Joseph Pitts

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the prime sponsor of this legislation. (Mr. SMITH of New Jersey asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

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

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would like to reiterate the important work that the National Marrow Donor Program does for patients. Be The Match, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program, has facilitated more than 68,000 marrow and cord blood transplants, which is an average of more than 520 transplants a month. They conducted their first transplant as the National Marrow Donor Program in 1987. They also continue to lead the way in developing new cellular therapies, in advancing services to speed the transplant process, and improving treatments for post-transplant complications. Be The Match invests in dedicated researchers whose countless hours in the lab and caring for patients have helped more patients than ever before to receive a transplant. Beyond establishing the registry, investment in medical research over the years has been essential in helping find the answers that save the lives of more patients. In 1990, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Dr. E. Donnall Thomas for discoveries in cellular transplantation. In 1994, the first peripheral blood stem cell collected for use in unrelated transplants occurred. In 1998, the cord blood program was launched. In 2001, the NMDP Repository was built, one of the world's largest tissue sample storage facilities used for medical research. In 2004, Be The Match and the NMDP partnered with the Medical College of Wisconsin to create the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. The great work and discovery continues. I urge bipartisan support for H.R. 2820 and support for discovery and cures for patients. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Joseph DeMott of Lititz, Pennsylvania. Mr. DeMott served our country in the Army Air Corps during World War II, suffering severe leg wounds in a mission over what is now Jakarta. While he was in the hospital, Japan overtook the city and he was captured in March 1942. He was sent to a POW camp to do farm labor, build fences, dig ditches, and work on the docks. Joseph DeMott was starved, beaten, and temporarily blinded when the camp was liberated in September 1945. For his heroism, he received two Purple Hearts. After the war, back home in Pennsylvania, he became an electrical engineer after graduating from Penn State. He went on later to work as a plant manager at Champion Blower and Forge in Lancaster. This October, 70 years later, he and seven other former POWs held by Japan during World War II traveled to Japan as guests of the Japanese government to revisit and reconcile with their past. Mr. DeMott's story is an outstanding lesson to us all not only in courage, selflessness, patriotism, and valor, but also in forgiveness. Those who are truly strong are strong enough to forgive. Mr. Speaker, there are heroes all around us in this country. I am proud to represent over 40,000 of them in the Sixteenth Congressional District of Pennsylvania.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Human Rights Day. Sixty-seven years ago today, December 10, 1948, the U.N. General Assembly proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Universal Declaration set out a common understanding of the fundamental human rights that were to be universally protected. Today, we recall the inalienable rights intrinsic to every human being. In many regions of the world, people continue to struggle to attain the most basic rights and respect for their basic human dignity. In several regions of the world, defenseless civilians face attacks by terrorist organizations and networks that seek to intimidate, maim, and kill in the name of a distorted theology. I join my distinguished colleague from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) and people everywhere in reaffirming our commitment to the fundamental rights and freedoms contained in the Universal Declaration, and urge all leaders to redouble their efforts to promote and guarantee them. I also want to thank the human rights defenders everywhere, who so often carry out their work at great risk to themselves and their families.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials into the Record on the bill.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today extends and expands the Medicaid emergency psychiatric demonstration project. A longstanding policy under Medicaid, called the institutions for mental diseases, IMD, exclusion, prohibits the Federal Government from providing Federal Medicaid matching funds to States for services rendered to Medicaid-eligible individuals aged 21 to 64 who are patients in IMDs. IMDs are inpatient facilities with more than 16 beds that primarily treat people with mental health and substance abuse disorders. The original IMD exclusion is consistent with the goal of treating severe mental illness in the least restrictive setting feasible. The IMD exclusion provided an incentive to shift the cost of care for mental illness to other care modalities and facilities where Medicaid matching funds were available. However, since the IMD exclusion was included with the creation of the Medicaid program in 1965, our mental healthcare system and overall healthcare system have evolved notably. In recent years, we have seen a significant decrease in the number of publicly funded inpatient psychiatric beds available for emergency services. This has contributed to patients in need of critical mental health services facing psychiatric boarding in general hospital emergency departments. Psychiatric boarding occurs when an individual with a mental health condition is kept in a hospital emergency department for several hours or admitted to medical wards or skilled nursing facilities without psychiatric expertise because appropriate mental health services were unavailable. This leads to potential serious consequences for psychiatric patients and unnecessary hospital costs. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act authorized a 3-year demonstration program to study the effects of allowing Federal Medicaid matching funds to pay for emergency psychiatric treatment for adults that is otherwise prohibited by the Medicaid IMD exclusion. The demonstration was funded with $75 million in FY 2011, and these funds were available for obligation through December 31, 2015. The HHS Secretary selected 11 States and the District of Columbia to participate in the demonstration program in March of 2012, and the demonstration program began July 1, 2012. Due to significant State interest, patient need, and other factors, the demonstration project exhausted its Federal funding in April and was forced to terminate early. S. 599 would temporarily extend the Medicaid emergency psychiatric demonstration for States already participating in the demonstration through September 30, 2016, if the chief actuary of CMS certifies that this extension would not increase net Medicaid spending. The bill also requires that, not later than September 30, 2016, the HHS Secretary report to Congress on whether the demonstration should be continued after such date and whether the demonstration should be expanded to additional States. If the chief actuary of CMS certifies that this extension would not increase net Medicaid spending, then the demonstration may continue not beyond 2019. While I have strong concerns with the President's healthcare law, S. 599 would let States and CMS continue to test the provision of critical mental health services for patients in a manner that is responsible for the Federal budget. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this commonsense, bipartisan bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 599) to extend and expand the Medicaid emergency psychiatric demonstration project, as amended.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Brooks), a prime sponsor of the House companion bill and a member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this commonsense, bipartisan bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 799) to address problems related to prenatal opioid use.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this important bipartisan, bicameral legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today begins to combat the rise of prenatal opioid abuse and neonatal abstinence syndrome. Over the past several years, opioid addiction has risen dramatically in the United States, reaching epidemic proportions. The death rate for heroin overdose doubled in just 2 years from 2010 to 2012. One of the issues resulting from this epidemic is neonatal abstinence syndrome, known as NAS. Babies born with NAS are infants that are addicted to opioids and that suffer medical issues associated with drug withdrawal. Symptoms can last for weeks, keeping otherwise healthy infants confined to the hospital at the start of their lives. NAS can result from the use of prescription drugs or from the use of illegal opioids. Sadly, over the past 15 years, the incidence of NAS has tripled in the United States. This is a rapidly growing problem that needs to be addressed for the safety of our mothers and children. S. 799, Protecting Our Infants Act of 2015, introduced in the Senate by Majority Leader McConnell and led in the House by my colleagues, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts and Mr. Stivers, would address the increasing problem of prenatal opioid abuse and neonatal abstinence syndrome. Preventing opioid abuse among pregnant women and women of childbearing age is crucial in addressing NAS. The Government Accountability Office has identified that more research is needed in this area to help treat babies born with NAS and mothers addicted to opioids. This legislation would help fill this research gap by directing the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, AHRQ, to conduct a study and develop recommendations for preventing and treating prenatal opioid abuse and neonatal abstinence syndrome. Mr. Speaker, the House companion to S. 799 was approved by a voice vote in the Subcommittee on Health and the full Committee on Energy and Commerce. Today we have a chance to approve this important bipartisan and bicameral legislation. I urge my colleagues to support the bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Jenkins), a leader on this issue.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution. This summer 10 videos were released that showed high-level executives at major organizations, including Planned Parenthood, StemExpress, Advanced BioResources, speaking candidly about the activities that violate Federal law. They speak of using ``less crunchy abortion techniques'' to preserve organs, of ``crushing'' certain body parts in order to spare others, and of children killed after they ``fell out,'' that is, after being born alive. It is interesting to hear people criticize the videos that haven't even watched the videos. These 10 videos constitute sufficient grounds for probable cause that criminal activity has occurred. Subsequently, thanks to the leadership of the Judiciary Committee, Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and the Energy and Commerce Committee, the House has begun to investigate the scope and prevalence of these activities. Congressional discovery has already yielded important and revealing testimony. This House, as a body, has already voted to stop giving taxpayer funding to abortion providers and to ban late-term abortions, which are the abortions that yield the highly developed organs sought for medical experimentation. Deniers of the unborn child's humanity or their human right to life have tried to ignore the clear evidence already uncovered about fetal organ procurement. The deniers have tried to discredit the videos that they are too horrified to watch. The videos speak for themselves. The deniers have tried to create distractions. They insult pro-life Americans. They make excuses. No wonder, then, that the deniers oppose this panel. They don't want the truth to come out. Whether you consider yourself pro-life or pro-choice, you should want the truth to come out. This debate ought to be settled by the facts. It is Congress' duty to the American people that we find out the truth, especially as it pertains to the deaths of millions of innocent Americans and half a billion dollars in annual taxpayer funding. That will be the task and purpose of this select committee. We, as a legislative body, rely on good information. We ought to base our actions on the facts. I urge support for the resolution.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 444, I call up the bill (H.R. 3495) to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to allow for greater State flexibility with respect to excluding providers who are involved in abortions, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3495.

Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3495, the Women's Public Health and Safety Act. This bill, at its core, is about choice as well as protecting the lives of millions of unborn babies across America. H.R. 3495 would empower States with flexibility to include or not include in their Medicaid program providers who perform or assist in the performance of elective abortions. The Hyde amendment already makes sure that Federal Medicaid dollars do not pay for elective abortions. This bill would amend current law so that States would have the flexibility and discretion to work with qualified providers of their choice. This bill also means States would be able to remove the largest abortion chain from being the recipient of millions of dollars of State and Federal funds, which are allocated within their States. Planned Parenthood has received about $1.2 billion through Medicaid over a 3-year period, and States who wish to eliminate Planned Parenthood from this funding stream are being blocked from doing so. All Medicaid providers ought to be held responsible for their actions. However, the current administration is interpreting current law to protect the interests of political elites over the health care of those truly in need. States should be able to work with providers who prioritize and respect life and exclude organizations whose business model is built around the destruction of life. Planned Parenthood is the Nation's largest abortion chain, doing over 327,653 abortions in the last reported year. That comes out to an average of 898 abortions per day every day, 37 abortions every hour, 3 abortions every 5 minutes, more than 1 abortion every 2 minutes. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, in response briefly, money is fungible. Everybody knows it. In one pocket, out the other, same pair of pants. $1.2 billion over the last 3 years in Medicaid. The videos, nobody is putting words in their mouth. It is their words, their pictures. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), vice chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and a distinguished leader on this issue.

Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, unfortunately, the Obama administration puts its own abortion-centered ideology ahead of women's health care. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Black), an outstanding leader on this issue.

Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Duffy), the prime sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, I claim the time in opposition to the gentlewoman's motion.