Frank Pallone

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Let me just reiterate what the ranking member said. This was really a bipartisan bill. I thank Mrs. Rodgers, Mr. Guthrie, Ms. Anna Eshoo, and all the staff that worked so hard on this legislation. It is important that we have as big a vote as possible because this bill has a real chance of passing the Senate and getting to the President's desk and will really address the mental health and substance abuse concerns that we have and the crisis that we have. So I urge everyone to vote ``yes.'' Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution No. 1191, I rise to offer amendments en bloc No. 1.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the eight mental health amendments under this en bloc consideration. Collectively, these amendments further strengthen the bipartisan nature of the underlying comprehensive bill, the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act of 2022. I thank my colleagues for their leadership and contributions to furthering the health of the American people and wish to speak in strong support of their adoption into H.R. 7666. Many of these amendments, Madam Speaker, include provisions from bills that previously passed the House this Congress on suspension that the Senate has yet to act upon. I am pleased that we have the opportunity to, once again, emphasize their importance by including them in this crucial legislative package. The amendment offered by Congressman Bera and Congressman Fitzpatrick is just such an amendment. Like the bill it reflects, the HERO Act, which passed the House last year, it will improve data collection and services to ensure our first responders and public safety officers receive the mental health care services they need. Additionally, Congresswoman Napolitano and Congressman Katko submitted an amendment which extends and revises SAMHSA's Project AWARE program providing school-based mental health services, including screening, treatment, and outreach programs, provisions that likewise passed the House last year in H.R. 721, the Mental Health Services for Students Act of 2021. Representatives Katko and Napolitano were also joined by Congressmen Beyer, Raskin, Cardenas, and Fitzpatrick in offering an additional amendment that includes provisions from H.R. 2981, the Suicide Prevention Lifeline Improvement Act of 2021, which also passed the House last year. The amendment extends funding for SAMHSA's Lifeline--crucial in this Nation's moment of mental health crisis, supporting crisis care response and support as we prepare for the launch of the new 988 dialing code next month. I appreciate the additional focus on the particular needs of certain communities in our country that several amendments add to the underlying bill. I thank Representatives Reschenthaler, Morelle, Wild, and Dean for their amendment requiring a study to determine the true cost of untreated serious mental illness on families, healthcare systems, public housing, and law enforcement in America. In addition, we certainly cannot do enough to support the men and women who have valiantly served our Nation in the Armed Forces. I thank Congressman Joyce for his amendment that requires the Department of Defense to carry out a 2-year pilot program aimed at preventing suicides amongst Active-Duty members of the Armed Forces. I also appreciate and support the amendment submitted by Congressman Feenstra requiring the new Behavioral Health Crisis Coordinating Office established within SAMHSA by H.R. 7666, to provide technical assistance and support to the Veterans Crisis Line. Further, Madam Speaker, I support the mental health and well-being of those who are pregnant or postpartum. The amendment offered by Congresswoman Moore makes important improvements to the Maternal Mental Health Hotline authorization to ensure those implementing the hotline consult with appropriate State, local, and Tribal public officials and those working with low-income people. I am particularly pleased that H.R. 7666 would establish a new authorization for a Maternal Mental Health Hotline, and I appreciate Representative Moore's amendment that will serve to improve the underlying legislation. Finally, Madam Speaker, while we know children in this country are facing a mental health crisis, unfortunately, we know that all too many also experience other chronic health challenges. I am grateful to Representative Pressley for her amendment requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services conduct a study on the rates and risks of suicidal behaviors among youth with chronic illnesses and to provide Congress with recommendations for ways to provide early intervention, best practices, and strategies to address disparities. I am pleased to support these amendments and encourage my colleagues to do the same. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley), who has one of the important amendments included in this en bloc.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I have no additional speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1191, I rise to offer amendments en bloc No. 2.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this en bloc amendment. This package includes bipartisan bills and policies that will increase access to substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery support services. The amendment introduced by Representatives Rodney Davis, Bilirakis, O'Halleran, Wagner, and Kuster reflects H.R. 2355, the Opioid Prescription Verification Act of 2021, which has previously passed the House. The amendment, like the bill it is drawn from, encourages the use of e-prescribing for opioids and incentivizes States to maintain and utilize prescription drug monitoring programs. Likewise, the amendment offered by Representatives Andy Kim and Davids also reflects a previously House-passed bill, H.R. 2364, the Synthetic Opioid Danger Awareness Act. Their amendment requires the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a public education campaign about synthetic opioids, including fentanyl and its analogues, and disseminate information about synthetic opioids to healthcare providers. Continuing the theme of bipartisanship, Representatives McKinley and Dingell introduced an amendment that amends the Controlled Substances Act to clarify the process for registrants to exercise due diligence upon discovering a suspicious order. Like the prior amendments, this, too, is drawn from a prior House-passed bill, H.R. 768, the Block, Report, And Suspend Suspicious Shipments Act of 2021. Further, the amendment offered by Representatives Trone, Armstrong, and Sherrill also draws from a prior House-passed bill extending a critical authorization for the State Opioid Response grants and Tribal Opioid Response grants for 5 years. Another amendment introduced by Representatives Dean, Spartz, Scanlon, and Fitzpatrick reflects H.R. 5950, the Improving Patient Access to Care and Treatment Act. This amendment increases the time from 14 to 60 days that healthcare providers can hold long-acting injectable buprenorphine before administering it to a patient, giving patients and practitioners greater flexibility when accessing opioid use disorder treatment. Finally, this amendment package includes an amendment offered by Representative Gottheimer that would ensure that veterans are included within the crisis response continuum of best practices included in H.R. 7666. I thank the sponsors of these provisions. These bipartisan amendments provide strong tools to address the ongoing overdose crisis and will save lives. I urge my colleagues to support this package of amendments and include them in the overall bill. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, but I do not oppose the amendment.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this amendment. Like the bill that passed the House last year, H.R. 2877, and other House-passed provisions we hope to include through amendment into the Restoring Hope Act, this bipartisan amendment is part of the bipartisan approach Ranking Member Rodgers and I have taken since day one with this critical bill. This amendment requires the Secretary to consult with a range of experts, including mental health and education professionals, to develop best practices for schools and universities to establish behavioral intervention teams to identify concerning behaviors and manage risks among students. The guidance must determine how these teams can operate effectively while relying on evidence-based, objective protection of the constitutional and civil rights of students and staff. Madam Speaker, I understand that some disability and civil rights organizations have concerns about the provisions of this amendment and opposed the original bill. I agree that we must be sensitive to the concerns of these organizations and not inadvertently perpetuate a false association of psychiatric disability and gun violence, nor promote the preemptive use of law enforcement to address problematic student behaviors, particularly among students with disabilities and/or students of color, who are already disproportionately excessively disciplined compared to their peers. At the same time, I think there is merit to the idea of teams of behavioral health specialists working in concert with educators to identify youth and college students who may be at risk of harming themselves or others and making sure they get the support they need. This bill has passed the full House twice, as I said, on suspension, both this Congress and last Congress. My understanding is that the bill's sponsors have made changes when reintroducing the bill this Congress to address some of the stakeholders' concerns by including more robust privacy protections and inappropriate referral protections. I think these changes improve the bill. I understand the stakeholders would like to see additional changes, and as I have indicated in the past, I am committed to examining ways to address these concerns and add additional guardrails as the bill progresses through negotiations with our Senate counterparts, including this amendment for consideration for adoption into H.R. 7666, but we need to pass the amendment to allow those kinds of negotiations with the Senate. I look forward to working closely with stakeholders, Congressman Ferguson, and the other original leads of H.R. 2877, and, of course, our ranking member, to strike the right balance that protects the health, privacy, and rights of all students. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for expressing his concerns relating to the MAT Act, but I respectfully disagree with his proposal. First of all, I take issue with some of his characterizations regarding buprenorphine. Buprenorphine is not broadly available to all Americans who need it. In fact, only 1 in 10 individuals with opioid use disorder receive medications for their condition, including buprenorphine. Over half of all rural counties in the United States do not have a single waivered buprenorphine provider, and 40 percent of all counties in the United States don't have a single waivered provider, according to the HHS-OIG. This is a huge treatment gap. A treatment gap for opioid use disorders means lives are lost every day unnecessarily when there is treatment available. This is tragic and not acceptable. Second, the gentleman has made the argument that buprenorphine is not effective against fentanyl, but that is not accurate. Buprenorphine is proven to reduce fentanyl use and overdose deaths, according to the National Academies of Sciences Consensus Report on Medications for Opioid Use Disorders and the United States Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking. Delaying the elimination of the X waiver to 2024 means extending the time in which a barrier to treatment is in place, leading to an increased risk of overdose and death. It is clear that we are experiencing record numbers of overdose deaths in America. This is a public health emergency and needs to be addressed immediately. Buprenorphine is a proven, evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder. Buprenorphine prevents painful withdrawal symptoms, reduces opioid cravings, and cuts the risk of overdose in half. This is due to buprenorphine's ceiling effect, which makes it nearly impossible to overdose on the medication. For these reasons, it is considered safer than commonly prescribed medications like insulin and blood thinners. Madam Speaker, eliminating the X waiver is a cornerstone of the Restoring Hope Act. The MAT Act amendment to this package was adopted at markup by a vote of 45-10. It received support from the majority of Republicans and Democrats on the committee. Further, nothing in this bill limits the ability of States to prepare and act on the overdose crisis.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself an additional 30 seconds. To the contrary, this legislation empowers States to determine the appropriate training, licensing requirements, and tools for providers who dispense controlled substances and treat patients with substance use disorders. All the MAT Act does is remove an unnecessary and outdated Federal barrier to States effectively addressing the opioid overdose crisis. If we don't act now, we risk tens of thousands of additional overdoses and unnecessary loss of life. I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko).

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1191, I call up the bill (H.R. 5585) to establish the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Health, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on H.R. 5585.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of H.R. 5585, the Advance Research Projects Agency-Health Act, or ARPA-H Act. In February, the Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee held a hearing to discuss the Biden administration's proposal to establish the Advance Research Projects Agency for Health, better known as ARPA-H. The agency is modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. The mission of ARPA-H is to translate fundamental biomedical research into breakthrough platform technologies that would change healthcare as we know it. ARPA-H would focus on the highest-risk, highest-reward issues in disease research. It will attempt to solve the problems that the private and public sectors have not been able to conquer. The expectations we have for this agency are justifiably high. Our hope is that within 5 years of operations, ARPA-H will have led to the development of cutting-edge treatments and cures for cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and mental health conditions. In order to be truly successful, we must ensure that all Americans have access to these innovations. Equity and promoting the health of all Americans must also be part of ARPA-H's mission. The fiscal year 2022 omnibus appropriations law provided the Department of Health and Human Services with $1 billion to get ARPA-H off the ground. We must now provide the necessary and appropriate authorities to make ARPA-H successful, to clarify its mission and its organizational structure, and ensure that the work at ARPA-H is not duplicative or redundant. H.R. 5585 does just that. ARPA-H will be led by a director and cadre of program managers with the autonomy and authority to develop high-risk, high-reward portfolios. This will be coupled with the appropriate contracting, hiring, and procurement authorities that will pull from the best minds and resources in the biomedical research ecosystem. This legislation authorizes $500 million annually for 5 fiscal years. ARPA-H projects will be time- and milestone-limited, ensuring that each project delivers real and measurable results. The ARPA-H Act includes reporting requirements to ensure proper compliance and avoid the redundancy. The director will be required to submit reports on the actions, results, and forthcoming strategic plans of ARPA-H to Congress so that we can confirm that the agency is meeting our intent. So last month, the Committee on Energy and Commerce advanced H.R. 5585 by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 55-3. This was a tremendous achievement and demonstrates Congress' ability to come together and find solutions that will improve the health of all Americans. I thank Health Subcommittee Chairwoman Eshoo, who is the author of this legislation, along with Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Guthrie, our full committee Ranking Member Rodgers, and also Representatives DeGette and Upton for their work on this important bill. Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5585, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Eshoo), the Health Subcommittee chair and the author of this legislation.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. DeGette), the chair of our Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee who has also worked on ARPA-H in the very beginning.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I must say that for many years we had a Congressman Brown on the committee who contributed a lot, particularly on healthcare issues. He chaired the Health Subcommittee. So it is an honor to hear from Ms. Brown of Ohio. We have another Congresswoman Brown from Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Brown).

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Auchincloss), who is also very much involved in healthcare issues with regard to the pharmaceutical industry and so many other health issues.