{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/on-senate-floor-king-speaks-in-support-of-expanding-base-of-opioid-treatment-professionals", "On Senate Floor, King Speaks in Support of Expanding Base of Opioid Treatment Professionals", "2018-09-17", "2018", "2018-09", "Independent", "House", "ME", "Angus King", "K000383", "www.king.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON D.C.  Today, U.S. Senator Angus King\r\n(I-Maine) spoke on the Senate Floor in support of the Addiction Treatment\r\nAccess Improvement Act, which would permanently authorize nurse\r\npractitioners and physician assistants to prescribe medication-assisted\r\ntreatment for opioid use disorders. Though this legislation is not a part of\r\nthe Senate opioid package that is expected to be taken up today, it was\r\nincluded in the House of Representatives' version, and Senator King is hopeful\r\nit will be included in the conference committee's final report.   Click HERE to watch Senator King's remarks. The discussion today is about the\r\nopioid crisis, one of the most serious public health crises I have seen in my\r\nadult life, certainly in the state of Maine. said Senator King in his\r\nspeech. It's an enormous problem across the country, particularly in rural\r\nareas. In my state we are losing more than one person a day to an overdose\r\ndeath. That is an epidemic by anybody's definition[and] the numbers continue\r\nto get worse. More and more families are being devastated by this crisis, and\r\nthere aren't many answers being provided. There is, however, one ray of hope\r\nthat this bill that we're going to be discussing and voting on this afternoon\r\ndoes provide, and that is: Treatment works. Recovery is possible.\"  Now, the problem is that\r\ntreatment, particularly in rural areas, is short on infrastructure. It's short\r\non people who can deliver the treatment. And we can fund programs and talk\r\nabout them here, but if you are talking about a rural county  about Milo,\r\nMaine in Piscataquis County  you're not talking about a tremendous amount of\r\ninfrastructure. But there is available an army of people who can contribute to\r\nthe solution of this problem. The people I'm talking about are nurse\r\npractitioners. Nurse practitioners are, in many ways, among the unsung heroes\r\nin the health care discussion  particularly, in rural areas where there aren't\r\na lot of physicians. But nurse practitioners were enabled in the CARA bill to\r\nprovidemedicine assisted treatment, but the problem is that authority expires\r\nin 2021....We need to fix that. It's working  it's an important part of our\r\nability to deliver these life-saving services. And we've got people in Maine,\r\nnurse practitioners who are ready, willing, and more-than ableto deliver these\r\nlife-saving services. 1,700 of them in the State of Maine.   Now, the bill we're going to be\r\nvoting on this afternoon unfortunately does not have this extension in it, but\r\nI'm here this afternoon to urge those who are going to be supporting the bill\r\nand then working on it in conference with the other body to [make] this small\r\nchangeLet's for once, do something before it's a deadline. Let's do it nowI\r\nrise to support the bill, but also to suggest this small change that I think\r\nwill dramatically increase the effectiveness of the treatment that the bill\r\nenables, and will allow it to be delivered in an equitable and direct and\r\nimportant way to people all across the country, no matter where they live...  Senator King has made combating the\r\nopioid crisis one of his top priorities in Washington. During his speech,\r\nSenator King referenced the Portland Rally\r\n4 Recovery, which he attended last week to celebrate those who are\r\nsuccessfully recovering from Substance Use Disorders (SUDs). In July, Senator\r\nKing hosted\r\na panel of medical professionals, employers and advocates to discuss\r\nthe opioid crisis and reduce the stigma surrounding SUDs. That same month, he\r\nmet with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Assistant to the Secretary for\r\nRural Development, Anne Hazlett, and a number of medical professionals, law\r\nenforcement officers, advocates and local leaders ata Bangor\r\nroundtable discussing the opioid epidemic's impact on rural Maine. In\r\nJune, he highlighted the importance of the Affordable Care Act's protections\r\nfor individuals with pre-existing conditions to those struggling with\r\nsubstance use disorders which is considered a pre-existing condition, so\r\nthose who seek treatment could then be denied coverage or charged exorbitant\r\nrates based on their past substance use. He has repeatedly called on Congress\r\nand both the Obama and Trump administrations to fund laws and agencies that\r\nhelp address the drug epidemic.", 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.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/on-senate-floor-king-speaks-in-support-of-expanding-base-of-opioid-treatment-professionals"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9693568572402, "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"}