News from Senator Grassley's Office Mar 10, 2015

Prepared Statement of Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee

Passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act

Thursday, March 9, 2016

Mr. President, as many Iowans know, I’ve made a practice of holding a town hall meeting in each of my state’s 99 counties every year.  It’s become known in the media as the “Full Grassley.”

It’s a flattering name, but in some ways it doesn’t make sense.  Because these town halls aren’t about me.  They’re about hearing from the Iowans I’m so proud to serve.  They’re about hearing about real problems they have, and trying to find practical solutions to those problems.  That’s what I work on every day.

On many occasions at my town hall meetings in recent years, Iowans have asked me why the Senate never gets anything done.  Both parties probably shoulder some of the blame for this.

But the reality is that the most obvious, the most glaring, the most unmistakable reason for the Senate’s recent paralysis is the way that Democratic Leader Reid ran it before he was toppled as Majority Leader.

When the Democratic Leader was in control of the Senate, he was the one who decided not to empower his committee chairs to craft and advance bipartisan legislation.

He decided not to give all Members, Republican and Democrat alike, a real opportunity to participate in the process.

He decided not to empower the Senate to address real problems that real people face every day.

Instead, he chose dysfunction and gridlock over practicality and problem-solving.  And by November 2014, the American people had finally had enough.

And after the American people spoke, the Democratic Leader no longer controlled the Senate.

Since the Senate’s been under Republican leadership, things have started to work again.  Senators are partnering together across the aisle.  Legislation is moving.

And the result is real progress on real issues facing our country.

I’m proud that the Judiciary Committee has played its part.  As Chairman, my goal has been to open up the process and to seek as much consensus as possible.  And the results reflect that.  We’ve reported 21 bills out of committee, all with bipartisan support.

I’d like to walk through some of those results, because there’s a lot of credit to go around on both sides of the aisle.

Last February, the committee passed the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act unanimously, 19-0.  The bill enhances penalties for human trafficking and equips law enforcement with new tools to target predators who traffic innocent young people.  The bill passed the Senate 99-0 and was signed into law by the President.

Yes, there were some bumps along the way, when the Democratic Leader realized that genuine bipartisanship had broken out and we might actually accomplish something.  A controversy had to be manufactured about the Hyde Amendment.  But eventually the Democratic Leader took yes for an answer.  The bill got done.  And this victory was a credit to the leadership of Senators Cornyn and Klobuchar.  Their bill provided real solutions for real victims of trafficking.

A few months later, in October, the Committee passed the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act.  Sentencing reform is a difficult and complex issue.  Many Senators have strongly held views.  And despite that, the bill emerged from our Committee with a strong 15-5 bipartisan vote.

My bill would recalibrate prison sentences for certain drug offenders, target violent criminals, and grant judges greater discretion at sentencing for low-level, non-violent drug crimes.

I’m grateful for the senators who have partnered with me on this legislation, especially Senators Durbin, Cornyn, Whitehouse, and Lee.  I’m hopeful that if we keep working together, landmark sentencing reform can be another major accomplishment of this Senate.

Time is growing short.  But I can’t think of a more productive use of the Senate’s time than to make our criminal laws more just.  This is another real problem that we can solve together.

Also in July of last year, the committee passed my Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act, again without opposition.  The bill will ensure that at-risk youth are fairly and effectively served by juvenile justice grant programs.  These important programs provide the chance for kids to get back on the right track, so they won’t enter the criminal justice system as adults.  Every one of these young people are worth helping to reach their potential.

Senator Whitehouse and I are working hard to move this bill through the full Senate.  I thank him for working with me on it.

And there are many other bipartisan accomplishments of this Senate that the Judiciary Committee can’t take the credit for.  I won’t try to go into them all, of course.  But one example that comes to mind was the outstanding work of Senators Burr and Feinstein on the cybersecurity bill.  The legislation passed the Senate on a solid 74-21 vote.

And a conferenced version of it was later signed into law by the President.

With reports of breaches of our personal data on an almost daily basis, it’s self-evident that this bill helped to address a real problem that has affected millions of Americans.

That brings me to the Senate’s passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, or CARA.  It passed today with an overwhelming, bipartisan vote.  This legislation reflects the Senate at its finest, working in a bipartisan way to address an awful epidemic that is gripping our country.

I want to thank the authors of CARA for their leadership in crafting this legislation, and working with me to move it through the Judiciary Committee unanimously.

In particular, I thank Senators Portman, Ayotte, Whitehouse and Klobuchar.  Real lives will be saved because of their leadership.  That’s not something we can say every day around here.

I know the efforts of these Senators and others to address this epidemic stretch back years.  It’s a shame that the Democratic Leader decided not to address this crisis at an early stage, when he controlled the Senate.

But he decided not to act, even in the face of mounting evidence that the country was facing a grave and gathering epidemic of heroin and opioid painkillers.

Overdose deaths from prescription opioid painkillers rose over 30 percent from 2007 to 2014.  Heroin overdose deaths more than quadrupled during that time.  Heroin seizures at the southwest border more than quadrupled, as well.

And all the while, the Democratic Leader never brought a bill to the floor to address this crisis.

So given the dysfunction that had overtaken the Senate not long ago, we should take a moment to appreciate the bipartisan process through which the Senate just passed CARA.

The Republican Chairman of the Judiciary Committee moved a Democratic bill through the Committee.  It passed without opposition.

Then the Republican Leader promptly scheduled the bill for floor consideration.  I don’t recall that ever happening under the former Democratic leadership.

The Senate had roll call votes on four amendments, although the Republican Leader offered more.  All four of those amendments were offered by Democratic Senators.  And the bill passed overwhelmingly, as amended.

This process would have been unthinkable under the Democratic Leader.  It simply would not have happened.

Yes, once again the Democratic Leader tried to manufacture a controversy -- this time, over alleged funding for this epidemic.  But when $400 million in newly-appropriated money for it hasn’t even been spent yet, well, that’s a tough one to sell.

And over the last few days, the Democratic Leader played some games with negotiations on a manager’s package of amendments.  The Republican side worked hard to clear amendments offered by many Democrats, including Senators Durbin, Gillibrand, Heinrich, Kaine, McCaskill, Blumenthal, Schatz, Heitkamp, and Cardin.

But the Democratic leader objected to completely uncontroversial, common-sense amendments offered by Senators Johnson and Kirk.

Why?  Simply because these Republican Senators are up for re-election this year.  And under those circumstances, we couldn’t reach an agreement.

How non-controversial were these amendments?  Let me cite one example.  Senator Johnson wanted to add the Indian Health Service as a member of the task force the bill creates to develop best prescribing practices for opioids.

I suspect many Americans, including many Nevadans, would think Senator Johnson’s idea is a good one.  Addiction is a problem for so many in our country, and the Native American community is unfortunately no exception.  But this is the kind of dysfunction and gridlock that the Democratic Leader was known for: a good idea becomes a bad idea if it’s offered by a Republican, and especially by a Republican who’s up for re-election.

Now, as CARA’s name reflects, the bill addresses this epidemic comprehensively, supporting prevention, education, treatment, recovery, and law enforcement.

CARA begins with prevention and education.  The bill authorizes awareness and education campaigns, so that the public understands the dangers of becoming addicted.  It also creates a national task force to develop best prescribing practices, as I mentioned.

The bill encourages the use of prescription drug monitoring programs like Iowa’s, which helps detect and deter “doctor shopping” behavior by addicts.

And the bill authorizes an expansion of the federal program that allows patients to safely dispose of old or unused medications, so that these drugs don’t fall into the hands of young people.

In fact, along with a few other committee members, I helped start the original “take back” program in 2010 through the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act.

CARA also focuses on treatment and recovery.  The bill authorizes programs to provide first responders with training to use Naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and directly save lives.

Critically, the bill provides that a set portion of Naloxone funding go to rural areas, like much of Iowa that is being affected most acutely.  This is critical when someone overdoses and isn’t near a hospital.

The bill also authorizes an expansion of Drug Free Communities Act grants to those areas that are most dramatically affected by the opioid epidemic.  And it also authorizes funds for programs that encourage the use of medication assisted treatment, provide community-based support for those in recovery, and address the unique needs of pregnant and post-partum women who are addicted to opioids.

Finally, the bill also bolsters law enforcement efforts as well.  The bill reauthorizes federal funding for state task forces that specifically address heroin trafficking.

So in all these ways, CARA will help real people address this very real epidemic.  The eastern part of my state has been hit the hardest.  The human cost of what’s happening across so many of these communities is incalculable.  Every life that is lost or changed forever by this crisis is precious.  Especially for many young people who fall victim to addiction early in their lives, there is so much human potential at stake.

I can’t wait until my next town hall meeting.  I’m going to be proud to explain how the Senate did something today that will help so many people in Iowa, and around the nation.  Republicans and Democrats, working together.  Let’s keep it going.

I yield the floor. ###

Senate Passes Important Bill to Combat the Opioid Crisis

Today, the Senate passed an important piece of legislation with an overwhelming bipartisan vote.  I was able to shepherd this bill through my Judiciary Committee without objection.  And I led the effort of its passage by the full Senate.  It’s called the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, or CARA for short.

This legislation reflects the Senate working in a bipartisan way to address an awful epidemic that is gripping our country.

Overdose deaths from prescription opioid painkillers rose over 30 percent from 2007 to 2014.  Heroin overdose deaths more than quadrupled during that time.

As CARA’s name reflects, the bill addresses this epidemic comprehensively, supporting prevention, education, treatment, recovery, and law enforcement.

The bill authorizes awareness and education campaigns, so that the public understands the dangers of becoming addicted.

CARA authorizes an expansion of the federal program that allows patients to safely dispose of old or unused medications, so that these drugs don’t fall into the hands of young people.

The bill reauthorizes federal funding for state task forces that specifically address heroin trafficking.

CARA also focuses on treatment and recovery.  The bill authorizes programs to provide first responders with training to use a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and directly save lives.

So in all these ways, CARA will help real people address this very real epidemic.