A bill to amend the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010 to clarify the use of amounts in the WMAT Settlement Fund.

Mr. President, I rise with my colleagues, Senators Grassley, Capito, and Durbin to introduce the Using Data to Prevent Opioid Diversion Act.

This legislation provides additional tools to drug manufacturers and distributors to better enable them to determine when orders of opioids are suspicious.

It also provides additional tools for law enforcement to hold manufacturers and distributors who fail to identify, report, and stop suspicious orders of opioids accountable.

Between 2006 and 2016, nearly 21 million opioids were distributed to two pharmacies in Williamson, West Virginia, which has a population of nearly 3,000. Even worse, between 2007 and 2008, nearly 9 million pills were distributed to a single pharmacy in Kermit, West Virginia, which has a population of only 392.

In total, between 2007 and 2012, 780 million oxycodone and hydrocodone pills--two powerful opioids--were distributed to pharmacies throughout West Virginia. These two drugs contributed to 1,700 drug overdose deaths in the state.

All of this happened despite the fact that opioid manufacturers and distributors are required to detect and disclose suspicious orders of opioids to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). They are also required to keep complete and accurate records relating to the sale, delivery, or disposal of opioids through the Automated Reports and Consolidated Ordering System, often referred to as ARCOS.

While required by law to provide this information, once obtained, the DEA is not required to disclose to opioid manufacturers and distributors the total number of distributors serving a single pharmacy or practitioner, or the total quantity and type of opioids being distributed.

This creates a blind spot because there is no awareness of how many drugs are entering a community. This lack of information may be part of the reason that millions of opioids were able to be delivered to small mom and pop pharmacies in West Virginia.

Our bill corrects this problem by requiring the DEA to provide to opioid manufacturers and distributors anonymized information related to the number of distributors serving a single pharmacy or practitioner, and the quantity and type of opioids being delivered to each.

This information, coupled with the algorithms that these companies already use in their efforts to determine the legitimacy of opioid orders, will help manufacturers and distributors better prevent these substances from being diverted to someone other than the intended recipient who has a lawful prescription.

Our bill also strengthens accountability by establishing civil and criminal fines for drug manufacturers and distributors who fail to consider ARCOS data when determining whether an order for opioids is suspicious. Additionally, it increases existing civil fines for drug manufacturers and distributors who fail to report suspicious orders and keep accurate records ten-fold, from $10,000 to $100,000. It also doubles existing criminal fines from $250,000 to $500,000.

In addition to opioid manufacturers and distributors, accurate and timely data related to the manufacture and distribution of opioids can also assist state officials in stopping suspicious orders.

That is why our bill requires the United States Attorney General to share standardized reports with state officials, including regulatory, licensing, attorneys general, and law enforcement agencies, related to the distribution patterns collected by the ARCOS database on a semi- annual basis.

Finally, our bill requires the Department of Justice to provide an annual report to Congress on how it is using ARCOS data to identify and stop suspicious activity related to opioids.

Opioid manufacturers and distributors are on the front lines and have an important role to play in combatting the opioid crisis.

In 2016, we lost 64,000 individuals to drug overdose deaths in our country. More than 42,000 of these were opioid related.

Prevention is critical to reducing these deaths.

The Using Data to Prevent Opioid Diversion Act will help ensure that we never have another situation in which 9 million pills are delivered to a single pharmacy in a town that has a population of less than 400 people. It will provide drug manufacturers and distributors with the tools they need to better prevent the distribution of opioids to bad actors, and will provide law enforcement with the authority to hold them accountable for failure to do so.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and look forward to its passage.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2850) to amend the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010 to clarify the use of amounts in the WMAT Settlement Fund.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

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

The Claims Resolution Act of 2010 included four Indian water rights settlements. Title III of the act resolved the White Mountain Apache Tribes' water-related claims against the United States, the State of Arizona, and a number of other State and non-Federal parties.

In consideration for the Tribe's waiving its water-related claims against the United States and other parties, the act authorized funding for the construction of the White Mountain Apache rural water system to bring safe and reliable drinking water to the Tribe and to its members. Specifically, the rural water system will consist of a dam and reservoir, a treatment plant, and 55 miles of pipeline to serve the community.

The act also established the creation of the White Mountain Apache Tribal settlement fund that can be used to cover any cost overruns for the system and water-related economic development projects. The rural water system will serve a number of water-related activities that fit squarely with the settlement fund's authorized purposes.

To ensure the completion of the Tribe's rural water system, S. 2850 makes a technical amendment to the Claims Resolution Act to clarify that the Tribe may utilize funding from the settlement fund for planning, design, and conduction activities related to construction of the rural water system.

The bill also clarifies the 99-year lease authority for the Pueblo of Santa Clara and the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo in New Mexico. The Indian Long-Term Leasing Act allows Indians to lease their lands subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior for public, religious, educational, recreational, residential, or business purposes of up to 25 years. Congress has amended the ILTLA more than 40 times to adjust the terms and conditions of Indian land leases, including the authorization of 99-year leases for lands held in trust for the Pueblo Santa Clara and the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo of New Mexico.

S. 2850 clarifies that this 99-year lease authority also extends to lands in restricted deed status. These are lands held by a Tribe or individual Indians subject to a limitation on alienation or taxation.

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

Mr. Speaker, as you have heard, this bill irons out a lot of problems with the settlement and clears the way for hopefully a very productive project.

Mr. Speaker, I urge its adoption, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. O'Halleran).

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

Mr. Speaker, this bill makes a small change to the previously approved water rights settlement in order to allow the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona to complete work on a rural water system.

Specifically, the bill clarifies that funding Congress has already authorized for water-related economic development projects can be used to cover possible construction cost overruns associated with the Tribe's main water project, which will provide drinking water supplies for Tribal members once completed.

In addition, section 2 of the bill clarifies that the Pueblos of Santa Clara and Ohkay Owingeh in New Mexico are authorized to lease all of their Tribal lands for up to 99 years. Currently, the Pueblos have the option to enter into 99-year leases only on their trust lands, as this option is not extended to their restricted fee lands.

Passage of this provision will correct that discrepancy, allowing the Pueblos the same flexibility in leasing terms that other Tribes already possess.

I would like to thank our New Mexico colleagues, Senator Tom Udall and Congressman Ben Ray Lujan, for advocating for this issue and for getting this provision included in the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill which is sponsored by Senator Jeff Flake.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, so I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 2850 and to urge passage of this amendment to the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010.

The White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010 resolved the Tribe's water claims against the Federal and State governments, as well as other parties and States. This act also authorized the White Mountain Rural Water System all while being budget neutral.

This bill is simply a straightforward, technical amendment which is necessary to clarify that authorization authority exists for the Tribe to use the settlement fund for water-related economic development projects. The Tribe needs this clarification in order to complete the construction of its rural water system, which is long overdue and a critical project for the community.

I thank Senator Flake, whose staff has worked closely with me and my office on this issue for the past year and a half. I also thank the chairman and ranking member for supporting this bill.

Given the importance of the water system and the implementation of the settlement legislation to the White Mountain Apache Tribe, I urge the swift passage of this bill and look forward to working together with all affected stakeholders on its implementation.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 416, S. 2850.

I ask unanimous consent that the Flake amendment at the desk be agreed to, that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.