releases: https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=3377F38C-9D1A-43A6-BB18-67F6314D2A12
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
This data as json
| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=3377F38C-9D1A-43A6-BB18-67F6314D2A12 | U.S. Senate Passes Comprehensive Legislation to Address Opioid Crisis, Includes Heitkamps Provisions to Address Childhood Trauma & Fight Addiction in Rural America | 2018-09-17 | 2018 | 2018-09 | Democrat | House | ND | Heidi Heitkamp | H001069 | www.heitkamp.senate.gov | legacy | Since Serving as ND's Attorney General, Senator Has Been Leading Efforts to Tackle the Long-Term Impacts of Substance Abuse and Trauma Among Children, Provide Additional Resources to Support ND Communities WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today voted with a bipartisan majority of the U.S Senate to pass comprehensive, bipartisan legislation to combat the ongoing, nationwide substance abuse crisis. The legislation includes provisions Heitkamp successfully fought for to address the ripple effects of North Dakota's overdose epidemic among children, families, and rural communities. Over the past few years, drug abuse and drug-related deaths have steeply risen across rural America. In North Dakota,drug-related deaths increased by nearly 400 percent from 2013 to 2016. And from 1999 to 2015,opioid deaths in rural America quadrupled among 18-25 year olds. Thebipartisan Opioid Crisis Response Actincludes key pieces from a billHeitkamp introduced to address and mitigate the detrimental impact exposure to trauma, like opioid and methamphetamines abuse, can have on children. Traumatic experiences such as those related to addiction can lead to severe health and behavioral complications that can impact children throughout their lives. Young people who experiencefour or moretraumatic eventsare three times more at risk of heart disease or lung cancer, while those who experiencesix or moretraumatic eventsare 30 times more likely to attempt suicide. The prevalence of addiction and overdoses in rural America has reached beyond crisis levels, said Heitkamp. This comprehensive package will provide significant resources to communities that urgently need assistance, including to North Dakotans suffering from addiction in Indian Country. Right now, we're witnessing an entire generation of American children who could be scarred for life due to the substance abuse they've witnessed in their families. That's why it's so important that this bipartisan bill also includes my provisions to mitigate the impacts of childhood exposure to trauma, boost the mental and behavioral health workforce, and commit to evidence-based evaluations and interventions. This legislation is an important and needed step, but we mustkeep fighting for additional support, so all North Dakota families and communities are strong and safe. Thelegislationalso includes Heitkamp's provisions to improve the Opioid State Targeted Response (STR) grant program, which she proposedin legislation she introduced earlier this year. It would increase flexibility, enable tribes to apply directly for grants, and create a tribal set-aside.According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Indians and Alaska Natives had the highest overdose death rates of any group in 2015 and the largest percentage change in the number of opioid-related deaths over time. The provisions from Heitkamp'sTrauma-Informed Care for Children and Families Actshe fought to include in the Opioid Crisis Response Act would combat the crisis and boost access to trauma-informed treatment by: Establishing an interagency task force to identify best practices.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Justice, and relevant tribal agency professionals would work to identify a set of best practices that improve capacity and coordination for the identification, referral, and support of children and families that have experienced or at risk of experiencing trauma. Understanding the prevalence of trauma.Data collection and reporting by states would be expanded to include Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in behavioral health surveys. Increasing funding for the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative.Funding would provide technical assistance, direct services to communities, and would support evaluations and dissemination of best practices in trauma-informed care for children and families. Integrating mental health practices in schools.Grants would link educational agencies with mental health systems to increase student access to evidence-based trauma support services to help prevent and mitigate trauma that children and youth experience due to substance abuse. Addressing workforce shortages.Health professionals in the National Health Service Corps would be able to provide behavioral and mental health services in schools or other community-based settings. Additionally, trauma-informed training would be included as part of graduate education and training programs. The bipartisan legislation also includes critical provisions that would strengthen prevention and education programs, expand access to medication assisted treatment (MAT), and improve wrap-around services for those in recovery. Additionally, this bill includes a measure that would help prevent fentanyl and other illegally-trafficked synthetic drugs from being shipped through the international mail system by strengthening federal agencies' ability to screen shipments that are coming into the country. As part of herStrong and Safe Communities Initiative, Heitkamp has held discussions across North Dakota over the past several years on combating opioid and substance abuse and addiction. These included meetings in Bismarck,Grand Forks,Fargo, Jamestown,Minot,Dickinson,andHazen. And last week, Heitkamp held a roundtable discussion on combating the substance abuse and addiction crisis in North Dakota with community leaders, law enforcement officers, and health care professionals. Howard G. Buffett a philanthropist, county sheriff, and businessman joined Heitkamp to share his views on the negative effects of the opioid epidemic, particularly those he has witnessed during his time as a rural law enforcement official in Macon County, Illinois. Background Since fighting North Dakota's methamphetamine crisis as the state's attorney general in the 1990s, Heitkamp has been working to stem the tide of addiction, abuse, and illegal drug trafficking in the state's rural communities. Heitkamp has long worked to combat North Dakota's opioid abuse crisis through intervention and treatment, including by introducing a bill called theLifeBOAT Actto provide more federal resources to address the epidemic. She alsointroduced a billto expand a critical federal grant program to provide $12 billion over five years for local organizations to treat drug abuse and addiction while preventing further overdoses.Additionally, she helpedpass legislationin 2016, which became law, that offers community-based prevention and treatment resources to combat opioid abuse. Heitkamp has also been a leader in drawing attention and proposing solutions to childhood trauma and its lifelong impacts. Last month,Heitkamp met with several grandparentswho have adopted or are fostering their grandkids as a result of suicide, substance abuse, and other circumstances that leave the children's biological parents unable to care for them a setup known as grandfamilies. During their discussion, she discussed with the families the impact of$20 million in federal funding she helped secureto support family caretakers of vulnerable children. And Heitkamp has consistently fought to prioritize robust, direct funding to tribal communities as they address the drug abuse and addiction crisis in Indian Country. In March 2018, Heitkamp participated in a hearing in the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on combating the opioid addiction epidemic in Indian Country. While grilling a U.S. Department of Justice official, Heitkamp stressed the serious need for more federal law enforcement agents on reservations to provide quality criminal investigations and crack down on illegal narcotics trafficking. Click hereto see the full video from the hearing. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |