[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.