{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/newsarticles?ContentRecord_id=A1135ECB-8113-4C5F-B9F7-624176E13E01", "Johnson City Press: Senate passed 21st Century Cures Act 94-5, includes $1 billion in opioid treatment funding", "2016-12-09", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "TN", "Lamar Alexander", "A000360", "www.alexander.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "On the heels of bipartisan House approval, the Senate handily approved the wide-sweeping\u00a021st Century Cures Act, which includes $1 billion in state grants to treat opioid addiction, by a 95-4 vote Tuesday afternoon.\u00a0\r\nNow the bill will move along to President Barack Obama\u2019s desk, where it will likely be signed into law. Obama has been a vocal proponent of the act.\u00a0\r\nIn an Op-Ed column published in The Columbus Dispatch, Obama said,\u00a0\u201c(The 21st Century Cures Act)\u00a0will build upon steps we have already taken to expand overdose-prevention strategies, improve opioid-prescription practices, and ensure more Americans seeking addiction treatment can get the help they so desperately need.\u201d\r\nSen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., spoke to his fellow senators about the bill\u2019s importance prior to the vote.\u00a0\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s pretty rare that we have legislation that the president of the United States says this is an opportunity we just can\u2019t miss. The vice president of the United States is telephoning senators before they go into their caucus meetings to urge them to support it. At the same time, the speaker of the House, a Republican, is saying this is part of my agenda for the future for our country and the majority leader is saying its the most important bill we\u2019re acting on,\u201d Alexander said on the Senate floor.\u00a0\r\n\r\n\u201cNow, it still wasn\u2019t easy to pass because we\u2019re dealing really with a lot of life and death issues.\u201d\r\nAlexander, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, spearheaded the legislation in the upper chamber while Reps. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Tim Murphy, R-Pa., advocated the bill in the House.\u00a0\r\n\u201cThe Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services is supportive of any measure that would increase funding to help combat the prescription drug epidemic,\u201d according to a statement from the state agency.\u00a0\r\n\u201cIt is too early to know for certain if Tennessee would receive any of the 21st Century Cures Act funding allocated for addressing the opioid crisis, but our department remains committed to aggressively pursuing any federal funding that becomes available. If this act passes, we will engage in the application process in order to hopefully receive a portion of the new funds to be used for our opioid prevention, education and treatment efforts.\u201d\r\nSen. Bob Corker, who voted for the measure, released a statement calling the bill\u2019s passage\u00a0\u201ca testament to Senator Alexander\u2019s leadership and will help countless Tennesseans who are directly impacted by cancer, Alzheimer\u2019s, mental illness and opioid abuse.\u201d\r\n\u201cBy streamlining the FDA review process and advancing biomedical research, this bill will encourage innovation and provide quicker access to the lifesaving medications and treatments that so many families need,\u201d Corker added.\r\nThe 1,000-page legislation loosely details how the $1 billion will be split in half for the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years. It also allows the president and secretary of Health and Human Services to give funding preference to states with a higher percentage of opioid abuse. Tennessee is second only to Alabama for the most opioid prescriptions per 100 people.\r\nIncreasing drug-monitoring programs and improving prevention tactics and proper prescribing practices are also mentioned in the legislation.\u00a0\r\nThe House passed the legislation last week by a 392 to 26 vote.\u00a0\r\nAlong with funding for opioid treatment, the bill will also aim to shake up the Food and Drug Administration, hasten the approval of drugs and devices and address the country\u2019s mental health crisis through increasing the number of psychiatrists and psychologists.\u00a0\r\nSens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., were among the five who voted against the bill.\u00a0\r\n\u201cWhen American voters say Congress is owned by big companies, this bill is exactly what they are talking about,\u201d Warren said during a Senate floor speech last week.\u00a0\r\nBoth Democrats believe the bill will give pharmaceutical companies too much leeway and does not address increased drug pricing.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/newsarticles?ContentRecord_id=A1135ECB-8113-4C5F-B9F7-624176E13E01"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.563972095027566, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}