[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 166 (Monday, October 16, 2017)] [Senate] [Page S6385] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] Nomination of Tom Marino Madam President, I want to address the President's nominee to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Representative Marino. An article in yesterday's Washington Post described Representative Marino's advocacy for a law that may have prevented the DEA, the Drug Enforcement Agency, from going after the worst practices of drug distributors. It is a profoundly troubling revelation about the man who has been tapped to lead the primary agency in our government that focuses on stopping the opioid crisis. The opioid crisis was in part fueled by wholesale drug distributors sending millions of unnecessary pills into communities. As my friend Senator Manchin has pointed out, one company shipped 20 million doses of opioids to pharmacies in his State of West Virginia over a 5-year period. That included 11 million doses sent to Mingo County, WV, where the population is 25,000. There were 11 million pills sent to a county of 25,000 people over a 5-year period. No wonder there is a crisis. What the Washington Post revealed yesterday was that Representative Marino worked to pass a bill in 2016 that made it ``virtually impossible for the DEA to freeze suspicious narcotic shipments.'' Confirming Representative Marino as our Nation's drug czar would be like putting a wolf in charge of the henhouse. The American people deserve someone totally committed to fighting the opioid crisis, not someone who has labored on behalf of the drug industry. So tonight I am calling on President Trump to withdraw the nomination of Representative Marino for the ONDCP. We can do better. Senator Manchin has made such a call, and he is right. President Trump ought to withdraw Representative Marino's nomination. If the President presses forward with Representative Marino, it will be another betrayal in a long line of betrayals on issues near and dear to rural America. The President's healthcare proposals would have put daggers into the heart of rural America, decimating Medicaid and rural hospitals. The President's tax plan lavishes the wealthy and the big corporations but does little for the working man or woman in rural America. The President promised several months ago to label the opioid crisis a national emergency, yet he still hasn't done it. He said this afternoon that he will finally do it next week. We will see. By now, the idea that the President is sticking up for the forgotten man and woman in the forgotten parts of rural America should be dismissed. President Trump seems to have forgotten the forgotten parts of America, and his lack of action--we don't need talk; we need action--on the opioid crisis and his nomination of Representative Marino is just another example. california wildfires Madam President, over the weekend, several parts of California were swept by some of the most devastating wildfires the region has seen. At least 40 people have died, thousands of homes and businesses have been utterly destroyed, and at one point over 100,000 people were evacuated. As Gov. Jerry Brown said, ``This is truly one of the greatest, if not the greatest, tragedies that California has ever faced.'' Our thoughts are with everyone affected by these wildfires. We are enduringly grateful for the firefighters and all our first responders. And our response here in the Senate must be to send aid where aid is needed. For our country, this has been a devastating few months of fires and floods. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma buffeted Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are contending with a humanitarian crisis on an unprecedented scale in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Our job is to speedily send aid, and I am hopeful that we can pass another supplemental aid package this week as well as another more comprehensive package later in the year. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip is recognized.