firm, ZTE. Our telecommunications systems are the backbone of our national security operations, and those systems need to be protected to ensure the safety of our citizens. Not only did ZTE violate U.S. sanctions by illegally selling components to North Korea and Iran, it also paid full bonuses to the employees who engaged in illegal conduct, and then lied to U.S. authorities about it. Instead of sending a strong message to ZTE, the NDAA Conference Committee stripped language from the Senate bill to ban ZTE from doing business with all U.S. firms and replaced it with watered-down language that merely prohibits ZTE from doing business with the U.S. Government. This effectively gives ZTE a free pass for its past violations, and prioritizes a foreign company's interests over the security of the American people. This is wrong. Deal-making with ZTE is bad policy, and it sends a clear message to our adversaries that America is not willing to enforce our own sanctions. Earlier this year, I wrote to Secretary Ross raising my concerns with reports that the administration was backtracking on its recently imposed 7-year ban on ZTE. To my dismay, and I think to many others, the administration lifted the ban. The Senate-passed version of the bill would have restored the ban in full. So I am distressed that my colleagues have succumbed to pressure from the White House and watered down critically needed security protections. We are all public servants of the American people. The number one responsibility we have is to protect and defend them.

Ms. ESHOO. We must not make deals with foreign entities that have a proven history of compromising our telecommunications sector and treating our laws with disdain. When we know for a fact that a certain company or country does not have our national interests at heart, we have no business doing business with them, period. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during rollcall vote No. 368 on July 24, 2018. Had I been present, on rollcall vote No. 368, I would have voted ``no.''

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during roll call vote numbers 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312 and 313 on June 28, 2018. Had I been present, I would have voted: on roll call vote no. 306 I would have voted NO; on roll call vote no. 307 I would have voted NO; on roll call vote no. 308 I would have voted NO; on roll call vote no. 309 I would have voted YES; on roll call vote no. 310 I would have voted YES; on roll call vote no. 311 I would have voted NO; on roll call vote no. 312 I would have voted YES; and on roll call vote no. 313 I would have voted NO.

Ms. ESHOO

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 6, and I thank our ranking member for yielding time to me. There isn't any question that our country is in the midst of a destructive opioid epidemic that claims 142 lives every day. This is a national crisis, and it is our duty as Members of Congress to do everything in our power to stem the tide of addiction and the devastation that this epidemic is causing. It is claiming more lives than were lost in the Vietnam war. They are staggering figures. H.R. 6 includes policies to expand the number and types of providers who can administer medication such as buprenorphine and naloxone to opioid-addicted patients, and it allows Medicare to pay for opioid treatment programs. That is a very important addition in the legislation. This will help people suffering from opioid use disorder to get access to the critical treatment they need on the day this legislation is signed into law. H.R. 6 also creates a payment structure that incents rather than discourages the use of nonopioid alternatives. I think this is a very important provision in the legislation because it will help to decrease the number of opioids prescribed and keep patients from becoming addicted in the first place. I want to point something out that I believe is deeply troubling, and the ranking member did as well. The majority has repeatedly voted to gut funding for the benefits offered by Medicaid, which is the single largest payer of mental health services, providing health coverage to 27 percent of adults with a serious mental illness. The majority has also consistently and repeatedly undermined the Affordable Care Act, including refusing to defend the protections for patients with preexisting conditions.

Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Chairman, this is very serious because this would provide critical access to treatment for substance abuse disorders. So the majority gives with one hand and takes away with the other. These policies will harm millions of vulnerable Americans and limit our responsibility to respond and recover from this epidemic. This is an important first step. We need to do more to address the causes of the epidemic, stem the tide of addiction, expand meaningful access, and pay for it so that we can help the very people who need the most help.