{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=6B6B1791-FE52-4E20-9395-641CB02E1110", "COCHRAN OPTIMISTIC ABOUT FUNDING TO FIGHT HEROIN & OPIOID ABUSE EPIDEMIC", "2016-07-15", "2016", "2016-07", "Republican", "House", "MS", "Thad Cochran", "C000567", "www.cochran.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) today said he is optimistic Congress will agree to provide funding for initiatives to fight heroin and prescription opioid painkiller abuse as authorized in legislation cleared for the President\u2019s signature.The Senate gave final congressional approval to the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) of 2015 (S.524) this week.\u00a0 The authorizing bill would strengthen federal efforts to assist states and localities fight opioid abuse, improve treatments, and coordinate law enforcement efforts.\u00a0 The President is expected to sign the bill into law.\u201cThe heroin and prescription drug abuse crisis affecting most states, including Mississippi, is a national concern.\u00a0 The enactment of this federal legislation will allow Congress to aid states and communities as they try to address this growing epidemic,\u201d said Cochran, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.\u201cThis bill will further guide appropriations to respond to the health, social and law enforcement problems created from opioid abuse.\u00a0 Over the past two years alone, the Appropriations Committee has already approved significant funding increases to fight this problem,\u201d he said.The rate of overdoses and deaths attributed to heroin and prescription opioid abuse have risen dramatically throughout the country.\u00a0 Nearly 30,000 Americans died from drug-related deaths in 2014, including dozens of heroin and prescription opioid deaths in Mississippi.Under Cochran\u2019s chairmanship, the Senate Appropriations Committee has already approved FY2017 funding for opioid abuse programs within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, representing a 542 percent increase over the funding level two years ago.\u00a0 Significant funding increases have also been approved for the Justice Department, Department of Veterans Affairs, Drug Free Communities, and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program to disrupt the distribution, use, and prevalence of heroin and opioid abuse.Forrest, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Jackson, Lafayette, Madison, and Rankin counties in Mississippi are part of the Gulf Coast HIDTA.\r\n###", 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.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=6B6B1791-FE52-4E20-9395-641CB02E1110"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9843739680945873, "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"}