The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS” mentioning the Department of Interior was published in the Senate section on pages S7816-S7822 on Nov. 5, 2015.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Mr. Casey):
S. 2248. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to coordinate Federal congenital heart disease research efforts and to improve public education and awareness of congenital heart disease, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr President, every 15 minutes in America, a baby is born with a congenital heart defect. Many of these congenital heart defects are simple and can be easily corrected. Others are complex; some can require a lifetime of specialized medical care.
If you want to know what fear and powerlessness feels like, imagine being a young parent, listening to a doctor tell you that your new baby--who appears so perfect to you--has a threatening heart problem.
Fortunately, congenital heart defects aren't as deadly as they once were. In the 1950s, only 20 percent of American babies with congenital heart defects survived infancy. Today, 90 percent survive. Many children born with serious heart defects grow up to be adults with active, productive lives.
That progress didn't happen by accident. It happened because Americans made a decision in the 1960s to reduce these mortality numbers. We invested in research that led to better understanding and better treatments of the heart, from infancy to old age.
That investment in research has paid off in many ways. Some heart conditions that used to kill adults quickly often are managed now with medications and life style changes. The number of Americans with congenital heart disease living full, healthy lives increases by about 5 percent every year. About 2 million Americans are living with congenital heart disease today. We have come a long way--but there is more that we can do.
We know that the sooner a baby with a congenital heart defect is diagnosed and treated, the better the chances are to live a long and healthy life. But, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 30 percent of babies with critical congenital heart defects aren't diagnosed in the first few days, when treatment is most effective; 1 in 200 babies die from complications that might have been avoided if their heart disease had been detected.
In 2009, I introduced the Congenital Heart Futures Act to study people of all ages with congenital heart disease and coordinate research. That bill expired this year.
Today I am introducing the Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act of 2015. This bill will save lives by allowing us to build on the knowledge we have gained about congenital heart defects and the best ways to treat them.
My bill directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study people of all ages with congenital heart disease. The CDC would make the results of its research available to congenital heart disease researchers and to Congress. We will enable some of the best scientific and medical minds in America to evaluate the best ways to diagnose and treat congenital heart disease.
Many adults living with congenital heart disease are not aware they need specialized care throughout their lives. And fewer than 10 percent of adults with complex congenital heart disease receive the care they need.
The Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act directs the CDC to create a public awareness campaign to educate both patients and doctors about congenital heart disease and the need for lifelong specialized care for those living with congenital heart defects.
Finally, my bill directs the National Institutes of Health to conduct a review of ongoing research on congenital heart disease, identify areas of greatest need for research, and identify plans for future research.
We are not powerless when it comes to congenital heart challenges. We have made tremendous progress in my lifetime. Millions of Americans with congenital heart defects are living happy, healthy lives today because of that progress.
The Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act bill will help us better understand what congenital heart disease looks like in the United States and what we can do to help those living with this disease live longer. This bill will save lives and ultimately it will save taxpayers money--a lifetime of specialized heart care is expensive.
I would like to thank Senator Casey for joining me in introducing this bill, and Representatives Bilirakis from Florida and Adam Schiff from California in the House for introducing the companion bill. I look forward to working with them on this issue that affects so many families.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 2248
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act of 2015''.
SEC. 2. NATIONAL CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE COHORT STUDY AND
AWARENESS CAMPAIGN.
Section 301 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 241) is amended by adding at the end the following--
``(f) National Congenital Heart Disease Cohort Study.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall plan, develop, implement, and submit annual reports to the Congress on surveillance and research activities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including a cohort study to improve understanding of the epidemiology of congenital heart disease (referred to in this subsection and subsection (g) as `CHD') across the lifespan, from birth to adulthood, with particular interest in the following:
``(A) Health care utilization and natural history of those affected by CHD.
``(B) Demographic factors associated with CHD, such as age, race, ethnicity, gender, and family history of individuals who are diagnosed with the disease.
``(C) Outcome measures, such that analysis of the outcome measures will allow derivation of evidence-based best practices and guidelines for CHD patients.
``(2) Permissible considerations.--The study under this subsection may--
``(A) gather data on the health outcomes of a diverse population of those affected by CHD;
``(B) consider health disparities among those affected by CHD which may include the consideration of prenatal exposures; and
``(C) incorporate behavioral, emotional, and educational outcomes of those affected by CHD.
``(3) Public access.--Subject to paragraph (4), the data generated from the studies under this subsection shall be made available to CHD researchers subject to appropriate privacy protections, and aggregate data from such studies shall be made available to the public.
``(4) Patient privacy.--The Secretary shall ensure that the study under this subsection is carried out in a manner that complies with the requirements applicable to a covered entity under the regulations promulgated pursuant to section 264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
``(g) Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Campaign.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall establish and implement an awareness, outreach, and education campaign regarding CHD across the lifespan. The information expressed through such campaign may--
``(A) emphasize that CHD is the most prevalent birth defect;
``(B) identify CHD as a condition that affects those diagnosed throughout their lives; and
``(C) promote the need for pediatric, adolescent, and adult individuals with CHD to seek and maintain lifelong, specialized care.
``(2) Permissible activities.--The campaign under this subsection shall--
``(A) utilize collaborations or partnerships with other agencies, health care professionals, and patient advocacy organizations that specialize in the needs of individuals with CHD; and
``(B) include the use of print, film, or electronic materials distributed via television, radio, Internet, or other commercial marketing venues.''.
SEC. 3. CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE RESEARCH.
Section 425 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285b-8) is amended by adding the end the following:
``(d) Report From NIH.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act of 2015, the Director of NIH, acting through the Director of the Institute, shall provide a report to Congress--
``(1) outlining the ongoing research efforts of the National Institutes of Health regarding congenital heart disease; and
``(2) identifying--
``(A) future plans for research regarding congenital heart disease; and
``(B) the areas of greatest need for such research.''.
______
By Mr. UDALL (for himself, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Markey):
S. 2254. A bill to modify the requirements applicable to locatable minerals on public domain land, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Hardrock Mining Reform and Reclamation Act of 2015.
First, I thank Senator Heinrich, who will be here with me in a moment, for working with me on this bill. He is a dedicated conservation Senator from the West and really cares about this issue, and we have both been working together on this bill. I so much appreciate all of his hard work and his commitment to this important legislation. I also thank Senator Bennet and Senator Wyden for their hard work and support on this bill. I also thank our New Mexico colleague, Congressman Ben Ray Lujan, for his efforts on the House side.
We are proposing this bill for one reason: to reform the mining law of 1872. It is a matter of simple fairness, it is a matter of common sense, and it is a reform that is long overdue.
The 1872 mining law played a historic role in the settling of the West. It encouraged mining for silver, gold, copper, uranium, and other minerals on public lands. It helped the West to grow, but there was a price--one we are still paying. It did almost nothing to compensate the public, it did nothing to protect the environment, and it did nothing to require mines to clean up the mess. It did nothing to require those mines to clean up the mess. The legacy is clear--thousands of abandoned mines, contaminated land, polluted streams, costly cleanup, and taxpayers stuck with the bill. We have a 19th-century law which is totally inadequate to 21st-century challenges.
The spill at the Gold King mine earlier this year tells the story. With terrible damage in my State, in other States, and in the Navajo Nation, this is a disaster on many levels--to our water, our economy, and to our culture.
Mistakes were made at the Gold King mine. We have to do all we can to make sure they are not made again and to make sure our communities are fairly compensated for losses. That is why Senator Heinrich and I introduced the Gold King Mine Spill Recovery Act of 2015.
The Gold King mine disaster is also a wakeup call. The mine is still there; the owners are not. There are up to 500,000 abandoned mines in our country. They are a ticking timebomb. They are leaking toxins into our rivers and streams in the West and have been for decades. It will cost tens of billions of dollars to fix this. The estimates are anywhere from $20 billion to $54 billion, with a ``b''--billions. A mining royalty will bring fairness to taxpayers and help pay for the cleanup.
I have pushed for--and will keep pushing for--mining reform, first in the House and now in the Senate because I believe in the simple principle that the polluter pays. The polluter pays, but under current law the mining companies do not pay--not for the minerals they take, not for the damage they have done. This cannot continue. They cannot continue to reap all the benefits and hundreds of millions of dollars while taxpayers continue to shoulder all the burden. This goes against every notion of simple fairness. Working Americans know this, middle-
class families know this, and both sides of the aisle know this.
The 1872 mining law also basically gives away Federal land for $5. Less than what a working American pays for lunch, mining companies can buy an acre of Federal land if they discover a valuable mineral deposit. So there is no surprise here. Hard rock mining companies don't want reform. They have had a free ride for a long time--no wonder they want to keep it--but it is long past time for that ride to end.
Coal, oil, and gas companies have paid royalties for many decades. Hard rock mining companies, including foreign mining companies, should do the same. Our bill will require that they do that. It is not a radical idea. The oil industry pays a small fee on every barrel of oil, the coal industry pays a small fee on each ton of coal, and the sky has not fallen in. And when disasters happen, from oilspills to abandoned coal mines, these industries bear some of the cost.
History may explain why the 1872 law was created, but it is hard to see now why it should continue. What began as an effort to settle the West has become a gravy train for multibillion-dollar companies and not just American companies but foreign ones as well. We know the taxpayers are getting shortchanged. We just don't know how much.
In 2011 I asked the General Accounting Office for the numbers. They couldn't say. Not only do the hard rock mining companies not pay, they do not disclose, and under current law they do not have to--not how much they extract from Federal lands, not where the minerals are sold, not the overall value. Yet at the same time, oil, gas, and coal brought in $11.4 billion in Federal revenue.
We need to get this done. We can't keep asking working Americans and struggling communities to foot the bill while mining companies reap the profits. Let us be clear. The silver and gold on public lands are a natural resource. They belong to the American people. They should be an investment for public good, not a giveaway for private gain.
After my father left office after 8 years as Secretary of the Interior, he was asked what were his big regrets, and he said mining reform was his greatest unfinished business. Fifty years later we still need to do this and we still need to do it now. We have an outdated law. Special treatment for the profits of large hard rock mining companies is not a reason to keep it, at least not to the taxpayers of my State.
It is time to stop giving away the store. It is time to reform the mining law of 1872. It is the right thing to do. It is the fair thing to do. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and let us get this done.
Mr. President, I was just in a press conference with Senator Heinrich and Senator Bennet where we talked, and one of the questions that was asked was: How are you working at building bipartisan support and is there bipartisan support? I want to say a word on that because we have seen very solid bills pass here in Washington with bipartisan support. One of the ones I wanted to point out was in 2007 in the House. Nick Rahall had a mining reform bill. He had Republican cosponsors by the names of Wayne Gilchrest and Representative Christopher Shays--24 Republicans in the House--and the bill was passed 244 to 166. Paul Ryan, who was in my class when I came into Congress in 1998--we arrived at the same time and Paul is now the Speaker over in the House--voted yes for mining reform back in 2007 on this Rahall bill.
So I think if you look at the history, this is a bill where we need to work with both sides of the aisle, and I hope and wish Congressman Ryan--Speaker Ryan--the best and I hope he will join us in this effort to reform this long outdated law.
With that, I see my good friend and partner in this, Senator Heinrich, is on the floor, so I yield the floor at this time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I want to begin by thanking my colleague the senior Senator from New Mexico Tom Udall for the incredible leadership he has shown on this issue. I know it is something near and dear to his heart and something he absolutely and truly cares about. We have had a good team working on this over the course of the last couple of months. Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado has been a great contributor to this effort. Congressman Ben Ray Lujan of northern New Mexico has taken a leadership effort on a similar effort in the House, and today we are joined by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon on this legislation as well.
As many folks know, in August a large plume of bright orange mine waste spilled into the Animas River, which leads into the San Juan, and polluted the Four Corners region from Colorado to New Mexico and through the Navajo Nation.
If you take a look at this photo, which was shared with me by the president and vice president of the Navajo Nation, this is not what you want to see when you look at the river that you take your drinking water from or the river that you use for irrigation or the place you go fishing or recreate and kayak on. This is not how our mountain streams in the Southwest are supposed to look. I think visually this got the attention of people all around the country as to the scope and scale of this problem.
After the mine spill, I toured affected communities in New Mexico and the Navajo Nation. I met with impacted residents, including farmers in Aztec and Shiprock, San Juan County leaders, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye, Vice President Jonathan Nez, and the attorney general, Ethel Branch. In the Southwest, water is by far our most precious resource, so you can imagine the kind of impact this disaster had on our communities.
My colleagues in the Environment and Public Works Committee and the Committee on Indian Affairs have now held hearings to investigate the Environmental Protection Agency's actions which led to this spill and to seek to bring proper oversight to the Agency's response. Last week, the Department of the Interior released a report of its independent technical evaluation of the EPA's action. The evaluation found that the EPA did not properly appreciate the engineering complexity of trying to clean up the Gold King mine and that it could in fact have prevented what we see here.
I share the anger and frustration that not only my colleagues but, more importantly, our constituents have expressed over this terrible accident. It is why Senator Udall and I have introduced separate pieces of legislation specifically to make these communities whole. We need to continue to demand the EPA act with urgency to protect the health and the safety of the affected communities and to repair the damage inflicted on this watershed. That is our first and top priority.
We are doing a disservice to the American people by not also taking action to address the thousands--thousands--of other similarly contaminated abandoned mines that literally litter the West and are leaking toxins into our watersheds--into the watersheds that provide drinking water and irrigation to our communities all across the West.
There are estimates that 40 percent of western watersheds have been polluted by toxic mining waste and that reclaiming and cleaning up abandoned mines to make this right is going to cost tens of billions of dollars.
This latest disaster was all too familiar for those of us from the Four Corners region and to many people around the West. Back in 1975, in an even larger accident than the Gold King blowout, a tailings pile near Silverton, CO, spilled 50,000 tons of tailings laden with toxic heavy metals into the Animas River Watershed--the watershed that drains from Colorado into New Mexico, into the San Juan and through the Navajo Nation in Arizona as well.
In 1979, a breached dam at a uranium mill tailings disposal pond near Church Rock in New Mexico on the Navajo Nation sent more than 1,000 tons of solid radioactive waste and 93 million gallons of acidic liquid into the Rio Puerco.
Disastrous blowouts and spills like these are easy to see. They get the media's attention, but the toxins leaking silently out of thousands of abandoned hard rock mines are doing even more damage to our watersheds each and every day.
For decades before the spill, the Gold King mine actually leached water laced with heavy metals and sulfuric acid into Cement Creek, which is a tributary of the Animas. Over the last 10 years, an average of 200 gallons of highly polluted water each and every minute, or more than 100 million gallons per year, flowed out of this mine and into the Animas River via Cement Creek. The Gold King and other abandoned mines in the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado continue to pollute the Animas and the San Juan Watershed as we speak.
Beyond the immediate cleanup of the Gold King spill, it is high time we as a Congress overhaul our abandoned mine cleanup policies to make future disasters less likely and to address the thousands and thousands of abandoned mines that are polluting our watersheds.
The Navajo Nation, which was perhaps most affected by the Gold King mine blowout, has more than 500 abandoned uranium mines. Last month, I met with officials at the Navajo Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation and Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Office and learned about their efforts to clean up these literally hundreds of sites. I visited a large uranium tailings disposal pile in Shiprock--in the town of Shiprock--that sits close to the San Juan River.
If you look at this map, this is the San Juan River. This is the community of Shiprock. We have the high school, the fairgrounds, and the residential area all around a permanent tailings disposal site--
something that is going to require stewardship for literally hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
Melvin Yazzie, a senior reclamation specialist with the department, also took me through an abandoned uranium mine site in the Red Valley Chapter of the Northern Navajo Nation. Carrying a Geiger counter, he showed me the abandoned mine and a nearby house that was constructed using materials contaminated with radioactive materials.
Here we see Mr. Yazzie with his Geiger counter. This is obviously no longer occupied, but it gives us a sense of the impact to members of the Navajo Nation, some of whom literally have their homes built with the spillover, the rock materials that came out of these mines, and live with that irradiation each and every day.
The Navajo Government is doing its best to address this legacy of uranium mining and milling, but they do not have anywhere close to enough resources or funding necessary to clean up the waste from decades and decades of uranium mining.
A large reason why the Navajo Nation lacks adequate resources and why communities all across Indian Country and the entire West are dealing with pollution from abandoned mines and lack resources is that we have not updated our Federal laws on hard rock mining in 143 years.
During the era of manifest destiny, the Federal Government encouraged Americans to settle newly acquired lands in the West by passing laws--
laws like the Timber and Stone Act of 1878 and the Desert Land Act of 1878, laws like the Homestead Act, which my grandparents took advantage of. Some of these laws gave away public lands and resources to private users with no strings attached and often no price tag attached.
The General Mining Act of 1872 came along during this era of unrestrained western expansion. It allowed individuals and companies to claim ownership of minerals in the public domain--minerals owned by us as a nation, such as gold, silver, copper, uranium, molybdenum, and others--simply by locating a mineral source, staking a claim, and paying $5 for an acre of land. Miners did not have to consider environmental impacts or make any plans to clean up the waste, which has created the pollution and contamination we confront today. This law drew thousands of people to the West. My father and my mother's father both made a living working in hard rock mining. But shortsighted policy also left behind a scarred legacy on our lands.
Unlike other 19th-century western settlement laws which have long since been reformed or replaced, the Mining Act of 1872 remains on the books today. While developers of resources such as oil, natural gas, and coal all pay royalties to return fair value to taxpayers for our public resources, hard rock mining companies still mine publicly owned minerals for free--for free--and we still don't have a plan to address a century of pollution from abandoned mines.
We desperately need to bring our mining laws out of the 19th century and into the 20th century. That is why I am joining my colleagues--
Senator Udall of New Mexico, Senator Bennet of Colorado, and Senator Wyden of Oregon--to introduce legislation to reform our outdated and ineffective Federal policy on abandoned mines and on hard rock mining. Our legislation will require that reasonable royalties and fees from hard rock mining be used to create a dedicated funding stream for cleaning up mine waste. A reclamation program will allow States, tribes, and nonprofit organizations to collaborate on projects to restore fish and wildlife habitat affected by past hard rock mining and to repair watersheds that are the very center of our economy in the West, the source of our essential agricultural and drinking water supply for western communities up and down the spine of the Rockies.
This legislation will also reform the permitting process for new mines. Hard rock mining companies will need to protect water and wildlife resources and provide financial assurance that they can actually fund reclamation cleanup and restoration efforts after their mines close so that in the future we don't have this legacy of abandoned hard rock mines.
These are simply, commonsense reforms--reforms that, frankly, Congress should have adopted decades ago.
I appreciate the value of the hard rock mining industry. My own family has benefited from it, and I recognize that the industry continues to provide good-paying jobs in States throughout the West. Some mining companies are already stepping up to help clean up old mining waste sites. I look forward to working with industry stakeholders to find practical ways to bring our policies into the 21st century. We cannot wait for more disasters like the Gold King mine spill for us to act. We cannot continue to do nothing while thousands of abandoned hard rock mines drain toxic metals into our rivers, water supplies, and our drinking water each and every day. We must come together and press forward for pragmatic reforms to our outdated Federal hard rock mining laws.
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By Mr. KAINE (for himself and Mrs. Capito):
S. 2256. A bill to establish programs for health care provider training in Federal health care and medical facilities, to establish Federal co-prescribing guidelines, to establish a grant program with respect to naloxone, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I rise to discuss a bill I am introducing called the Co-prescribing Saves Lives Act.
All across the Nation, and certainly all across my Commonwealth, we are seeing the scourge of prescription drug abuse and a heroin epidemic. These opioids are having major impact in communities everywhere in Virginia, from the coal mines of Appalachia to rural communities in the Shenandoah Valley, to right here in suburban Fairfax County.
I have heard, as have my colleagues, stories from parents who have buried children, from companies that can't find employees who can pass drug tests, and certainly from law enforcement officials, including judges, prosecutors, police officials, and sheriffs, who talk about the dramatic expansion of opioid addiction in this country. The numbers are kind of shocking. When I came to the Senate and started doing tours around the State in the spring of 2013, I really wasn't schooled about this, and I started to hear stories.
Heroin and opioids now account for 25,000 American deaths a year. In Virginia, and in much of the United States, the deaths from opioid overdoses are now exceeding deaths from motor vehicle accidents. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in the United States fatal opioid-related drug overdose rates have quadrupled since 1990 and have never been higher than they are right now.
The question is, How do we address this crisis? Obviously, the answer is there is no single answer. There are a lot of things that have to be done. The Federal Government, State and local communities, faith communities, nonprofit organizations, families, individuals educating themselves--there are a lot of answers, but we have to move forward with steps that we know can reduce overdose deaths.
There is some good news. There are advances that can help us do this, and one of the advances has been the development of a drug called naloxone, which is a medicine that is safe and effective as an antidote to all opioid-related overdoses, including heroin, prescription opioids, and fentanyl. It is a critical tool--it has been proven to be a critical tool since its development in preventing fatal opioid overdoses.
One of the neat things about naloxone is if you come across somebody who is in respiratory failure from an overdose or for some other reason, you can administer naloxone to that individual, and if it is not an overdose, it doesn't have any side effects. It can bring somebody back from the overdose-caused respiratory failure, but it doesn't have any negative side effects if it turns out the person is suffering from something else.
In Virginia there is an organization called Project REVIVE! that trains people to administer naloxone. In one of our communities in Russell County in Southwest Virginia, about a year ago I took the training with a lot of family members and others--just 2 hours of training--to learn how to do this.
Since naloxone has been developed and come into more common usage beginning in the late 1990s, it has saved more than 26,000 people who have been in the throes of an overdose. Naloxone has brought them back to life. I think a lot of professionals--public safety professionals and health care professionals around the country--have seen how effective it is.
One answer to our overdose problem is to co-prescribe naloxone when someone is getting a prescription for an opioid. Opioids have legitimate uses, to manage pain. So when somebody is getting a prescription for that, co-prescribe naloxone so they have the antidote right there in case of an overdose.
There are overdoses from people who are using drugs inappropriately and grabbing somebody else's prescriptions and using opioids, but there are also quite a few overdoses where people who are legitimately prescribed the drug--and they are usually prescribed it for pain--they develop a tolerance to the drug. The package may say to take one pill every 6 hours, but the pain is strong, and after 3 hours they start to feel it again and somebody thinks, OK, the drug has worn off now so I can take another one. So a person can start to take too many because of pain symptoms, and they get into an overdose situation for that reason too. If a person has a naloxone co-prescribed, they can have the antidote right there that they can administer themselves, or someone else can, if they get into an overdose situation.
Many communities, States, national organizations, and medical organizations have supported co-prescribing naloxone to patients who are taking opioids as a critical part of this overdose problem, and we have guidelines. Not everybody who gets an opioid prescription needs naloxone. My wife broke and dislocated her shoulder two Good Fridays ago, and she was prescribed a powerful opioid pain killer. She used about a day and a half's worth of it. It made her sick to her stomach so she quit using it. Not everybody who gets prescribed a prescription opioid needs naloxone, but there are certain warning signs--the medical profession has developed the warning signs--and if you have the warning signs, you should get the co-prescription. Developing these guidelines helps physicians, pharmacists, and other providers determine who is at risk and whom we should be proactive with regarding a co-prescription.
What this bill does is the following: It improves access to naloxone by encouraging physicians to co-prescribe in a couple of circumstances, to co-prescribe this lifesaving drug alongside opioid prescriptions and make it more widely available in Federal health settings.
The Co-prescribing Saves Lives Act would require that the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Defense, and Veterans Affairs would establish physician education co-prescribing guidelines for all Federal health centers, including VA hospitals, DOD hospitals, the Indian Health Service, and federally qualified health centers. So within Federal health care facilities, if there is going to be an opioid prescription to somebody in a high-risk situation, there would be a mandate that naloxone would be prescribed as well.
This bill is based upon work that has already been done in the Federal Government. The VA especially has been a real leader in setting up these co-prescription guidelines. In addition, the bill would provide a program of grants through State departments of health that are interested in doing the co-prescribing guidelines for private physicians not in Federal settings in their States. The funding would allow States to purchase naloxone, to provide copay assistance for uninsured patients, and to fund training for health professionals and patients. Grant funding could also support State innovation and provide for community outreach. The kind of program where I trained last summer, Project REVIVE!, is just a community program trying to battle opioid overdose deaths in the coalfields of Appalachia. That would be the kind of program that if other States wanted to do that, could be eligible for grant funding.
In closing, this is just one solution. Obviously, the real solutions, the important ones, are still around prevention. Why do Americans get prescribed so many more opioids than folks in other nations? What do we do about prescriptions when the quantities that are given are too big and then we end up with a lot of unused opioids that can be taken by young people or stolen and sold? There are a lot of issues we have to solve, but there is this bit of good news; that naloxone saves lives and it is easy to administer. It doesn't have a negative effect. If we can broaden access to naloxone for those who have been prescribed opioids--we have saved lives in the past and we are going to save a lot more.
I will conclude by saying there is a dad in Northern Virginia--a guy by the name of Don Flattery--who has been very public about the loss of his son, Kevin, who was a 26-year-old graduate of UVA in 2014. He talked about his son, the family, the advantages they had, and his educational track record of success at UVA, but then he fell into the just bottomless pit of opioid prescription, opioid addiction, and he perished in 2014. What Don said is that ``I feel we need to keep personalizing what is happening. We are not addressing shocking, obtuse statistics--we are speaking about my son, your daughter, our neighbors
. . . they are real people with real lives, and their losses are the face of the epidemic we must stop.''
That is what this bill intends to play a part in.
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By Ms. CANTWELL (by request):
S. 2257. A bill to prepare the National Park Service for its Centennial in 2016 and for a second century of protecting our national parks' natural, historic, and cultural resources for present and future generations and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce, by request, the Administration's legislative proposal the National Park Service Centennial Act.
The bill authorizes or expands several authorities to assist the National Park Service in managing the over 400 units of the National Park System as it prepares for the centennial anniversary of the agency's establishment in 1916.
While I may not agree with every provision in the administration's proposed bill, I believe it is important for this legislative proposal to be considered in the Senate, which is why I agreed to introduce it by request. At the same time, I will continue to work with other Senators on both sides of the aisle to develop a bipartisan consensus on a national park centennial bill so that the Senate can consider and pass a bill before the National Park Service's centennial anniversary next year.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the administration's letter to the Senate transmitting the legislative proposal and a section-by-section summary of the bill prepared by the Department of the Interior be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
The Secretary of the Interior,
Washington, DC, August 31, 2015.Hon. Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,President of the Senate,Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. President: Enclosed is a draft of a bill entitled, the ``National Park Service Centennial Act.'' Also enclosed is a section-by-section analysis of the bill. We recommend that the bill be introduced, referred to the appropriate committee for consideration, and enacted.
The National Park Service (NPS) will celebrate its centennial in 2016. As we look ahead to the next century, there are a number of key authorities that need to be authorized, clarified, or expanded to allow us to better serve the American people.
Title I, the Centennial Declaration, would recognize that the NPS has responsibility not only for administering the units of the National Park System, but for programs that provide financial and technical assistance to states, communities, and individuals to protect our national heritage. Title I would also direct the Secretary of the Interior to utilize these financial and technical assistance programs to further the conservation and enjoyment of the natural and cultural heritage of the Nation for the benefit and inspiration of the public.
Titles II-IV of the proposed legislation would implement part of the President's Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Budget request to Congress. Title II would establish a National Park Centennial Challenge Fund of up to $100 million for FY 2016, FY 2017, and 2018 to be used for signature projects that will help prepare the national parks for another century of conservation, preservation, and enjoyment.
Title III would provide a mandatory appropriation of $300 million to the NPS Construction Account for FY 2016, FY 2017, and FY 2018, to correct deficiencies in NPS infrastructure and facilities.
Title IV would establish the Centennial Land Management Investment Fund, consisting of a mandatory appropriation equal to $100 million for FY 2016, FY 2017, and FY 2018 to provide funding for the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to jointly establish a competitive program available to the four Federal land management agencies for projects that enhance visitor services and outdoor recreational opportunities, restore lands and waters, repair facilities or trails, or increase energy and water efficiency.
Title V would direct the National Park Foundation (NPF) to establish a special account known as the Second Century Endowment for the NPS, consisting of gifts or bequests provided for this purpose, for projects and activities that further the mission of the NPS.
Title VI would establish the NPS Second Century Fund in the Treasury, which would be funded through additional lodging or camping fees and funds collected from purchases of the lifetime pass for citizens 62 years of age or older.
Title VII would clarify or expand authorities for activities that the NPS are already conducting to allow us to better serve the American people. This includes providing clear authority for the interpretation and education work of the NPS by consolidating a number of disparate authorities currently used, and directing the Secretary to ensure that management of National Park System units and related areas is enhanced by the availability and utilization of a broad program of the highest quality interpretation and education. Title VII would also raise the age limit for participation in the Public Lands Corp from 25 to 30 and extend the direct-hire authority from 120 days to 2 years, consistent with Department of the Interior resource assistant direct-hire authority. And, this title would remove the $3.5 million authorization ceiling for the Volunteers in the Parks to accommodate the funding needed to support this growing program.
Title VIII would establish the NPS Visitor Services Management Authority (VMSA), and authorize the Secretary to establish a program to allow the VMSA to award and manage contracts for the operation of commercial visitor services programs and activities.
Title IX would authorize the Secretary to enter into agreements for the creation of reproductions of a museum object in which the object and its intellectual property rights are under the control of the Secretary. The Administration is developing additional language related to the protection of NPS intellectual property, which we intend to transmit under separate cover.
Title X would redesignate the Secretary of the Interior and the Director of the NPS as ex officio members of the NPF board. It also would authorize appropriations of $25 million for each of FY 2016 through FY 2026 to NPF that would be used to leverage additional non-federal funds to support our national parks.
The effect of this draft bill on the deficit is:
FISCAL YEARS
[dollars in millions]
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2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Total
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45 312 476 386 67 -71 -11 -52 81 -38 -92 1,103
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The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Act of 2010 provides that revenue and direct spending legislation cannot, in the aggregate, increase the on-budget deficit. If such legislation increases the on-budget deficit and that increase is not offset by the end of the congressional session, a sequestration must be ordered. This proposal would increase direct spending, is therefore subject to the Statutory PAYGO Act, and should be considered in conjunction with all other proposals that are subject to the Act.
The Office of Management and Budget has advised that there is no objection to the enactment of the enclosed draft legislation from the standpoint of the Administration's program.
Sincerely,Sally Jewell.
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National Park Service Centennial Act
Section-by-Section Summary
Title I--Centennial Declaration
Recognizes that the National Service has responsibility not only for administering the units of the National Park System, but also for programs that provide financial and technical assistance to states, communities and individuals to protect our national heritage.
Reaffirms and directs the Secretary of the Interior to utilize these financial and technical assistance programs to further the conservation and enjoyment of the natural and cultural heritage of the nation for the benefit and inspiration of the public.
Title II--National Park Centennial Challenge Fund
Establishes in the Treasury a fund to be known as the National Park Centennial Challenge Fund, which will consist of an annual appropriated amount equal to the qualified donations received in the same fiscal year not to exceed $100 million for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2018. The fund will be used for signature projects identified as ones that will help prepare the National Parks for another century of conservation, preservation and enjoyment.
Title III--Second Century Infrastructure Investment
Provides a mandatory appropriation of $300 million to the National Park Service Construction Account for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2018, to correct deficiencies in National Park Service infrastructure and facilities.
Title IV--Centennial Land Management Investment Program
Establishes in the Treasury a fund to be known as the Centennial Land Management Investment Fund, consisting of a mandatory appropriation equal to $100 million for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2018. The Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture are required to establish jointly a competitive program available to the four federal land management agencies for projects that enhance visitor services and outdoor recreational opportunities, restore lands and waters, repair facilities or trails, or increase energy and water efficiency.
Title V--National Park Foundation Endowment
Establishes in the National Park Foundation a special account to be known as the Second Century Endowment for the National Park Service, consisting of gifts or bequests provided for this purpose. The National Park Foundation may use the funds deposited in the Endowment for projects and activities approved by the Secretary that further the mission and purposes of the National Park Service.
Title VI--National Park Service Second Century Fund
Establishes in the Treasury an account to be known as the National Park Service Second Century Fund, with funds remaining available to the Secretary of the Interior until expended and available without further appropriation. Funds may only be used if matched, on a 1-to-1 basis, by nonfederal donations to the National Park Service for specified projects and programs
Funds the account with two sources of funding: (1) fees in addition to the daily cost of lodging or camping within a unit of the national park system; and (2) funds from amounts above $10.00 that are collected from purchases of the lifetime pass for citizens 62 years of age or older (passes would be available at the same cost as the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass).
Title VII--National Park Next Generation Stewards
NPS Interpretation and Education Authority
Provides clear authority for the interpretation and education work of the National Park Service by consolidating a number of disparate authorities currently used.
Directs the Secretary of the Interior to ensure that management of National Park System units and related areas is enhanced by the availability and utilization of a broad program of the highest quality interpretation and education.
Public Lands Corps Amendments
Raises the age limit for participation in the Public Lands Corps from 25 to 30. This section also would provide non-competitive hiring status to a former Public Lands Corps member from the current 120 days after the member's service is completed to a period of up to two years.
Volunteers in Parks
Removes the $3.5 million authorization ceiling for the Volunteers in the Parks to accommodate the funding needed to support this growing program.
Title VIII--National Park Service Visitor Service Management Program
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to establish the National Park Service Visitor Services Management Authority
(VMSA) to award and manage contracts for the operation of commercial visitor services programs and activities.
Authorizes the establishment of a VSMA operating board, a director of the VSMA, and the hiring of staff.
Authorizes the use of funds collected by the VSMA from the contracts awarded to be available for expenditure by the VSMA in furtherance of the purposes of the law.
Title IX--Intellectual Property
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to enter into agreements for the creation of reproductions of a museum object in which the object and its intellectual property rights are under the control of the Secretary. The agreements may include provisions for the collection of fees or royalties, which can be retained and used by the park or repository where the museum object is held.
Title X--National Park Foundation
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior and the Director of the National Park Service as ex officio members of the National Park Foundation board.
Authorizes appropriations of $25 million for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2026 to National Park Foundation, and prohibits the use of these finds for administrative expenses of the Foundation.
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