Joe Manchin

Mr. MANCHIN

Mr. MANCHIN. I thank Senator Brown. At this time I wish to call on my colleague, Senator Capito.

Mr. MANCHIN. Thank you, my friend. With that being said, you can see it is bipartisan. We are asking for that. We have had a commitment. We have been gone for 9 weeks. The only thing we are asking for--before we leave on the 21st, this has to be brought out of the Finance Committee. That is what we are asking for; that is what was promised. I hope that all of my colleagues will fulfill that promise that was made to all of us and to the 16,000--to the 102,000 miners who have been depending on this. With that, thank you all. I appreciate it very much. I hope this body will rise to the occasion to take care of the people they made the promise to, the United Mine Workers of America.

Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I have been coming every week and speaking about an epidemic we have across our country. The State of West Virginia has been hit hard. I know Utah has been hit hard. There has not been a State that has been spared. This opioid epidemic, this prescription drug abuse is ravaging our country and a whole generation of our people. We have come to a crisis point. In West Virginia, drug overdose deaths have soared by more than 700 percent since 1988. We lost 600 West Virginians to opioids last year alone--600--more than any other cause of death in my State. Of the 628 drug overdose deaths in the State in 2014, most were linked to prescription drugs. These are legal drugs. Now, 199 were oxycodone related, with 133 attributed to hydrocodone. We have a situation where basically people ask: How did we get to this point? We have products that are being made by reputable companies that we depend on for lifesaving medication every day. So you have a reputable company. We have the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, which basically is our guardian, if you will. It is the gatekeeper of whether things we are consuming are good for us and will not be harmful. Then you have your doctor, the most trusted person next to a member of your family, telling you and prescribing what you should take to make you better. So we have a runaway epidemic on our hands. We have to get this genie back into the bottle. West Virginia had the highest rate of prescription drug overdose deaths by any State last year--31 per 100,000 people--31 people out of 100,000 people died. The next closest State was New Mexico at 25 deaths per 100,000. In West Virginia, providers wrote--I want you to listen to this figure. It is almost unbelievable. In West Virginia, providers wrote 138 painkiller prescriptions for every 100 people. I want to repeat that. They wrote-- that means our doctors--prescribed 138 prescriptions for every 100 people. Now, that is impossible. You would think that is absolutely abusive. It is. Between 2007 and 2012, drug wholesalers shipped--this is an unbelievable amount--they shipped more than 200 million pain pills to West Virginia. The population of my State is 1,850,000, give or take. So with a little over 1,850,000 people, the drug wholesalers shipped 200 million pain pills to my State of West Virginia--40 million per year. This number does not include shipments from the two largest drug wholesalers. Every day in our country, 51 Americans die from opioid abuse, legal prescription drugs. National drug abuse facts. Drug overdose was the leading cause of injury death in 2013. Among people 25 to 64 years old, drug overdoses caused more deaths than motor vehicle crashes. There were 41,982 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2013. Of these, 22,767 or 51.8 percent were related to prescription drug overdose. These are legal prescription drugs. Drug misuse and abuse caused about 2.5 million emergency room visits in 2011. Of these, more than 1.4 million of these emergency room visits were related to prescription drugs. Again, legal prescription drugs. Among those emergency room visits, 420,000 visits related to opioid analgesics. Nearly 2 million Americans age 12 or older either abuse or were dependent upon opioids in 2013. Of the 2.8 million people who used an illicit drug for the first time in 2013, 20 percent began with a nonmedical use of a prescription drug--nonmedical--including pain relievers, tranquilizers, and stimulants. The United States makes up only 4.6 percent of the world's population--4.6 percent. We are 330 million. Over 7 billion people live on Mother Earth. We make up less than 5 percent of the population. Yet we consume--the United States of America--80 percent of its opioids and 99 percent of the world's hydrocodone--99 percent of the world's hydrocodone. Opioid abuse has jumped 287 percent in 11 years. In 2013, health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for painkillers, enough for every American to have a bottle of pills. Think about that--enough for every American to have a bottle of opioid pain pills. Misuse and abuse of prescription drugs cost the country an estimated $53.4 billion per year in lost productivity, medical costs, and criminal justice costs. If you talk to anybody, any of the law enforcement officers in your hometown, your home community, your State, they will tell you, 8 out of 10--a minimum of 8 out of 10 of the crimes that are reported that they go out on are drug-induced. Currently, 1 in 10 Americans with a substance abuse disorder receives treatment. So only 10 percent are getting treatment. So many people over the years believed--and I was one of them 20 years ago--believed if you fool with any types of drugs, you are committing a crime, and we are going to put you in jail. Well, we put you in jail, but we just did not cure anybody. It didn't get any better. So we better try something different. It has been proven that addiction is an illness, and an illness needs treatment. There is no treatment. Only 1 in 10 can find it. Since 1999, we have lost almost 200,000 Americans--200,000--to prescription opioid abuse. If we lost 200,000 in any other arena, I will guarantee you we would go into action. We would find a way to stop this, but we have not done a thing about this. In October, President Obama came to Charles Town, WV, to talk to people on the frontlines of the epidemic. Following the visit, he called for emergency funding to combat the opioid crisis. Now we have Presidential candidates talking about prescription drug abuse. Earlier this year, Secretary Clinton was in West Virginia talking about ways we can work together to prevent and treat prescription drug abuse. The FDA began making changes to the way it approves opioid medications. The CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, released much needed guidelines for the prescribing of opioids for managing chronic pain. We need a serious culture change in America, and I mean a serious culture change, to get to the root of the problem. We need to change the approval of opioid drugs at the FDA. We can't have the Food and Drug Administration that is responsible for us getting products that are supposed to be good for us to consume not knowing what the effects may be. I keep telling them--I ask: Why do you continue to approve new opioid painkillers coming on the market? Why? Don't we have enough? If you do approve something new, don't you think something ought to be removed rather than just keeping more products on the market? I am going to read a letter. I read letters because I have always said that this is a silent killer. The silent killer of drug abuse, of prescription drug abuse, is, if it is in your family, we don't want to talk about it. It is my son or my daughter, it is my mom or my uncle, it is my aunt, we will take care of it. We will keep it within ourselves. So it is a silent killer because nobody talks about it. Nobody knew what was going on. Nobody knew the heartache and all of the absolutely devastating tragedies families were going through. They thought they could take care of it because we did not know it was an illness. We did not know it needs treatment. They did not have a place to turn. Most families don't have the resources to send them to the treatment centers. They are very expensive. So we have asked people to start speaking out. I am getting letters from all over the country. I am going to read Samantha Frashier's letter. They are giving me names now. It is not anonymous. It used to be anonymous, ``Don't use my name.'' They want you to know. They want you to know and put a real face with a real name and a real person: I will start this off by saying, I am not from West Virginia. I live in Ohio. But I felt like I could still share my story. My dad's family is from West Virginia and I have seen the devastation of the opiate epidemic there. It is just as bad here in Cincinnati and all of the suburbs surrounding it. I grew up in Mason, Ohio, and had a good life. We weren't rich, but we weren't poor. My parents did everything they could to take care of me and my brother. I was very involved with the youth group in high school and just an all-around happy person. I went to a Christian university and just started drinking a lot. That went on for a few years, and by the time I was 21, I started using pills recreationally. Stupid choice. That was in 2008 and heroin was just starting to creep in everywhere. I used for 5 years, every day. Once I started, it was like I made a decision I could never quit, that I would use forever. I was such an evil, manipulative liar and thief. I ruined every relationship I ever had. Finally, I got in trouble. I went on a small car chase, (stupid, I know) and was booked into jail on 11 charges, which resulted in 2 felonies, and I was sent to MonDay Correctional Institute in Dayton, Ohio. It was there that I was taught the skills I needed to survive. I had to dig deep and really figure out who I was and what issues I need to really work on. I also received letters from women at church I didn't even know. I corresponded with them over the months. These women made me feel a sense of being surrounded, even though I was in a lockdown facility. I spent 5 months there, got a job, became a manager and ran a failing pizza restaurant. About 10 months after being released, I found out I was pregnant with identical twin boys. I had some complications with my pregnancy and was on bed rest and still dealing with issues. My boys are 7 months old now. My boyfriend and I are both almost 3 years clean, and we are blessed enough to find someone to rent a house to us. I am currently involved in starting a nonprofit recovery home here in Warren County, Ohio, called ``The Next.'' We will help women after they detox with a recovery home. The other part of my story is that I have also watched my family become crippled by this disease of addiction. My brother recently was using drugs. We couldn't find him help anywhere. Waiting lists, insurance copays for thousands of dollars, flying to different states, nothing local. He ended up getting in trouble and he now has a felony. My aunt has already lost one son to a heroin overdose and 3 weeks ago we sat in the hospital with her daughter, holding her down because she had alcohol poisoning, and she was intubated and on a breathing machine. The pain, the hurt, I see it in everyone's eyes. I can't imagine what that is like. I look at my boys and pray that I will do everything I can to steer them away. It's in their genes and they have to be careful. My heart is big and I have spent nights crying over this. My friend Pete's funeral is next week. He died of a heroin overdose. Every few weeks, someone dies, or they are sent to jail and get no help, get released, or go to prison and don't get help and spend their time with other people who don't want to change. They get released eventually and have no skills. Everyone is set up for failure. This is affecting every single person in this community, and I know it is like this in so many other places. I hope to hear of a dollar amount attached to the CARA act, and that there are changes. We need recovery homes, rehab, different laws to encourage getting help, helping those in prison that want to change to provide a reachable opportunity. It is 100 percent possible to get clean. I want everyone to know it is possible to share the hope that a successful life is achievable. I have a huge passion to change things and to help that change. I have sent letters, e-mails, web messages to all the Congressmen, judges, prosecutors, City of Mason, Mason Police Department, and Warren County. I am doing whatever part I can. This is killing so many young lives, and mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons, everyone, and they need to change. This is a letter--and I want to answer this by saying we are trying. I have a piece of legislation that I have drafted. This piece of legislation is going to have permanent funding that will go directly to treatment centers--directly--100 percent to treatment centers around this country. What it does is it asks to be charged one penny per milligram--one penny per milligram--for every opioid produced and sold in America. That will raise about $1.5 to $2 billion. So I would say to all of my colleagues and friends who are afraid that, oh, this is a new tax--this is a treatment center. This is a way to get people clean again. This is what we are asking people to sign on to. I will guarantee you there will not be one family--Democratic or Republican--that would vote against you if you can help save their child and give them a place to go to get clean. This is so important. I thank you for allowing me to speak today, taking the time to read this letter, and allowing us to share this letter with so many people because it is personal. You can now put a face, a story, and a family behind it, and that is what we all should be doing. It is no longer the silent killer. It is still a killer, but people are speaking out. They asking for help. That help comes right here in the Halls of the Senate and the Halls of Congress. We can make a difference in America and save a whole generation. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. MANCHIN. I ask unanimous consent that I have 1 additional minute to wrap up.

Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue. Without objection, it is so ordered. Opioid Epidemic

Mr. MANCHIN. I thank my friend from Ohio, Senator Portman. Let me just say in wrapping up that there has been concern and there is talk about--you know, we are concerned about the United Mine Workers, which are all union miners, and nonunion miners. I am concerned about all miners, but the agreement, if you think back to 1946, was about anybody and everybody who worked in the mines and belonged to the United Mine Workers of America. That is the agreement that was made to stop a strike from happening, to basically get people back to work and keep the country moving forward. We ratified that again. We ratified it in 1974, 1990, 1992, 1993, and 2006. It has the handstamp of basically the President of the United States. I am saying that if we can't keep that commitment, if we will not fulfill that promise--and people think everybody is basically saying: Well, we are going to subsidize this. It is a Federal Government guarantee. It was a guarantee that the coal that was mined--that the mine operators would pay into the pension plan. Then, through bankruptcy court, that evaporated. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed 1 additional minute to finish.

Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I appreciate so much the Senator's support. He knows the miners so well because we joined--his Southwest Virginia miners and my West Virginia miners work very well together. With that being said, we are very proud of our neighbors and friends from Ohio. Senator Portman has been here, and he knows the mine workers of the Southeast, where most of them have congregated and where they really mine the coal, along with Southwest Virginia. We are very proud of that. So we appreciate Senator Portman's being part of this colloquy.

Mr. MANCHIN

Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, today I wish to acknowledge the service of my former defense fellow MAJ William Gorby, who is coming to the end of his assignment as part of his experience in the Army Congressional Fellowship Program. Mike joined my office in 2014, and immediately, his dedication, work ethic, and intelligence made him a trusted voice on my legislative team. A proud member of the West Virginia National Guard, Mike has deployed multiple times in defense of our country, and through his service, our Nation is a safer place. Most importantly, Mike is also a devoted husband and father, and I have had the pleasure of watching his family grow over the last several years. As Mike moves on to another assignment outside the realm of legislation, I want to extend my thanks for his service and wish him and his family continued success in his future endeavors.

Mr. MANCHIN

Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I rise today in defense of the bipartisan Miners Protection Act. This is a little bit of a history class that is going to be rolled into the facts of what we are dealing with today. Our coal miners are some of the hardest working people in America. Any of you who come from a family who had one as a relative--maybe your grandfather, father, uncle--you know those patriarchs are tough. They are hard-working but extremely patriotic. They basically dedicated their lives to powering our Nation. We would not be the Nation we are today if it had not been for the miners, who now seem to have been cast aside and forgotten about. They powered this Nation. They brought us into the Industrial Revolution, if you will, the industrial age, and created the middle class and one of the largest unions, the United Mine Workers of America. Back in the 1930s and 1940s, especially, if you were working in the mines, you were in the United Mine Workers union. That is just the way things were. But by the end of this year, tens of thousands of our miners are going to receive notices that they are going to lose their health benefits. They are going to lose their health benefits. I have come to the floor again to answer the points that were called into question by my friend Senator Enzi from Wyoming. First, Senator Enzi specifically questioned the promise that was made to the miners in 1946. He questioned the promise that was made to them in 1946, saying that it was made between the coal companies and the unions, not the Federal Government, so therefore we should not have an obligation to be involved. He said there was never an agreement with the Federal Government. I don't know how else to say this except that I believe my good friend was totally misinformed. That is not correct, not at all. Now I will give you the facts. This is a lesson. In May of 1946, the United States was in the midst of a robust post- World War II economic recovery. I mean, everybody was working during the war. We were trying to survive as a nation, trying to defeat tyranny and basically save the world as we know it today. So everybody was working. Now the war is over. We were fearing a shutdown of our economy, and somehow we had to continue to keep this energy we needed to keep the country and the economy moving. The United Mine Workers were actively negotiating. They were actively negotiating their contracts the way you do in a civil bargaining agreement. You sit down and you work through that. President Harry Truman knew the vital role the coal industry played in the economic recovery efforts, and he feared a prolonged strike. He issued an Executive order because he thought a strike would grind our recovery to a halt. He feared a prolonged strike, and he issued an Executive order directing the Secretary of the Interior to take possession of the bituminous coal mines--can you believe that--take possession of all of the bituminous coal mines in the United States and negotiate with the unions. So basically he stepped in and started negotiating with the unions, taking over the mines. Senator Enzi stated that this agreement was made between the members and the companies, not between the members and the American taxpayer. In fact, the first line of the Krug-Lewis agreement--this was the agreement that was signed, the historic document that created the promise of health benefits and retirement security for our Nation's miners. This agreement is between the Secretary of the Interior acting as Coal Mines Administrator under the authority of Executive Order No. 9728, dated May 21, 1946, and the United Mine Workers of America. The title of this agreement says ``Executed at the White House, Washington, D.C., May 29 of 1946.'' I ask unanimous consent to have a copy of this agreement printed in the Record, and I will be sending a copy to my dear friend.

Mr. MANCHIN. I believe the Secretary of the Interior and the White House were representatives of the Federal Government back in 1946, just as they are today. Second, my colleague from Wyoming stated: I worry about the claim that we are helping all coal miners with this proposal. West Virginia coal miners--union and nonunion--continue to suffer from the devastating effects of the ongoing coal bankruptcies. Senator, we are willing to help all miners. We truly are. Anybody who has been devastated in this downturn, if you will, of the industry, but we are focusing this particular effort on the United Mine Workers of America. They try to make this: Well, you are picking union over nonunion. We are not picking union over nonunion. The agreement was made with the UMWA because everybody working in the mines during that period of time belonged to the UMWA. So we have to protect that promise that was made in that Executive order that was signed and made 70 years ago. So I invite the Presiding Officer and all of my colleagues to help us find a way to move forward and help put this to rest. Also, Senator Enzi stated he wants America to remain financially solvent. Well, there is no one who wants that more than I do. I understand that if you can't get your financial house in order you can't do anything else. In fact, let me tell you what happens if we do not pass the Miners Protection Act. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which we have in place, will shoulder the burden of the outstanding liabilities. In a January letter to Congressman McKinley from West Virginia, one of my colleagues on the other side, the Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation confirmed that if the UMWA becomes insolvent, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation of America will actually have to assume billions of dollars in liabilities causing negative ripple effects for many more and for the financial insolvency of our country. Passing the Miners Protection Act now means covering $3.5 billion in health and pension benefits. If we do not enact this law, the pension liability alone will carry a pricetag of over $6 billion. So, along with my good friend from Wyoming, Senator Enzi, I do care about making prudent decisions. That is a savings of $2.5 billion if we pass this legislation--$2.5 billion in saving to the taxpayers. The Miners Protection Act is important to my home State of West Virginia because West Virginia has more retired union miners than any other State in the Nation. Out of the 90,594 retired United Mine Workers in the country in 2014, more than 27,000 still live in my State. I will say this. As to a lot of the devastation we have seen with the floods we have had in West Virginia over the last couple of weeks, it was horrific what happened. Every one of those little communities was a coal mining community that got hit. So you just add more tragedy on top of the already devastating tragedy that we have. But the impact is going to be felt in every State in the Union, including Wyoming. In fact, the Miners Protection Act will help over 900 health beneficiaries and over 2,000 pension beneficiaries in the State of Wyoming. So I would just ask: What do my colleague who opposes this legislation or any of my colleagues who might not be for this legislation expect the widows and pensioners to do? First of all, they have an executive order by the President of the United States in 1946, over 70 years ago. On top of that, this pension plan was solvent and sound until 2008. It wasn't their fault the crash happened. The greed of Wall Street took down so many pension plans. Most of these widows are making $550 a month. That is their pension-- $550 a month. So we are not talking about large amounts of money, but if they lose that, it means the difference of whether they do certain things out of necessity. What do they give up? How do you explain to them that a 70-year-old commitment is now going to go unanswered? We didn't care. We didn't mean it. It is our responsibility to keep the promise to our miners who answered the call whenever their country needed them. So I ask Senator Enzi and all my colleagues to work with me to keep our promise to these miners. Let us sit down and work together and make sure we all agree on the facts. I have always said this, and it has been said to me many times, we are all entitled to our opinions. We are just not entitled to our own facts. So the facts are very clear here. This is not only a promise, it is a commitment and a responsibility we have to the United Mine Workers of America and all those people who gave us the greatest country on Earth, gave us the greatest amount of abundant energy--reliable, affordable, and dependable. There is a transition going on now, and we are working through this transition, but the bottom line is that to walk away from an obligation and a commitment we made 70 years ago, which helped us be the superpower of the world and the country we are today, would be a gross neglect of our responsibilities and an injustice to the United Mine Workers of America, the widows, and the families who still depend on this. We have a responsibility to oblige and make sure we take care of them. With that, I hope the Chair will help me in moving forward on this. We hope to get a vote in September. We were promised a vote in the first part of September, when we come back, and that is one we are counting on to carry this forward. I am hoping we will have our colleagues supporting this. With that, Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. MANCHIN

Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I have been coming to the floor every week for quite some time talking about an epidemic that we all have to fight through, and that is the epidemic of opiates--drug abuse. This is prescription--legal--drug abuse. We have come to a crisis in our country. I think both Democrats and Republicans realize this. This is not a partisan issue. It doesn't pick sides. It doesn't choose whether you are rich or poor, what race you may be, what religion you may practice. It basically attacks everybody. In 2014, 18,893 people died due to prescription opiate overdose. That is an average of 51 people every day. We are talking about legal prescription drugs. These are made by pharmaceutical companies that we depend on to make products needed for quality of life. They are also approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Basically, the Food and Drug Administration is responsible for making sure the products we consume are safe. Then, they are prescribed to us by the most trusted person next to our family member, which is our doctor. So when we think about it, how could something that has been approved by so many reputable people and institutions do so much harm and then we not react to it? That is the hard thing I have to imagine. I can't say: You know what; I don't think it was anybody's intent, but it is what it is. We have a full-blown epidemic. Over 2,000 people have died since 1999. We talk about Zika, and we talk about Ebola. We are concerned about all these horrific illnesses that can attack a human being, and we have one right in front of us that is a silent killer, and we are not doing anything about it. Sixteen percent more people died in 2014 than died in 2013. We have to take action to stop the epidemic, and it can only happen right here in the halls of Congress in the Senate and with our counterparts on the other side of this great Capitol of ours. Unfortunately, a major barrier those suffering opioid addicts face is insufficient access to substance abuse treatment. I spoke to my cousin, Michael Aloi, who is a Federal magistrate judge. He said: Joe, let me just tell you the sad scenario. I have to sentence many people for the wrong they have done and the crimes they have committed. I have never once had anyone stand and say: Judge, I'm sorry; you can't sentence them to a jail sentence because we have no more jails--no more jails. He said: I have never been turned down. We have always found a jail cell or a bed to imprison somebody. We have never lacked for that. But so many times I have tried to place a person in treatment whom I know needed treatment. Their family wanted it, and they wanted to change their life. And guess what I have been told: I am sorry, but we have no place to put them. If you are a parent, the only thing you can do--I know Nebraska is the same as West Virginia. Isn't it an awful situation where, in America, you have to hope that your child gets arrested and convicted, and maybe then they could be sentenced to drug court to maybe get a chance in life? It is a sad scenario in this great country of ours that we can't save this generation. It is of epidemic proportion from this standpoint. I don't think there is a person who I know of in my State or anyone I have ever met in my travels in America who doesn't know someone--in their immediate family, extended family, or close friend--who has not been affected by drug abuse. It is of epidemic proportion. I say it is a silent killer because we keep our mouths shut. We are afraid. If it is our child, we don't want anybody to know. It would be embarrassing. If it is our mother or father, if it is an aunt or uncle, brother or sister, we will take care of that. We don't want anybody to know about it. Guess what. We have a full-blown epidemic that is killing your brothers, your sisters, your children, your aunts and uncles and moms and dads, and we say: Why didn't we say something? So this is what we are dealing with, and this is something we intend to fight. I will give an example of how hard it is to get treatment. In 2014, in my beautiful State of West Virginia, 42,000 West Virginians-- including 4,000 children--sought treatment for illegal drug abuse but failed to receive it. The largest long-term facility in West Virginia with more than 100 beds is the Recovery Point of Huntington, one of the most successful places we have. It is run by recovering addicts. Every one of them is a recovering addict. They know exactly every excuse, every type of diversion that you will give them. They have had everything thrown at them. They know it all. This group has been the best at having success ratios in putting people back into productive lives. They only have 100 beds, and they have a 4-month to 6-month waiting list--unbelievable. In 2014, about 15,000 West Virginians received some form of drug or alcohol abuse treatment. That is 15,000 who received it. Guess what. There was another 60,000 who went untreated--60,000 with no treatment at all. Based on my conversation with police departments, I would say that all of us--all 100 Senators in this room, Democrats and Republicans-- can talk to their law enforcement, and I will assure you that they will tell you that at least 8 out of 10 of the calls they are called to for any type of disturbance, any type of criminal activity is caused by drugs. Almost 80 percent are drug driven. Then we say that we can't afford it so we don't find any money. We can't find the money to pay for treatment centers. I have a bill that is called the LifeBOAT Act. It is bipartisan. We hope it is bipartisan. We are asking for all the help we can get. Here is really what it does. It is truly designated to fund treatment centers. What we are asking for is one penny--one penny--per milligram of every opiate product produced and distributed in America. One penny per milligram. That one penny will give us $1.5 to $2 billion a year. Can you believe that--$1.5 to $2 billion from one penny per milligram? Imagine the enormity of what we are consuming. When we think of a country that is less than 5 percent of the world population that consumes anywhere from 80 to 90 percent of all opioid products produced in the world, how can we become so addicted? How are we so pain intolerant that we have to have these powerful, addictive drugs? What happened to us? With all that being said, we have to first of all treat addiction as an illness. I am as guilty as anybody in politics or in political life or making policy for any period of time--20 years or more. I am as guilty as they are, thinking, at first: If you are fooling with drugs, you are committing a crime; we will put you in jail. Guess what. We have filled the jails, and when they get out, they are no better off than when we put them in. They haven't been relieved of their addiction. They haven't been cured of their addiction. They haven't even been treated for their addiction. We just thought that by throwing them in a prison or in a jail cell, we would take care of it. We have come to our senses now and found out addiction is an illness. Any other illness you might have, you are going to find treatment for. There is treatment to take care of you if you are ill, whatever it may be. Sorry, but not for opiates, not for a drug addiction. We can't. We just don't have the money to do it. We charge a fee for cigarettes. We know cigarettes are dangerous to you. It is not healthy for you. It will kill you. We know that. It is put on the packs when you buy any tobacco products, and you pay a tax or a fee. Call it anything you want to call it, you pay. Alcohol--when you buy alcohol, you pay a fee, a tax, or anything else that you want to put to that. But, by golly, if we talk about: Oh, my goodness, we need one penny per milligram to start providing treatment for people who are addicted so we can put them back into productive life--I am not voting for any taxes. I can't vote for tax increases. I am not voting for any of these things. Can't you vote for a treatment for your child, for your grandchild, for your neighbor? Can't you save a society that we are losing? Can't you see that 8 out of 10 of our crimes are committed by people who are drug-induced? If you are concerned about the economy, if you are concerned about the well-being and welfare of this country, can't you do something responsible and not worry about going out and defending yourself--yes, I will be happy to tell you I voted for a penny. You want to call that a tax? I am pretty austere about that. When I was Governor, I always said I was very financially responsible, fiscally responsible, socially compassionate. This is just common sense. You have to find a way to fund it. That is what we have asked for. So the LifeBOAT Act is something I am hoping every one of my colleagues will take a good, hard look at. And don't look at it as a tax or a fee; look at it as a treatment plan that helps get Americans straight again. Help us get it back into production. We talked about the silent killer. This is a silent killer because no one talks about it. Guess what. Since I have been coming to the floor, people have been sending me letters. They said: Please, we want you to read our letter. I want you to know about my son, my child, my grandchild, my husband, my wife, my mother, my father. I am going to read Stephanie Sowell's story. Stephanie put her name to this, and she wanted me to read this for you. She says: I applaud and thank you for your efforts at helping those with addiction. My son, Tommy Sowell, died of an accidental overdose of heroin mixed with Fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl on February 13, 2016, at the age of 24. I am quite sure he did not know the drug contained Fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl. He developed a hernia during 9th grade and had surgery, after which they prescribed OxyContin. Knowing that it was addictive, knowing that it has been overprescribed and has caused many overdoses. I now believe this is where the story of his addiction began. He did not want, nor choose, to be addicted. He held a high GPA throughout school and graduated from South Harrison High School. He willingly helped his dad in the hay field from a young age every year. He loved his family. He wanted and needed to work and be productive. He wanted to go to college from a young age but the lure of the oil & gas field won out with its high pay. However, with those jobs beginning to close in WV around 2014-2016, he began to spiral down . . . with no job prospects to speak of here, but not wanting to leave WV and his family, he instead turned to more drugs to deal [with and] cope with feeling lost and unproductive. His dad and I found him. He died alone, which makes me even sadder to know. Tommy was a good boy, a wonderful son, and he lit up our world with laughter and joy. He was loving, respectful, kindhearted, and full of life and fun. I know in my heart he would have overcome this and gone on to do wonderful things if he'd just had the chance. We are heartbroken and will be forever heartbroken. Saturday, June 11th, would have been his 25th birthday. If this letter helps you in any way please feel free to use it. It would bring a bit of peace to us to know that his story will help others. This is a hidden secret. This is basically a hidden killer we are talking about. When you have Stephanie and the parents and grandparents willing to speak up and say: Put a face with it. Put a boy or young girl coming out of a neighborhood, whom we had high hopes for and who was snuffed out--this is what they want us to share. This is what they are asking us to take up and do--provide the treatment that can help save the lives of their children and the lives of a generation of Americans. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. MANCHIN

Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in a colloquy with some of my colleagues concerning the Miners Protection Act.

Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, some people say this is a union versus a nonunion issue. That is not the case at all. In 1946, anybody who was mining coal was a member of the United Mine Workers of America, almost 99.9 percent. With that type of participation, having all these people involved--that is the deal that was made. That is the deal Harry Truman, the President of our United States of America, made with John L. Lewis. You have to continue to mine the coal that keeps the country running. Today, coal has been villainized to the point where people think they don't need it, they don't like it, they don't want it, and it is no good for them. Well, guess what. The coal we use today is cleaner and used cleaner than ever before. We keep talking about the global climate. I am not a denier. With 7 billion people, I think we have a responsibility. We have a responsibility to clean up the environment. We have done it, and we can do a lot more in America. We can lead the rest of the world--which burns over 7 billion tons of coal--to do it much cleaner if we are serious about it and if we don't just continue to demonize it here in America, its use in America, putting all these people out of work. My colleague talked about Puerto Rico and its finances. We have sympathy and compassion for anybody who has had difficult times. But we have people who basically gave their sweat, their blood, and their lives for the energy of this country, and their widows and other people are depending on that retirement and they are depending on their health care benefits. Let me tell you the domino effect that will happen. The domino effect is this: If these health care benefits go by the wayside, a lot of the clinics that take care of people throughout West Virginia, throughout the coal industry, throughout the coal counties all across America, are going to be hurting. They are going to be hurting as they try to keep their doors open to take care of the children, the families, the widows--the people who are depending upon them. This has a ripple effect that people don't really consider. All we are asking of the majority leader, our majority leader--I am respectfully asking him--he comes from the State of Kentucky, and he understands the people of mining. In a compassionate way, I am asking if he would just consider giving us the vote before we leave here. That is why we are not voting on the Puerto Rico cloture. We have basically next week, and after next week we will be gone for quite a while. These widows and all these retirees will start receiving their notices July 15. We will be out of here on the 16th. What do we tell them? Well, I am sorry we are on vacation. We have all gone home. We all gave up. The House is gone now. They got in so much conflict, they couldn't take it anymore. They left early. They are not coming back. This is a shame. It is absolutely a shame. I am almost ashamed to tell--people say: Where do you work? I say: Oh, I work for the government in Washington. I will be almost afraid to tell them what body I am in if we can't do better than we are doing. I am getting so sick and tired of ``If you are a Republican and I am a Democrat, I am supposed to be against you.'' I am not against you; I am with you. I am with this country. I want America to do well. I want the whole world to be envious that we can help other people. But if we can't take care of ourselves, if we can't help the people we have committed to and made a promise to, then why should anyone? Why should anyone look to America? We are the hope of the world. Well, if we are going to be the hope of the world, we better take care of the people who gave us the country we have; that is, the mine workers of this country, the United Mine Workers of America--the toughest people I have ever been around, the most generous people I have ever been around, and the most compassionate people I have ever been around. It is our responsibility, Mr. President and my colleagues, to keep our promise to the miners who have answered the call whenever their country needed them. When our country went to war, the miners stayed there and powered us to prosperity. When our economy was stagnant, these miners fueled its growth and expansion. They kept their promise to us, and now it is time for us to do the same. We must keep our promise of a lifetime pension and health benefits to our miners-- something they paid for, something they worked for--for their dedication to our country. That is why I am calling for the immediate passage of the Miners Protection Act. I appreciate my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. This is truly a bipartisan effort. I thank the Presiding Officer. I thank each and every one of you. Please talk to colleagues, as we do with all our friends on both sides, and do the right thing and pass the Miners Protection Act. Mr. President, I yield the floor. Family Planning Services

Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from Indiana and the Senator from Ohio, the Presiding Officer, and my colleague from West Virginia. This is truly a bipartisan bill. As we stand before you, my colleague and I were both born and raised in West Virginia. We come from different political parties, but we have been friends all our lives. The most important thing is that before we became a Republican or a Democrat, we were West Virginians first. Sometimes we might lose sight of that fact amidst all these great people in this great country. It is time for us to get together and do the right thing. These are the people who have done the heavy lifting all their lives, and all we are asking for is a commonsense piece of legislation that gives to them and protects them with a promise that we made. They worked for this. They paid into this. Their pensions were solvent. No act of their own caused this. We are not asking for a bailout. There is a pay-for and a very easy pay-for. So with that, I want to recognize my colleague from West Virginia for her dedication and commitment to fight for this. I thank her so much. I yield to Senator Capito from our great State of West Virginia.

Mr. MANCHIN. I say thank you to my friend and colleague from Ohio. I thank you so much. You are absolutely correct. Of those 90,000 miners, 27,000 come from my State of West Virginia. When we talk about who are the miners, they are the most patriotic people you ever met. Most of them are veterans. They have given of themselves. They sacrifice and they will continue to do so. This country still needs a balanced energy policy that works for all of us, and they are willing to do that. They are willing to do the heavy lifting jobs they have always done. They don't ask for a lot of accolades for doing that. I have another one of our colleagues from the great State of Indiana who knows the mining industry very well. I have been with him, and we have been out talking to them and watching how the product moves and watching how it powers this great country. With that, I yield to my friend Senator Donnelly from Indiana. (Mr. PORTMAN assumed the Chair.)

Mr. MANCHIN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, if I can, I will give a little background and then we will go right to Senator Portman. I thank the Senator from Ohio. I appreciate it very much. The Presiding Officer understands very well. We are both from the same State, born and raised there, and tough times have always been a part of our DNA. So people know the history of the mines, as to the coal that has been produced, we would not be the country we are today, we would not be the superpower of the world, if we didn't have domestic energy in our backyard. Domestic energy was the coal we used to fuel the Industrial Revolution. We basically defended ourselves in every war with coal. It was so important during World War II that if you were a coal miner, you would be asked to be deferred from fighting in the war to provide the energy the country needed to defend itself. That is how important this product has been. Today it is kind of taboo to talk about it. People don't understand we have the life we have because of it. There is a transition going on and we understand that, but, in 1946, President Harry Truman said that we can't have the miners go on strike. John L. Lewis was going to take the miners out on strike for unfair compensation and safety reasons. Harry Truman promised them if they would stay--it was so important for our economy after World War II to keep moving forward, and without the energy, we couldn't do it. So he said: If you all will settle this strike, I will make sure everybody who produces coal--all the miners will pay into a pension fund that will guarantee that you will have health care benefits when you retire and a very meager pension. We are not talking big money. We are talking very meager supplements. That was committed to and paid for. It had been funded all the way up until the greed of Wall Street in 2008, and it fell apart. Now, here we have the time. We go right up to the end of the time. Every time we go up to this timetable. Well, July 1 is Puerto Rico, and then let me tell my colleagues one thing: July 15, all the retirees will start receiving notices that they will start losing their health care benefits within 90 days. If you have seen on television all the devastation to our State in West Virginia, all the flooding, all the misery, the loss of life--one of the largest losses of life in any flooding in U.S. history. It just happened this past week in the State of West Virginia, our beautiful State. Every one of those communities you are seeing on television, with houses on fire floating down the river, with all the businesses ruined, all the homes and all the people who are left with nothing, every one of those are mining communities. Every one of them have miners living in them. Every one of them have widows who probably lost their husband to black lung depending on the health care benefits. Yet we have so many other things, and we are just asking for a vote. This is a bipartisan bill. Here we are standing on the floor, all of us, not being Democrats or Republicans, just being Americans trying to do the right thing. All we are asking for is a vote on this. It will pass. There are ways for us to pay for it so it does not cost the American taxpayers. That is what we are asking for. I don't think that is too much to ask for. I have said let's vote no on cloture tomorrow. I am not saying to be for or against Puerto Rico. I understand the situation they are in, but unless we defend and fight for the people who have given us the country we have, and just disregard that, then who are we? What is our purpose for being here? With that, I yield to my good friend and colleague from Ohio, Senator Portman.

Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, as the Presiding Officer knows very well, we have been asking for passage of the Miners Protection Act not just for our State of West Virginia but for all miners across America, as well as the retired miners who have done everything that has been asked of them. We have some of our colleagues here today. At this time, if I can--if my other colleagues will allow me--I will defer right now to Senator Brown from Ohio, since he has other commitments. He will be coming back and forth. If he could go ahead and get started at this time, then I will come back and defer to our other colleague from Ohio.

Mr. MANCHIN

Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, first, I thank Senator Reid and all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for the compassion and the outpouring of love they have given to our State. They have expressed that to me. I also thank Senator Reid and my Democratic colleagues for their commitment to the Miners Protection Act. I also thank Senator Capito, my colleague and counterpart in the Senate. She is committed to working on that. There is a promise that was made, and basically the miners kept their promise. By their hard work, they have kept the country supplied with energy that has been needed. These are mostly the widows who are depending on these pensions--they are modest pensions--but basically it is their health care. They will get a 90-day notice July 15 if we do nothing, and we cannot do that. We cannot do that to any part of this great country and especially those who have worked so hard and given so much. I thank him for that commitment. I hope my colleagues, all of my colleagues, my Republican and Democratic colleagues, will help me keep this commitment and this promise to our miners. Madam President, I wish to tell you a little bit about what is going on in my State of West Virginia. I came back last night. I was driving home Thursday night, and I got caught in Virginia driving on I-81. This deluge of water started. Rains I have never seen before started while I was on I-81. After getting into Lexington, VA, I cross over to I-64 to come in. Then from I-64 I go through Clifton Forge and Covington. I have traveled quite a bit that way, and I have never seen water like this. The river started coming across the road. We were able to get through that. I was asked what my first impression was coming into West Virginia. I was driving, and we came into West Virginia on the Greenbrier County side and White Sulfur Springs. The beautiful Greenbrier is there as soon as you come into our State. The exit where you get off where you go to the Greenbrier and go into White Sulfur Springs, I looked down, and it was totally under water-- all those stores where I used to stop, see people, and the little filling stations, but the eeriest thing I ever saw in my life was all these cars were under water and their lights were on. So you know if their lights were on, someone was driving. For the water to come up that quickly that you couldn't even turn your car off, you just jumped out or tried to swim out or tried to get out the best you could, that totally gives you an idea of how fast this river rose. No one has ever seen anything like it. Then I saw a trailer, a person's home, floating down the road, the middle of the road. I am thinking, ``What happened?'' Then I drove and got into Charleston, and as Senator Reid said, 9 inches. We had up to 10 inches of rain in some parts, 9 inches to 10 inches in this area of southeastern West Virginia that really got hit. All of the counties got hit pretty good, but a few of them really got inundated. If you can imagine 9 inches to 10 inches of rain happening within a 2-hour to 6-hour period, that would be almost like turning on all the hoses you have in your house, put them in the house, turn them on full force, and let them run for that period of time and see what happens. It is just unbelievable. Of the things we saw, first, people didn't have insurance because they didn't think they were in the flood plain. Next, people who were in the flood plain couldn't afford the insurance. Next, most of our State--the hills and the beautiful mountains we have, over the years most of the people--the last 100 years or 200 years--have built in the valleys because that is where the river had meandered and kind of cut out the flat, level places. They are asking: Why would they build? I mean, this is where they have always been. Over the years, they have either dredged the rivers, they have done different things, they built floodwalls. We build dams to hold back the water in certain areas, which has helped tremendously. Now we have to rethink how we do this. We need the Army Corps of Engineers. We need the Federal Government. I thank President Obama and his Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough. I called Denis, and I said: Denis, if we have ever needed help, we need it now. He said: Senator, I can assure you the President is ready to help as quickly as you put your declaration in. Never have we had a declaration signed and turned around. I thank the President, I thank Denis, and the entire White House staff for the compassion they have had for my State and all the people of our State-- as hard as it has been hit. We have three counties with a declaration: Nicholas, Kanawha, and Greenbrier--which was really hit hard, which is where the Greenbrier Resort is. Those counties are getting immediate relief. We have 500-- going to 700--National Guardsmen coming in. I flew over the area. I visited all the areas by car on Friday. I flew over on Saturday. I have never seen an entire town, an entire city, inundated with water, the entire town. In Rainhill, WV, there wasn't a dry spot in the town so everybody got caught. Somebody asked about the warning. We did give warning. There is never--if you have lived all your life, your parents and grandparents before you, and you heard stories about water coming this fast and this quick--let me give you one example, and you can imagine. I went to White Sulfur Springs yesterday in the little town--you have seen the pictures on television, the house that was floating and on fire. I was there, right where it happened. Before I got to that house, I was walking down, and there was a lady standing there. There were foundations of a few homes, but there was no sign of a home anywhere. She had flowers and a cross. And that was where her husband, who was a grandfather, and her--but her husband, her daughter, and two grandchildren were in the house. They got clear to the attic, and the house left. One of the kids was safe, but one little child, the mother of the children--their daughter--and the grandfather were lost in the flood. She was standing there and looking. What do you say? There are no words to replace that. You see these types of tragedies. Then I walked across the bridge. This gentleman came and got me he said: Come on, Joe. I want you to come over and see. I walked up across the bridge where another--not large--stream comes out of the mountains, but it had become a raging river. That is where the forks basically join. When what happens, sometimes the hydrology will back up, and it creates a dam. The water creates a dam of itself. I walked in there, and it looked like a bomb had gone off. There were three or four homes completely burning that had exploded. He lived in one of them. He said, when this all hit, the water, he ran as quickly as he could with his wife. He hid up in a cave on the hillside. They thought everybody had gotten out. A lady did get out, and she came back into the home. Well, when the houses shifted, it broke the gas line. When the gaslines broke, they filled the homes with natural gas. When the houses shifted, then the power lines broke loose. The sparks from the power line hit the gas and blew up the homes, like explosions going off. The woman in the house got caught. She couldn't get back out--she went back in to get something. She went up into the attic and was burned over 70 percent of her body. Then she jumped into a tree and hung in a tree for 3 hours to 4 hours until they rescued her. I understand she passed away yesterday. We have 23 confirmed dead. We thought there were 25 because two people were swept away and reported missing. They found them alive so we are at 23, but we still have 5, 6, or 7 unaccounted for. The tragedy continues. Love is outpouring from people. First, I thank FEMA. FEMA is there doing an unbelievable job and the National Guard. We are going to depend on the Corps of Engineers. It is going to take everything we have to put our State back together where the people can have some infrastructure. Maybe we can change some streams to the point where they will move differently or water will flow a little differently, hopefully, but this is where you need your Federal Government. The State--no State, the Presiding Officer's beautiful State of Iowa--couldn't do it by itself. We cannot do it by ourselves. I thank FEMA, first responders, and Red Cross. We have everybody in. If people want to know how they can help, there are people who say: I don't have any money, but I want to come to your State. We need you. We need volunteers who want to work. We need people who have resources who want to help with their money and donations. If they want to send goods, we need that too. We need everything. People have lost everything. To give you an example, Jim Justice, the owner of the Greenbrier Resort--the Greenbrier is closed indefinitely right now. The big golf tournament that was planned, the Greenbrier Classic, has been cancelled. And the golf course is pretty much running to a certain extent, but they will come back. So Jim, basically, has opened up the Greenbrier to anybody who is homeless right now--anyone who has lost their home. He said: We will give you a place to stay for free; come to the Greenbrier. We don't have hot water--because of their boiler systems--but we have water. So that is what they are able to do, and he has been so gracious to do that. I tell people, if they can get on my Web site, manchin.senate.gov--at the front of our Web site, you can see everything you can do. It will take you to the site where you can get in contact with the right people to help our State. Again, I know of the love and compassion people have, and I have watched people come together. Our little State has always taken care of itself. When you ask people ``Do you have a place to stay?'' they will say ``Well, I am staying with my neighbor up here'' or they are doing this or that. So that has been fantastic. But the outpouring of love and compassion from around the country has been unbelievable. We have a lot of famous West Virginians. Brad Paisley has called, and he wants to do a benefit for the State, and that is going to be tremendous. John Kruk and just so many people--so many people have stepped up to the plate. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say thank you to everybody for reaching out. It is not over. I just called home, and it is raining again. We have flash flood warnings out for the same areas again. But I talked to the weather channel, and we are not supposed to get anywhere near what we got before, so we will be able to handle this, I hope. But it basically just stops the cleanup, and it is devastating to see what has happened. So I say thank you to all my colleagues and everyone who has sent their heartfelt, sincere condolences for our State and for the people who have lost their lives. That is the first and foremost thing. We can replace everything else, but we can't replace those dear little kids, parents, and grandparents who were lost. With that, Madam President, I say thank you from the great State of West Virginia, and on behalf of my colleague Senator Capito, I thank you very much. We have both been on the trail working together and trying to get all the relief we can, and just keep us in your prayers. With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. MANCHIN

Mr. MANCHIN. Sure.

Mr. MANCHIN. Absolutely.

Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, the Presiding Officer and I are colleagues from the same State, so she knows as well as I know about the problems we have with opioid addiction, prescription drug abuse throughout our State and all over this country. We have come to a crisis point in this country. In 2014, 18,893 people died from a prescription opioid overdose. These are legal prescription drugs that are made by outstanding pharmaceutical manufacturers. They are approved by the Food and Drug Administration. They are prescribed to us by the most trusted person outside of our family--our doctor. It has created an epidemic of unbelievable proportions. Every day 51 people die from legal prescription drug abuse. Worse yet, the trend is going in the wrong way. It is not reducing; it is increasing. Sixteen percent more people died in 2014 than died in 2013. We have lost almost 200,000 since 1999. If we don't take action soon, this epidemic will become of mammoth proportion that we have done very little, if anything, to control. Unfortunately, a major barrier for those suffering opiate addiction is insufficient access to substance abuse treatment. I, like many people in public service 20 years to 30 years ago when this epidemic hit--we basically treated it as a crime. It is a crime if it is a violent crime that was committed because of drugs, or a sexual crime, but most likely that is not the case. It is mostly stealing. To support their habit, an addict usually steals from their family, their extended family, and their friends. Once everyone realizes the problem they have is addiction, then they usually start stealing anywhere they can, which usually results in an arrest, incarceration, found guilty of larceny, and then they get a felony on their record. But knowing how difficult this is, without treating it as an illness--between 2009 and 2013, only 22 percent of Americans suffering from opioid addiction could find treatment centers. If this was any other epidemic which is a health crisis, we have ways of treating that. You will find a hospital. You will find someone who basically will give you treatment for the illness you have. Not with opiates. In 2014, 42,000 of our fellow West Virginias, including 4,000 children, sought treatment for illegal abuse but failed to find any treatment. Think about this. If you were a parent of a child who is addicted and that child wanted help and you wanted to get help for that child, there is no place to put that child. Compare that to what we do as far as incarceration. My cousin Michael Aloi is a Federal magistrate judge. Michael and I were talking. He said: Joe, you know, I have never ever been turned down for someone I have had to put in jail or in prison or had someone tell me ``I am sorry, Judge, you can't put them in jail because we don't have a jail cell.'' We have always been able to find a jail cell for somebody we want to incarcerate. Then he said: Guess what, Joe. For probably 8 out of 10 times a person is recommended for treatment by the court, I have no beds to put them in, no places to send them for treatment. I can find a jail cell for them and a jail bed; I can't find a treatment bed. That is what we are dealing with in America, so we have to change. In West Virginia, our largest long-term facility has more than 100 beds, and that is Recovery Point in Huntington, WV. They do an unbelievable job. In 2014, about 15,000 West Virginians received some form of drug or alcohol abuse treatment, but nearly 60,000 West Virginians who were identified as being in need of substance abuse treatment couldn't find it. Based on conversations with our law enforcement--and you can check in any of your towns, wherever you may live in this great country of ours, and you will find out that probably 7 to 8 out of 10 people who are picked up for any crime or charged with a crime--it is drug-related. It is having a tremendous effect on our economy and the lives of our people. What I have done is I have come up with a piece of legislation which has bipartisan support, and we are hoping to get much more. Basically, it is a lifeboat. What it really says is this: We need this treatment. How do we fund it? In these tough times we have, it is hard to find the finances, and we have to have pay-fors. So I looked at it in a very practical way, and I said: We have a fee or a tax, if you will, on cigarettes. We have a fee or a tax on alcohol. These are things that are detrimental to society and to human beings themselves. Basically, I looked at a one-penny-per-milligram fee on opiates for every opiate that is produced in America or sold in America--one penny per milligram. Unbelievably, that is spinning off about $1.5 billion to $2 billion if we enforce this. That gives us a funding stream so these judges can place a person who needs treatment. We can have adequate treatment centers with a continual funding stream. I would hope that we would not get a penny, not one dollar from these fees because that would mean we are not out pushing opiates. But that is not the case. So this lifeboat is exactly what it says it is--it gives people a lifeboat, gives them a chance to clean themselves up.

Mr. MANCHIN. We are both fighting it.

Mr. MANCHIN. Basically, I truly believe it has been a business plan. That is being very cynical, if you will. We have a lawsuit going on in the southern part of West Virginia right now, in Boone County. There has been a judge there, Judge Thompson, who has been more active than anybody I have ever seen. He has a case before him now, and it basically involves four or five distributors. So you have pharmaceutical manufacturers that go to the distributors and basically spread it out to the pharmacies. They sent, in a very small period of time, over 200 million pills into a little part of our State. Now, you are telling me they didn't think they were oversupplying an area. Shouldn't somebody have raised a flag there? A moral conscience would say: There is no way they can consume this much. There is no way that a small rural area can consume this much narcotics. Something is wrong. Are you telling me that wasn't a business plan? So I am going to testify. They asked me. I said I am most happy to. I would love to be on the stand. I want them to question me about what has happened to our State. I am happy to be accountable for that because I want someone to look me in the eye and say: You didn't know we only have X amount of people. We only have 1.85 million people in the whole State. If you take 6 or 7 of these counties, you might be talking a couple hundred thousand people. You are sending 200 million pills to a couple hundred thousand people--to every man, woman, child, and baby? Something is wrong with you, and I want to hear that answer. So yes, it doesn't matter whether you are a Democrat or Republican, whether you are conservative or liberal. This doesn't have a home. This is a killer. It doesn't matter whether you are at the low end of the socioeconomic ladder or at the top end. It is hitting everybody.

Mr. MANCHIN

Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.