S.Amdt. 3413

SA 3413. Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Tester, Mr. Cochran,
and Ms. Collins) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him
to the bill S. 524, to authorize the Attorney General to award grants
to address the national epidemics of prescription opioid abuse and
heroin use; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of title I of the bill, add the following:

SEC. 104. ENHANCING BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH ON PAIN TO
DISCOVER THERAPIES, INCLUDING ALTERNATIVES TO
OPIOIDS, FOR EFFECTIVE PAIN MANAGEMENT.

(a) In General.--Out of any money appropriated to the
National Institutes of Health (referred to in this section as
the ``NIH'') not otherwise obligated, the Director of the NIH
may intensify and coordinate fundamental, translational, and
clinical research of the NIH with respect to--
(1) the understanding of pain;
(2) the discovery and development of therapies for chronic
pain; and
(3) the development of alternatives to opioids for
effective pain treatments.
(b) Priority and Direction.--The prioritization and
direction of the Federally funded portfolio of pain research
studies shall consider recommendations made by the
Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee in concert
with the Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task
Force, and in accordance with the National Pain Strategy, the
Federal Pain Research Strategy, and the NIH-Wide Strategic
Plan for Fiscal Years 2016-2020, the latter which calls for
the relative burdens of individual diseases and medical
disorders to be regarded as crucial considerations in
balancing the priorities of the Federal research portfolio.
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