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In Case You Missed It – Monday afternoon, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), who serves as the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Health, delivered the following remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives in favor of his bill which passed Tuesday afternoon, H.R. 4531, the Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization (SUPPORT) Act. 

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“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in strong support of my bill, H.R. 4531, the Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act.

Over the past two years, we have lost over 200,000 Americans to drug overdoses and poisonings. This is a step in the wrong direction, as the United States saw decreases in year-over-year drug overdoses between 2018 and 2019.

Tragically, our best efforts to drive down these overdose rates were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which left millions of Americans isolated and shuttered from support systems that helped those struggling with substance use disorder stay on track.

These statistics show the policies and programs we enacted in 2018 were working prior to the pandemic.

But since 2018, we’ve seen the horrors that illicit fentanyl and other illicit substances, like Xylazine, have caused our local communities.

In the past three years, over 70% of all drug overdoses in my home of Kentucky have been the direct result of poisonings from fentanyl or fentanyl related substances. 

Earlier this year, I convened an Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee field hearing in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where we heard firsthand accounts from law enforcement and treatment providers about the harsh realities of the crisis.

We heard the heart wrenching testimony from Michael Straley, who lost his daughter, Leah, a few years ago to fentanyl poisoning, underscoring the daily stresses of families with loved ones battling substance use disorder.

That work has helped inform the bill before us today.

We are reauthorizing important programs, such as state-level prescription drug monitoring programs, residential treatment for pregnant and postpartum women, and other prevention, treatment, and recovery services.

We’re also placing Xylazine into Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, while maintaining access for veterinarians and ranchers to use in animals. Xylazine is, an emerging lethal street drug that is a unique threat as it is not an opioid, because it does not respond to FDA-approved opioid reversal medications.

That said, H.R. 4531 provides even greater access for treatment providers to use federal funds to purchase over-the-counter opioid overdose reversal medications, which we know have helped reduce opioid overdose rates in communities across the country.

We’re also building on important steps we took in 2018 to help those that rely on the Medicaid program access care. 

We’re permanently requiring Medicaid programs to provide life-saving medication-assisted-treatment.

We’re permanently codifying the flexibility for states to waive outdated policies that prevent vulnerable individuals from seeking comprehensive wrap-around and substance use disorder care.

We are also are assisting foster care youth, by ensuring they do not lose their Medicaid services if they are receiving the behavioral care they need at qualified-residential treatment programs.

Finally, the legislation before us today promotes access to long-term recovery and support services, like workforce training for individuals in recovery.”

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