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Senate Continues Bipartisan Efforts to Address the Opioid Epidemic, Help Families Impacted by Drug Abuse

February 25, 2016

‘There are steps we can take today to help families impacted by drug abuse — and keep more families from ever going through it to begin with. That’s why I’m proud to join my colleague, the Senior Senator from Iowa, in introducing the Protecting Families Affected by Substance Abuse Act, which would reauthorize grants to help children in foster care, or at risk of being placed there, because of their parent’s drug habits…there are a number of other important pieces of related legislation here in the Senate.’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor today regarding the efforts in the Senate to address the nation’s opioid epidemic and its impact on Kentucky:

“By now, many know the numbers. Overdose deaths in Kentucky were responsible for more than 1,000 deaths in 2014 alone. This is a devastatingly high number, among the highest rates in the nation. But it’s even more heartbreaking when you consider the real-world toll substance abuse can take on friends and family members — and their children.

“The trickle-down effects of opioid and heroin abuse are palpable and widespread, lasting and cyclical.

“But there are steps we can take today to help families impacted by drug abuse — and keep more families from ever going through it to begin with. That’s why I’m proud to join my colleague, the Senior Senator from Iowa, in introducing the Protecting Families Affected by Substance Abuse Act, which would reauthorize grants to help children in foster care, or at risk of being placed there, because of their parent’s drug habits.       

“Here’s what one Kentucky group said about their experience with these grants:

The Regional Partnership Grants have been integral to the implementation of Kentucky-START, which has helped more than 800 Kentucky families and more than 1,600 Kentucky children. It’s programs like these, which focus on better outcomes for children and safely reuniting families, that are helping combat the negative effects of the opioid, heroin, and other drug epidemics facing the Commonwealth.

“I’m also proud of the work that’s being done in the Commonwealth to address the opioid crisis, particularly in rural communities.

“For instance, the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program (HIDTA) was recently recognized by Director Botticelli and the Office of National Drug Control Policy as the top program of its type for 2015. I’d like to recognize all they’ve done in the fight against drug trafficking and illegal drug use. I have no doubt that without their efforts, and those of other leaders in the Commonwealth, the toll of the epidemic would be much greater than it already is.

“So whether it’s by supporting the efforts of local HIDTAs or working with the Senior Senator from Iowa and me to pass our legislation to reauthorize grants for local communities, there are many opportunities for Senators to help ensure we respond to the drug epidemic wreaking havoc on our communities at home.

“For example, there are a number of other important pieces of related legislation here in the Senate.

“This week, Senators discussed one of those bills in the Finance Committee. It would allow Medicare Advantage and Part D plans to implement a prescription drug abuse prevention tool similar to what is already available and used in Kentucky in the Medicaid program and private plans. I was proud to join the Junior Senator from Pennsylvania as a cosponsor of that bill as well.

“And of course, there is the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA). The Junior Senators from Ohio and New Hampshire have been leading the charge on that effort, and I’d like to thank the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and the Chairman of the HELP Committee for working together to have this bill reported out of Judiciary by voice vote.

“In the coming days, we will be working to move that important bipartisan bill forward. It has garnered a great deal of support from both sides because of its provisions to expand prevention and educational efforts, strengthen prescription-drug monitoring programs, improve treatment programs, and give law enforcement more of the tools it needs to address the epidemic.

“With bipartisan support we can pass legislation like CARA and the others I’ve discussed today, in order to promote healthier families and a healthier country.

“In the meantime, we took a step forward yesterday by confirming the new FDA Commissioner, Dr. Robert Califf.

“In a recent meeting with Dr. Califf, I expressed my concerns regarding the epidemic at hand and the need for more action by the FDA. I was encouraged by Dr. Califf’s recognition that the opioid epidemic is a serious problem and the FDA must do a better job of addressing it.

“Dr. Califf received broad bipartisan support yesterday in this Chamber, and we look forward to working with him. I will continue to hold him accountable to lead the FDA in a new direction to help prevent dependence and abuse of prescription opioids.”

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McConnell Meets with Kentucky Family Adopting Children from the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Shelbyville family is one of 159 families to receive good news regarding their adopted children

February 24, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell met today with Glen and Renee Dreher of Shelbyville, Kentucky in his office in the U.S. Capitol. The meeting occurred just days after they learned their two adopted children have been approved to leave the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and head to their new home in the U.S. The Dreher children are two of the 159 children who were adopted by American families that were recently approved to receive exit permits. The Dreher’s were in Washington, DC, today, along with dozens of other adoptive parents, advocating for adopted children to be released from the DRC. Despite the good news this recent list brought, there are still believed to be anywhere from 100-250 American adoptive families whose children did not make the most recent list.

The Dreher’s have been unable to bring their two children home due to the ongoing suspensions of exit permits imposed by the DRC government. Senator McConnell has worked over the years to assist more than 20 Kentucky families, including the Dreher’s, who have successfully adopted children from the DRC. However, due to the DRC government’s years-long suspension of exit permits, several of these families have been unable to bring their adopted children home to the United States.

Last year, Congress passed and the President signed into law a bill Senator McConnell co-sponsored, the Adoptive Family Relief Act, which provided meaningful financial relief by granting the State Department authority to waive the fees for multiple visa renewals in these and other extraordinary adoption circumstances. The legislation builds on Senator McConnell’s efforts on the adoption issue, including his amendment to last year’s budget resolution to encourage a solution to the situation, numerous bipartisan congressional letters sent to Congolese officials, and conversations and meetings with Secretary of State John Kerry and the DRC Ambassador on the issue.

“I enjoyed meeting with the Dreher family from Shelbyville today and seeing the joy on their faces as they talked about how happy they are that their children have been approved to come home from the DRC,” Senator McConnell said. “However, our work is not done until the children are safely home. I have been grateful to work with this and other Kentucky families and will continue to do all I can to help unify these children with their adoptive parents.”

“This adoption process has been a challenging experience for us and many other Kentucky families. We are encouraged by the recent news that the DRC has approved 159 cases, and are thankful that we are one of those cases, but hope that the DRC follows through with this commitment. Throughout this process, we have been grateful for Senator McConnell’s efforts to help bring our children home from the DRC, and we look forward to the day when we are finally united with them,” the Dreher’s said. “We will continue to work until all the remaining legally adopted children are allowed to leave to come home to their forever families.”



Senator McConnell meets with the Dreher family of Shelbyville, Kentucky, in his office in the U.S. Capitol. (L-R) Glenn, Sean and Renee Dreher.

Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony Honoring the Selma Foot Soldiers

February 24, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Leaders of the U.S. House and Senate held a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony today honoring the Selma Foot Soldiers of the 1965 Voting Rights Marches. The following are U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s remarks delivered during the ceremony, which took place in Emancipation Hall, in the U.S. Capitol:

“From time to time we come together in retrospect, on the historic grounds of the Capitol, to show continuing gratitude to individuals whose actions helped shape our nation.

“We again do so now. We gather in honor of brave men and women whose historical impact is still felt these many years later.

“When the Selma Foot Soldiers embarked on their journey, they did so without the promise of valor.

“Victory was never assured, or even likely. But they marched on anyway.

“Through fogs of gas. Through hails of clubs. Through torrents of hose and wire. They marched on. First across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and then, with Dr. King, right back again.

“As they reached the end, halted once more by troops and police, Dr. King led a prayer of solidarity.

“Marchers knelt with him in the street, in the shadow of a human barrier before them.

“King called this moment, quote, ‘the greatest demonstration for freedom that we’ve ever had in the South.’

“It takes more than tear gas to extinguish an idea.

“Flesh can burn, ribs can break, and skulls can even be fractured, but it takes something more than a club or a hose to break a spirit.

“Congressman John Lewis understands this better than many. We’re glad he’s with us today.

“He knows that marchers’ spirits weren’t broken that day. He knows that a profound but simple idea continued to burn bright: that we are all God’s children, equal before Him and equal before the law.

“The marchers continued onwards on their journey. Marching from Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church. Marching down Highway 80.

“After five long days — after 54 long, often lonely, miles of freezing temperatures, grueling rain, and muddy campsites — the marchers arrived at the steps of the Capitol in Montgomery.

“The New York Times said the next day that the marchers had ‘moved toward their goal of freedom much further in these past five days than mere miles from Selma to Montgomery can measure.’

“‘Their pilgrimage,’ it said, ‘transformed the normal landscape of the South.’

“As someone who spent his early childhood about 180 miles north of Selma, let me tell you — events like these did help transform the South in many ways.

“That is why, some 50 years later, we gather this afternoon.

“We acknowledge the contributions made by those here with us today.

“We also bestow the highest civilian honor Congress can give.

“We do so in the hope that it may serve as both a mark of honor and a reminder — a reminder of a march from Selma to Montgomery, a reminder of what it helped to achieve in our nation, and a reminder of the enduring, indomitable, and unbreakable power of the human spirit.”

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