HOST Act of 2018

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5774) to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop guidance on pain management and opioid use disorder prevention for hospitals receiving payment under part A of the Medicare program, provide for opioid quality measures development, and provide for a technical expert panel on reducing surgical setting opioid use and data collection on perioperative opioid use, and for other purposes, 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 on H.R. 5744, currently under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5774, the Combating Opioid Abuse for Care in Hospitals Act of 2018, or COACH Act. We have learned that, across the continuum of care, screening for opioid abuse disorder and education for patients and providers is necessary to help eradicate this epidemic.

This legislation includes efforts to develop quality measures related to the treatment of individuals with opioid use disorder, to improve and publicize guidance on opioid prescribing, and to develop expert recommendations on reducing the use of opioids in the surgical setting. These provisions, championed by Representatives Paulsen, Danny Davis, Higgins, Buchanan, Lamb, and Jason Smith, will help improve education for providers and patients to better ensure prevention and care of individuals with opioid use disorder.

The COACH Act also includes H.R. 5699, the Hospital Opioid Solutions Toolkit, which Representative Curbelo introduced with Congresswoman Kuster. The toolkit, to be made available by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, will contain resources that hospitals can use to ensure the best practices are being utilized for educating patients and providers about treatment for pain management, including the development of a notification template for hospital staff to better inform patients prescribed opioids of potential risks.

I am thankful for all the hard work on this legislation by Members of both sides of the aisle, especially Representatives Curbelo, DelBene, Budd, and Kuster.

I would also like to thank Chairman Brady for his leadership, as well as the House Committee on Ways and Means' staff for their efforts.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 5774, the Combating Opioid Abuse for Care in Hospitals Act of 2018. This is an issue that affects every congressional district. It is imperative that we find solutions that get people into treatment and prevent opioid abuse on the front end.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives,

Committee on Ways and Means,

Washington, DC, June 8, 2018.

Hon. Greg Walden,

Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce,

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Walden: I write to you regarding several

opioid bills the Committee on Ways and Means ordered

favorably reported to address the opioid epidemic. The

following bills were also referred to the Committee on Energy

and Commerce.

I ask that the Committee on Energy and Commerce waive

formal consideration of the following bills so that they may

proceed expeditiously to the House Floor:

H.R. 5774, Combatting Opioid Abuse for Care in Hospitals

(COACH) Act;

H.R. 5775, Providing Reliable Options for Patients and

Educations Resources (PROPER) Act;

H.R. 5776, Medicare and Opioid Safe Treatment (MOST) Act;

H.R. 5773, Preventing Addition for Susceptible Seniors

(PASS) Act;

H.R. 5676, Stop Excessive Narcotics in our Retirement

(SENIOR) Communities Protection Act; and

H.R. 5723, Expanding Oversight of Opioid Prescribing and

Payment Act.

I acknowledge that by waiving formal consideration of the

bills, the Committee on Energy and Commerce is in no way

waiving its jurisdiction over the subject matter contained in

those provisions of the bills that fall within your Rule X

jurisdiction. I would support your effort to seek appointment

of an appropriate number of conferees on any House-Senate

conference involving this legislation.

I will include a copy of our letters in the Congressional

Record during consideration of this legislation on the House

floor.

Sincerely,

Kevin Brady,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to remind my colleagues why it is so important that we continue working to solve this crisis.

Thousands of lives have already been lost because of opioid-related drug overdoses. Tragically, Indiana has been hit especially hard by this crisis. This is a public health emergency, and our response must be comprehensive and swift.

I am proud of the COACH Act, bipartisan legislation that would help prevent opioid misuse and reduced dependence on opioids for pain management.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague from California for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 1719, the John Muir National Historic Site Expansion Act. This bipartisan legislation will expand the Martinez, California, historic site in my district that celebrates the life and legacy of John Muir.

Muir was a lifelong conservationist, a leading advocate of the National Park Service, and a cofounder of the Sierra Club. He worked to establish and protect national parks, including Yosemite, Sequoia, Grand Canyon, and Mount Rainier.

The John Muir National Historic Site, which includes the home where he lived, covers 330 acres of Contra Costa County where Muir championed the revolutionary idea that wild spaces should be set aside for all to enjoy.

This bill would make it possible for the National Park Service to accept a donation of 44 acres of land from the John Muir Land Trust, improving access to the park and its scenic trails, including those on Mount Wanda, named after Muir's eldest daughter.

The trail systems are accessible for hikers, bikers, and equestrians, including critical connections to the 550-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail and to nearby protected lands along the Franklin Ridge corridor.

As John Muir once said, ``everybody needs beauty, as well as bread, places to play in . . . where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank my predecessor, Congressman George Miller, who championed this bill. I also thank the Natural Resources Committee chair, Chairman Bishop; Ranking Member Grijalva; the subcommittee chairman, Mr. McClintock from California; and subcommittee ranking member, Ms. Hanabusa for their leadership in bringing H.R. 1719 to the floor today.

I am grateful for the support of 21 of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle who cosponsored this legislation, and to Senator Kamala Harris for leading the bill's counterpart in the U.S. Senate.

I also thank the John Muir Land Trust for its hard work and dedication preserving and protecting this valuable parkland and shoreline in Contra Costa County for future generations.

This legislation puts a fitting emphasis on the National Park Service's centennial celebrations, helping to preserve the trails and lands that surround the longtime home of the man known as the ``father'' of the U.S. National Park Service.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bipartisan legislation, the John Muir National Historic Site Expansion Act.

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

Mr. Speaker, I offer my support for H.R. 5774, the COACH Act, which was introduced by Congress Members DelBene and Curbelo.

This bill focuses specifically on provider education and would require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to develop a toolkit that provides best practices to hospitals for reducing opioid use.

Every year, approximately 51 million Americans undergo inpatient surgery each year, and 80 percent of those patients receive opioids to treat postsurgical pain after a low-risk surgery. This is an alarming number, as studies have found that an opioid prescription at discharge is an independent risk factor for chronic opioid use. In fact, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, approximately 10 percent of patients who are prescribed opioids for long-term use develop an opioid use disorder.

This was the case with my constituent Ryan Hampton, who was a promising young college student when he broke his knee in a hiking accident and received an opioid prescription at discharge. Ryan fell hard into addiction, eventually turning to heroin and becoming homeless.

While Ryan has beaten the odds and is now a national advocate for those in recovery from addiction, many are not so lucky. So it is with people like Ryan in mind that I support this bill today.

We should be giving our providers every tool possible to help them battle the opioid crisis and, hopefully, change behavior in such a way as to limit unnecessary opioid prescriptions.

In my district, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Substance Abuse Prevention and Control program has worked with hospitals, plans, cities and providers to develop a 5-year strategic plan to address the opioid crisis in our country.

We know that not every hospital has the resources or ability to develop such a plan. By providing a centralized toolkit available to all hospitals, under-resourced providers will have the best access to best practices that have helped communities combat the opioid epidemic.

With so many individuals first experiencing opioids via a hospital procedure, it is critical that we give our providers every resource they need to make the best medical decisions for their patients while reducing the number of opioid prescriptions overall.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Committee on Natural Resources, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1719, the ``John Muir National Historic Site Expansion Act,'' authorizing the Department of the Interior to acquire an additional 44 acres of land to expand the John Muir National Historic Site, which currently stretches across 330 acres in the East Bay of San Francisco and includes the home where legendary naturalist John Muir lived until he died in 1914.

The John Muir National Historic Site, established by Congress in 1964, is located in Martinez, California and honor one of the nation's foremost conservationists, whom historians refer to as the ``Father of the National Park Service.''

The historic site preserves the 14-room Italianate Victorian mansion where the naturalist and writer John Muir lived, as well as a

nearby 325 acre tract of native oak woodlands and grasslands historically owned by the Muir family.

H.R. 1719 authorizes the Department of the Interior to acquire by donation approximately 44 acres to expand the boundary of John Muir National Historic Site.

The acreage to be acquired is directly continuous with Mount Wanda and will allow for better public access to trails.

In the 114th Congress, H.R. 1289, a bill identical to H.R. 1719, passed the House by voice vote.

Additionally, a similar bill, H.R. 5699, was introduced in the 113th Congress by former Congressman George Miller, and passed the House by a vote of 361-39.

Companion legislation, S. 729, has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Kamala Harris of California.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1719 is a fitting tribute to one of America's greatest citizen activists, the co-founder of the Sierra Club, and a central actor in the successful effort to establish Yosemite National Park.

I urge all Members to join me in voting for H.R. 1719.

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1719 authorizes the National Park Service to expand the boundary of the John Muir National Historic Site and acquire 44 acres of land from the Muir Heritage Land Trust. The donation will expand the site and help carry on Muir's important legacy of conservation and environmental stewardship.

John Muir is one of our Nation's most respected and revered ecologists. His writings have inspired millions, and his activism and advocacy led to the establishment of some of our first and most iconic national parks.

From the moment he set foot in Yosemite Valley, John Muir was consumed with its natural wonder and beauty. He became Yosemite's most vocal champion, but he didn't spend his whole life there.

From 1890 until his death in 1914, Muir lived on a farm not far from San Francisco. It was from this corner of the bay area that Muir cofounded the Sierra Club and helped lay the groundwork for a century of conservation.

John Muir's tireless advocacy led to the creation of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks, and his spirit and enduring legacy led to the protection of much more.

Passage of H.R. 1719 will contribute to John Muir's legacy and it will help to protect and conserve the place where he found solace and inspiration in his later years.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the bill's sponsor, Representative DeSaulnier from California, and I urge swift passage of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. DeSaulnier).

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