{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://kuster.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/on-house-floor-congresswoman-kuster-calls-for-senate-passage-of-21st", "On House Floor, Congresswoman Kuster Calls for Senate Passage of 21st Century Cures Act", "2016-12-06", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "NH", "Ann Kuster", "K000382", "kuster.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "You can watch the full video here.\n(Washington, DC) \u2013 Today on the House floor, Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02), the co-founder and co-chair of the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic, called for the Senate to promptly pass the 21st Century Cures Act, legislation that includes $1 billion in funding to support efforts to tackle the opioid epidemic. Last month, Kuster led\u00a0a letter to House and Senate leadership\u00a0calling for the inclusion of funding to address the opioid crisis.\n\u201cSadly, last year in my home state of New Hampshire we had the third highest opioid overdose rate per capita in the entire country,\u201d said Congresswoman Kuster. \u201cBut this crisis is not unique to my state. Across America, communities and families are shaken from the deaths of loved ones due to overdose. Opioid addiction is truly a national public health crisis. As founder and co-chair of the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic, I urge the Senate to promptly pass this important bill.\u201d\nThe Cures Act authorizes a total of $1 billion including $500 million in each of Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018 to address the opioid epidemic. The funds are to be provided to state agencies that are on the frontlines of the effort to combat the opioid crisis. The grants will be awarded directly to the states and are intended to supplement existing efforts funded via grants previously provided through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Those programs are broadly applicable to treatment, prevention, education, and recovery.\u00a0 All states will be entitled to funding, but the amounts will be prioritized by incidence and prevalence of opioid abuse and addiction.\u00a0\nCongresswoman Kuster has been at the forefront of the fight to address the heroin and opioid crisis at the federal level and in New Hampshire, and she has been an outspoken advocate for the need to support medical, law enforcement, treatment, and recovery efforts.\nKuster has hosted numerous roundtables with law enforcement, treatment providers, and recovery experts throughout New Hampshire and brought the Bipartisan Task Force to Combat the Heroin Epidemic to New Hampshire for a\u00a0field hearing\u00a0to hear directly from local stakeholders. She supported the passage of 18 legislative items targeting the opioid epidemic, many of which were\u00a0championed by the Task Force\u00a0that Kuster co-founded. In recognition of her leadership on this issue, Kuster was\u00a0appointed to the conference committee\u00a0tasked with producing the final version of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) \u2013 a role typically reserved for more senior members.\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": ["http://kuster.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/on-house-floor-congresswoman-kuster-calls-for-senate-passage-of-21st"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7019368931651115, "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"}