Greg Walden

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. But when we are losing towns, and people and firefighters in our communities are choked with smoke, we can do better. Last night, in Medford, Oregon, the Jackson County Commission held a public meeting to talk about this fire situation we face. A dad from Jackson County recounted how his daughter with cystic fibrosis had to move away. He told the audience: ``It's been devastating for us as a family. We wish our daughter could live with us.'' Then he went on to say: ``When you can't breathe, nothing else matters.'' So you want to talk about life and safety and health issues in America, we should have done better with the Senate. But we are doing okay with this bill, and I intend to support it. Today I rise in support of the underlying legislation: the 2018 Farm Bill. This bill takes steps to help improve the management of our federal forests by extending expedited management tools for insect and disease projects in eastern Oregon and expanding it to hazardous fuels reduction to reduce the threat of fire and smoke. We've also allowed more local involvement from counties in forest management projects and extended funding for collaborative forest projects. These all help, but it is unfortunate the Senate Democrats rejected provisions from the House bill that would have greatly reduce the threat of fires and smoke in all of Oregon. The ability to clean up the burned dead timber after a fire-- responsibly and where it makes sense--and replant a new, healthy forest for the next generation? Excluded. Providing tools that help manage our forests in western and southern Oregon--where some of Oregon's worst fires have been in recent years? Excluded, even after devastating fires like the Klondike Fire pictured here burned more than 175,000 acres. People in southern Oregon are tired of choking on smoke every year because of poor management. Recently a dad from Jackson County recounted how his daughter with cystic fibrosis had to move away saying ``it's been devastating for us a family. We wish our daughter could live with us.'' But, as he went on to say, ``When you can't breathe, nothing else matters.'' You can understand people's disappointment when they see little here to help their region, while efforts continue to lock up more southern Oregon forests as more wilderness--a contributor to several large fires in recent years. As someone from Medford told me last night, if something doesn't change, ``We're gonna get killed.'' Meanwhile, in central Oregon, the 5,000 residents of Crooked River Ranch are worried they will become the next Paradise, California. We've worked together on a simple public safety bill to make a small adjustment to a neighboring Wilderness Study Area so critical fire prevention work can be done to protect the community. Our bill passed the House unanimously, passed a Senate Committee unanimously, has broad support from the local community, and is ready to be voted on today. Unfortunately, partisan posturing in the Senate is holding this critical public safety bill hostage over unrelated public lands measures. The Senate needs to stop playing with fire and the lives of people of Crooked River Ranch, and pass my legislation before the end of this Congress. We do not want to see images of homes turned to ash and lives destroyed in central Oregon all because politics got in the way of protecting lives.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the farm bill, the rule that allows us to bring this to the floor, and the lives I want to save in the West and across America, because this bill takes important steps to help improve the management of our Federal forests by extending expedited management tools for insect and disease projects in eastern Oregon and expanding it to hazardous fuels reduction to reduce the threat of fire and smoke. These are real life and safety issues in our communities. The great tragedies we have seen in California this last summer, in Paradise this last fall, I guess, they are repeating themselves year after year as climate change and drought and higher temperatures and the overgrowth in our forests all come together to create catastrophic wildfires, as pictured here. These are monsters when they fire up. They kill. It is unfortunate that the provisions that the House passed as part of the farm bill were rejected by the Democrats in the Senate. It is unfortunate because, after these catastrophic fires, we should get in and be able to remove the fuel load so that the next fire doesn't burn even more intensely, which is what happens. It is a bigger threat to the firefighters, because these snags that remain are destined to fall. This year, we lost a firefighter to a snag that fell. But they rejected that. While we are expanding CE authorities, categorical exclusion authorities, in some forests, the House provision said we should expand it to all forests so that we can begin to catch up and remove the excess fuel load from our forests, so that when we do get fire, which is a natural part of environment, it does not become so destructive that it burns up entire towns. Unfortunately, again, Senate Democrats rejected that. So we are left with a bill that is pretty good. The farm bill provisions are terrific, as the leader has said.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Barton for his great leadership on the ACE Kids Act. I know this has been something he has been dedicated to for many years, and I am glad we could get this worked out and to the floor today. In fact, Mr. Speaker, these bills add to the 129 that the Energy and Commerce Committee has passed across this House floor. Mr. Speaker, 92 percent of those bills have been bipartisan. I don't think the American people know that, because when we get along and do things, it doesn't get much coverage. But most of our work, 92 percent of our bills have been bipartisan, plus these today. 28 of those measures have become law. I rise in strong support of this bipartisan H.R. 7217, which includes a number of different policies to improve and bolster the Medicaid and Medicare programs for vulnerable patients across our country, Mr. Speaker. I recognize Joe Barton and our colleague, Kathy Castor from Florida, who I know is going to speak in a moment. They have just worked relentlessly on the ACE Kids Act. This is an important bill, and it is included in this package and one I am proud the House will advance forward today. They both should be commended for their work because, you see, Mr. Speaker, the ACE Kids Act is bipartisan. It is cost-effective legislation. It provides children and their families the treatment and coordinated care they so desperately need and deserve. Representative Barton, former chairman of the committee, has long been a champion on this issue, and, again, I thank him for his tireless efforts to advocate for improving care for our Nation's sickest children. This bill also extends two key Medicaid programs: the Money Follows the Person Demonstration Program and the spousal impoverishment rules in Medicaid, both of which were due to expire or be out of money by the end of the year. I am disappointed we weren't able to secure a longer term extension of these programs. I know many of my colleagues share that disappointment. Both sides negotiated in good faith, though, on how to pay for an extension, and I hope that the bipartisan work on the long- term bill will continue early in the new Congress. Today, we are moving forward with a 3-month extension to prevent these programs from expiring. Finally, this package includes a small but critically important Medicare fix to ensure disabled seniors have access to necessary mobility devices, and that is fully offset and paid for. Further boosting our efforts to advance public health, we have four other bills before us today. Collectively, these bills reauthorize several important programs, promote safe motherhood, and improve patient care. Lastly, we will consider H.R. 6140. That is the Advanced Nuclear Fuel Availability Act. This bill, as you already know, Mr. Speaker, directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to make high-assay, low- enriched uranium available for use in the first-of-a-kind advanced nuclear reactor designs. This fuel will enable the development and deployment of a new generation of innovative nuclear technologies. Nuclear energy is the largest source of emissions-free electricity in the United States, so a strong U.S. nuclear energy policy can ensure a reliable, clean U.S. energy sector for years to come and provide American families and businesses with affordable energy. In closing, Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Pallone, Mr. Green, and the other members of the Energy and Commerce Committee. I urge my colleagues to support passage of all of these bills, especially H.R. 7217, on behalf of patients in Oregon and all across our country.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Terran Renee Tyler for her poem entitled, Daddy, I Love You, Welcome Home. Terran is from Grants Pass, Oregon, and wrote this poem after joining an Oregon Honor Flight to the nation's capital with a group of World War II and Korean War veterans. She wrote this poem in honor of her father, SPC Tony Ryan Tyler, United States Army, and all veterans who lost their lives in service to our country in uniform. I'd like to include in the the Record the text of the poem. Dear Stranger, I look around and take a deep breath staring up at the sky at another sunset. The band starts to play as another flag is raised over a fallen hero's grave. Nameless, faceless His story remains untold--Who is this stranger who died for me at just 28 years old? What were his hopes, his dreams? What did he have to go through so I could be free? So I could make my dreams a reality? Dear Stranger, I may never know who you are, But I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, For every trial that tested your strength, And for every time you've lost your way, Thank you for all your tears and strife, Now here I sit at the end of a very hard life, I know there are many others out there like you, And for each one this word rings true, *Hero*, For no two stories are ever the same, And you don't even know many of these people's names, Like you, they are strangers just the same, Nameless, faceless, Yet driven by the fear in their eyes, You chose to stand and fight, It didn't matter that you too were afraid; It only mattered what was right, A false hero wouldn't have stayed, He wouldn't have willingly welcomed the grave, Thank you all heroes young and old, The men and the women, The living and the dead, For every one of your stories untold. For each hero, a million tears could be shed, But my dear stranger, I would rather celebrate you instead. I finish my letter and tear it up, Then I toss it to the ground, as the wind picks up, Scattering the pieces. The sky's grown dark, And the stars are out, My dear stranger, are you up there now? Are you looking down on me, laughing, crying, smiling? Gazing out over the cemetery, I suddenly see, A million buried heroes, standing in uniform by their beds. They're each smiling, and one by one bowing their heads. As soon as I blink though, they all fade away, Leaving one lone hero standing by a grave. He salutes and looks me hard in the eye, I run to hug him, then start to cry, The wind whispers his name in my ear, The one etched in my heart, that I've longed to hear. Though I know I'm really standing there alone, I can't help but whisper, ``Daddy I love you, welcome home''. In memory of SPC Tony Ryan Tyler, United States Army. I ask my colleagues to join me today in thanking Terran for her thoughtful words recognizing the sacrifice of America's brave service members and their families. We owe them a profound debt of gratitude for their heroism in the defense of the freedoms and liberties we cherish as Americans.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6753, the Health Care Fraud Prevention Task Force Act. This bipartisan bill--which I introduced with Ranking Member Frank Pallone, and is supported by Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady and Ranking Member Richard Neal--passed the Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously earlier this year. This will be the 132nd bill that our committee has passed this Congress, 92 percent of which have been bipartisan just like this one. I look forward to continuing in that vein over the next two years. By passing this bill, we will be codifying a program that already works. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) currently operates the Health Care Fraud Prevention Partnership--a voluntary collaboration between the federal government, state agencies, law enforcement, private health insurance plans, and anti-fraud associations. Together, this group works to detect and prevent fraud that threatens to undermine our nation's health care system. This program was created by the Obama Administration, and the Trump Administration has recommended codifying it into law. The bill before us today does just that, also strengthening and expanding the scope of partnership's work. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this commonsense, bipartisan bill to improve the integrity of our nation's health care system.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Washington State for bringing this rule to the floor and addressing this issue. It is literally one of great importance in my district and in the West. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the underlying bill, the Manage our Wolves Act, because we need to clarify the management of wolves in Oregon and put us on a path to follow the locally State- written Oregon wolf plan. For years, Mr. Speaker, ranchers across my district have watched as wolf packs have grown. They harass cattle herds and they kill livestock and they are brutal. When you lose a heifer, you don't just lose one cow. You have lost 10 years' worth of calves that will never be born and that will never be able to be sold. Those that aren't killed are harassed, often losing weight and value. They are chased all over by the wolf packs. The cattle and sheep these ranchers raise are their livelihoods. Every day--sun, rain, or snow--they raise and care for these animals. When a first-time mom is struggling to feed a new calf, the rancher nurtures them, sometimes even literally bringing them into their own home next to the wood stove to warm them up and keep the calf alive in the winter. That care makes it all the harder to come upon a calf that has been torn apart by wolves. If you are of young age, or whatever, I would just give you a fair warning that this is a graphic picture of what happens when a wolf gets ahold of a calf. A rancher wrote me earlier this year that three of her calves were attacked, and she described them as ``wild-eyed with terror after being mutilated by wolves . . .''--just like this one you see here from a calf that was killed by wolves in Wallowa County, ripped apart. This rancher went on to write, ``the rush of emotions one feels when you see an animal you have nurtured crying for help, panic in their eyes, searching for escape,'' she said no one wants to see that and described it as watching your worst horror movie in slow motion. Now, the ranchers have done a lot in this effort. They have watched as attacks continue, though, despite their efforts to implement largely ineffective, nonlethal control techniques they were asked to do. Meanwhile, the issue at the heart of this matter is that there are arbitrary lines on a map that created a jurisdictional mess in my State of Oregon where wolves in eastern Oregon are managed by the State, and right across this highway they are managed by the Federal Government. Today's legislation that we will consider fixes that by ensuring that all wolves in Oregon are removed from the Federal endangered species list. This would then return the management to the State and allow wolves, like other wildlife, to be managed under collaboratively developed Oregon law. There are still challenges with State management; there is no doubt about that. We have seen times when the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Service has been slow to take action and implement the hard-fought agreements in the wolf plan to help prevent predation and control the wolf packs. The State needs to step up and uphold thes agreements, but those are issues we can work out as Oregonians. The last thing we need, however, is the Federal Government trying to micromanage wolves from thousands of miles away. This legislation that, hopefully, we are able to bring up because of this rule will get the Federal Government out of the way, will simplify the jurisdiction, and will place all wolves in Oregon under the State management plan. Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the rule and the underlying legislation.

Mr. WALDEN

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to section 1051 of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (P.L. 115-232), I appoint Mr. Greg Zerzan of Alexandria, Virginia, to the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.

Mr. WALDEN

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

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I include the following letters in the Record. [From the American Society of Addiction Medicine] Rockville, MD, September 26, 2018. American Society of Addiction Medicine Applauds Inclusion of Key Provisions in Historic Opioid Legislative Package Key Provisions to Teach, Standardize, and Cover Addiction Medicine Will Help Close Treatment Gap and Save Lives, Addiction Medicine Experts Say The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) today applauds US House and Senate leaders for announcing a bipartisan agreement on an opioid legislative package that includes key provisions to bolster the country's addiction treatment workforce, help provide standardized evidence-based treatment for individuals with a substance use disorder (SUD), and help ensure coverage and payment models facilitate comprehensive, coordinated care for patients seeking treatment for a SUD. ``On behalf of America's addiction medicine physicians and other clinicians on the frontlines of this crisis, ASAM applauds our Congressional leaders for working together to include key provisions that will help close the current treatment gap, bolster the addiction medicine workforce, and save more lives,'' said Kelly J. Clark, MD, MBA, DFASAM, president of ASAM. ``Reversing course on the deadly opioid overdose crisis requires bold policy solutions that help teach, standardize, and cover addiction medicine so more patients benefit from evidence-based treatment. The agreement reached last night is an important step toward realizing this critical goal.'' Key provisions in the legislative package to teach, standardize, and cover evidence-based addiction medicine include: Making permanent buprenorphine prescribing authority for physician assistants and nurse practitioners and allowing waivered practitioners to treat immediately up to 100 patients at a time (in lieu of 30) if the practitioner is board certified in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry; or if the practitioner provides medication assisted treatment (MAT) in a qualified practice setting. Certain qualified physicians would also be allowed to treat up to 275 patients at a time with buprenorphine, codifying an existing rule; Allowing physicians who have recently graduated in good standing from an accredited school of allopathic or osteopathic medicine, and who meet the other training requirements during school to prescribe MAT, to obtain a waiver to prescribe MAT; Providing loan repayment relief to addiction treatment professionals who practice in high-need areas; Creating a Medicare demonstration program to increase access to evidence-based outpatient treatment for beneficiaries with opioid use disorder that includes medication as well as psychosocial supports, care management, and treatment planning; Partially repealing the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion and allowing state Medicaid programs to cover care in certain IMDs that can deliver services consistent with certain requirements, including evidence-based assessments and levels of care; Directing the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to finalize special registration regulations concerning the prescribing of medications for addiction via telemedicine within one year of enactment; Expanding Medicare coverage to include payment for Opioid Treatment Programs through bundled payments for wholistic services; Convening a stakeholder group to produce a report of best practices for states to consider in health care related transitions for inmates of public correctional facilities; and Requiring the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to provide information to SAMHSA grantees to encourage the implementation and replication of evidence-based practices. ``Substance use disorder is both treatable and preventable--but from where we stand today, delivering high- quality care to the millions of Americans who live with the disease of addiction will require significant investments in our workforce, coverage, and payment models that facilitate coordinated and comprehensive care, and structural changes that incentivize the use of evidence-based approaches,'' said Clark. ``And while we celebrate this bipartisan announcement today, ASAM knows there is still much more work to be done to ensure all Americans living with a substance use disorder get the treatment they need. ASAM will continue to advocate for building an addiction treatment system that fully integrates mental health, substance use disorder, and primary care services in order to produce the best patient outcomes. This includes supporting final passage of legislation that would more closely align 42 CFR Part 2 with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.'' For more information about the American Society of Addiction Medicine, please visit www.ASAM.org.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen), who has worked so hard for these issues.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Roskam).

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I include the following letters in the Record. September 26, 2018. To The Members of the U.S. House of Representatives: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce strongly supports the bipartisan H.R. 6, the ``Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018.'' The Chamber will consider including votes related to this bill in our annual How They Voted scorecard. The opioid epidemic is ravaging families and destroying the lives of thousands each year, and it is crippling communities' and employers' efforts to staff workforce needs, create new jobs, and expand commerce. We applaud Congress for crafting comprehensive legislation to tackle the myriad of causes, such as the flood of illicit drugs into the United States, while removing a litany of barriers that inhibit prevention, recovery, and treatment options. The Chamber is pleased that H.R. 6 does not include the end stage renal disease (ESRD) provision included in an earlier version of the bill. That policy would have burdened employers already struggling to provide robust health benefits with hundreds of millions of dollars in additional health care costs. While H.R. 6 is important, more remains to be done. The Chamber urges Congress to address the 42 CFR Part 2 statute as hundreds of health care organizations have called for. Congress should align currently conflicting protections and allow providers access to a patient's entire medical record, including substance use disorder information, at a patient's request. We urge you to support H.R. 6. Sincerely, Suzanne P. Clark, Senior Executive Vice President, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg) to speak on the measure.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Bucshon), who is a talented physician on our committee. Mr. BUCSHON: Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6, the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act. This bipartisan bill will help our struggling communities to combat the opioid epidemic by increasing access and improving care to those in need and preventing new occurrences of opioid misuse and abuse. Section 2002, which I authored, would provide screening for chronic pain, address possible non-opioid pain alternatives, and increase early detection of opioid use disorder in seniors as they enter Medicare. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to have worked with my colleagues on solutions to this serious epidemic, and I urge support of H.R. 6.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Johnson), who is a leader on this issue.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Renacci) to speak on the measure.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) to speak about the legislation.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie).

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), who is our resident pharmacist on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. WALDEN. 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 material in the Record on the resolution.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Lance).

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time each side has remaining?

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess). The country is well served by his chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Health.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I include the following letters in the Record. Corporate Health Care Coalition, September 26, 2018. Hon. Paul Ryan, Speaker, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Charles Schumer, Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Speaker Ryan, Leader McConnell, Leader Pelosi and Leader Schumer: The Corporate Health Care Coalition (CHCC) is writing to commend both the House of Representatives and the Senate on finalizing the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act (H.R. 6), bipartisan legislation to address the nation's opioid crisis. CHCC is comprised of companies from varying industries that compete in the global marketplace and sponsor health plans for the benefit of our employees and other beneficiaries. Collectively, CHCC member companies provide health benefits for nearly 5 million Americans across every state in the nation. The depth and devastation associated with the opioid crisis is being felt by families and communities nationwide. CHCC therefore applauds lawmakers for working on a bipartisan basis to reach consensus on H.R. 6, which represents a critical step forward in providing necessary resources for treatment and prevention efforts related to opioids. We urge the House and Senate to pass this important legislation. Sincerely, Corporate Health Care Coalition.

Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Mitchell).