To direct the Secretary of the Interior to transfer certain properties to the District of Columbia.

I want to thank the manager of the bill, Chairman Pallone; and thank the author and, if you will, visionary of the bill, Mr. Stupak; and Mr. Whitfield for their leadership.

I rise today because this is an interesting and important bit of legislation as relates to physicians under the Energy and Commerce and HHS. It's important because it helps to track or determine who might be an addict, and as well to engage the medical profession in helping to end or to stem the tide of prescription drug abuse.

Interestingly enough, in this legislation there are privacy provisions, which I want to applaud and to say to all those who may be listening, this is a lifeline to stop the prescription drug abuse through legitimate medical resources and professionals, and as well for those who are legitimately ill, prescription drugs are prescribed and they find themselves addicted.

When I left Texas in the last 24 hours, interestingly there was another effort going forward, Mr. Pallone, that had to do with our Drug Enforcement Agency, where about 10 or so sites were being set up to encourage people to give back old or aged drugs in their drug cabinets, if you will, or in their prescription cabinets, or in their medical cabinets at home. And these sites were in schools and community buildings.

As I read of this project, which obviously this was a proud effort, and I want to congratulate law enforcement, I had a concern. The concern was privacy, whether or not this was coordinated to ensure that if you gave a bottle of prescription drugs that still in fact was filled, whether or not there was a privacy procedure of either removing those labels, or maybe they expected you to remove those labels, and then also what would be the ultimate results. If they saw someone returning five bottles of such and such that happened to be an addictive drug and their names were on it, what kind of protection, or what kind of treatment, or what kind of referral would these individuals receive? I think that's an important point.

That is why I rise today on this legislation, and I look forward to reviewing this legislation, even as it passes, to assess whether or not our friends in the legal end of it, the DEA in particular, and I would hope maybe that the representatives from the DEA would meet with me in my office about their approach to ensure that it has the requirements and the restraints that we see in this present legislation. I want to congratulate the authors of this legislation because of that very fact.

I would just like to add one other point, if I could, as I close on my remarks. Having not been here for the legislation to deal with H.R. 5494, which is Ms. Norton's legislation, which talks about the National Park Service and Secretary of the Interior transferring certain properties to the District of Columbia, it may not be equal, but I do want to make note that the GSA is holding property that the Texas Military History Museum has been paying rent on or paying taxes on because of their belief it belongs to them, and because the GSA had basically lost the property or had forgotten it existed. I look forward to them following at least the parameters of this legislation, where they can transfer those assets to a very important and distinctive group, the Texas Military Museum Association, that has now made this a military museum for Texans and for America. This was certainly appropriate to do so.

Finally, I want to make sure that I add my support to legislation, if it's coming to the floor, dealing with Rosa's Law, that is a Senate bill. And I will add supporting statements to the record.

But in conclusion, I think that this legislation, H.R. 5710, is a model for what can be an important life saver in America, and that is to get people to be weaned off of addictive drugs, but have a way of processing and determining where those drugs are, whether there is an addicted person, and how they can secure care.

So I ask my colleagues to support H.R. 5710, and I look forward to the Drug Enforcement Agency working with my office on the kind of restraints that are hopefully helpful when they have these mass campaigns for people to drop off old prescriptions and to make sure that they follow suit and do the right thing for the people of this country.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5710) to amend and reauthorize the controlled substance monitoring program under section 399O of the Public Health Service Act, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5710, the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Reauthorization Act, or as I call it, NASPER.

State prescription drug monitoring programs track prescriptions so that law enforcement officials can address and prevent diversion, and so prescribers and public health authorities can prevent and respond to the potentially devastating effects of prescription drug abuse.

The NASPER program, as it's known, was first authorized in 2005 and allows the Secretary to make grants to support these State programs, and it also sets standards for privacy and interoperability. H.R. 5710 reauthorizes the NASPER program, enhances evaluation and reporting, and makes other updates to the program.

An amendment agreed to in our subcommittee changed the authorization period from 5 to 3 years so the next reauthorization can take into account the results of an agency evaluation of the program scheduled to be completed in 2012. The amendment also clarified language regarding granting preference in certain other SAMSA programs to States that have prescription drug monitoring programs.

I would like to thank Mr. Whitfield for his leadership on this issue as well as Mr. Stupak--both of them have been involved with the NASPER bill for some time, including the original authorization--and also our ranking members, Shimkus and Barton.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 5710.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak), who, as I said, has been involved with this NASPER legislation from the beginning.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Texas, Ms. Sheila Jackson Lee.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources, Nick Rahall, and sucommittee chair Raul Grijalva for their delightful work in moving this important bill to the House floor. H.R. 5494 will transfer ownership of certain properties in the District from the National Park Service (NPS) to the District of Columbia. NPS supports the transfer of these small, scattered properties. These isolated parcels are of no use to NPS, but can be useful for overall livability in the city.

The District of Columbia is land-poor because the federal government owns much of the land here, and certainly the best located land. In fact, these transfers achieve a balance between the city and NPS, by addressing the city's growing need for land in a manner consistent with NPS's mission to protect parkland. These small parcels are scattered throughout the city and include a portion of the Marie H. Reed Community Learning Center, the old Meyer Elementary School site, the Shaw Junior High School recreational fields, the Southwest Library site, and a small traffic island at the intersection of North Capitol Street and Florida Avenue. The transfer of these small parcels will allow the District to develop recreational fields, encourage economic development and improve livability in the District of Columbia.

As we begin to emerge from the Great Recession, the District needs all available tools and resources to help promote economic recovery. For years, the District has managed and maintained these properties, which have no national, regional or historical significance, and are of no interest to the federal government. My bill simply allows the District to better utilize the limited land here for the benefit of the city and its residents.

I ask my colleagues to pass this non-partisan, non-controversial land transfer bill.

I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation. Five years ago, Congress passed the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act, or NASPER, into law, making it the only statutory authorized program to assist States in combating prescription drug abuse of controlled substances through prescription drug monitoring programs.

Congress realized that more needed to be done to aid States to set up or improve symptoms that enable authorities to identify prescription drug abusers as well as the problem doctors who betray the high ethical standards of their profession by over or incorrectly prescribing prescription drugs.

Five years ago, NASPER was passed with bipartisan support after many years of hard work by many members of our committee and Members on both sides of the aisle.

Today, I'm honored to again work with my colleagues, Mr. Whitfield, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Shimkus, to reauthorize this important public health program.

Minor but important changes have been made to the program, including allowing the use of grants to help States maintain their existing programs. This will allow cash-strapped States to continue to operate their monitoring programs under difficult economic times. The legislation will also allow territories to be eligible for grants.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5494) to direct the Director of the National Park Service and the Secretary of the Interior to transfer certain properties to the District of Columbia, as amended.

I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5494 was introduced by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia in June 2010. The bill would direct the Secretary of the Interior to transfer title to six small Federal properties to the District of Columbia.

This land transfer will allow the city government to better maintain these properties as well as plan for their future development.

Mr. Speaker, Congresswoman Norton is a tireless advocate for the people of the District and should be commended for her work on this bill. I congratulate her on her efforts and urge the House to support this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, the sponsor of H.R. 5494, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, is chairing a committee meeting at this time, so she is unable to be on the floor. Therefore under general leave, I am submitting the statement of Congresswoman Norton for the Record.

I yield back the balance of my time.