Response. Ill invite you all to sit down now. So joining me on stage pardon me just a moment while i adjust this. First off we have congresswoman diana deget of colorado. She is a senior democrat on the house energy and commerce committee, ranking democrat on the oversight investigation subcommittee. She cosponsored coauthored the 20th century cures act which put a billion dollars of new general funds into the Opioid Epidemic to combat it. She is the chief deputy whip of the Democratic House democratic caucus. Thank you very much, congresswoman. Senator ed markey is here, of massachusetts, democrat, and member of the Senate Commerce committee which has broad jurisdiction over private industry including the pharmaceutical industry. He has done numerous investigations and authored numerous pieces of legislation to address this crisis. Hes going to talk quite a bit about that. Last but not least, chairman greg walden is with us today, of oregon, republican of oregon. He is he has drawn at
Ms. Satel welcome everyone to aei. My name is sally satel. I am a resident scholar here. As we know from reading the headlines, on a near daily basis, there is news of the fact that america has one big drug problem. And in fact, overdose from opiates Overdose Deaths come , from heroin and narcotic pills, are now the number one cause of accidental death in this country. So what can policy do about this . What can policymakers do about this . That is what we are here to discuss today. I am joined, very honored to be joined by very esteemed individuals. I think you know them all, but i will give a brief introduction. First, newt gingrich, former speaker of the u. S. House of representatives. Throughout his political life, he has worked to help foster a Health System that provides better care at lower costs. Patrick j. Kennedy, former representative of the state of rhode island for 16 years in the house of representatives. He took a lead role in 2008 legislation that established parity cov
Solidly middleclass folks and more than 90 in bankruptcy because of a medical problem, a job loss, or a family breakup. The squeeze on the middle class was getting tighter, and more and more families were deep in debt. Bankruptcy was their last option to scratch their way back to dead flat broke and tried to build some kind of future. Credit Card Companies saw this and they figured out that they could boost the profits if the squeeze these people a little harder. So they wanted to change the bankruptcy laws so that hundreds of thousands more people every year would be locked out of bankruptcy and left mired in debt. Their profits by squeezing people, drowning in medical debt and deal with job losses. I was truly appalled. Now, understand how this fight shape the. Credit Card Companies were smart. They had already led to a lot of powerful folks to support them, both democrats and republicans. They had money to lower. They had lobbyists galore. And the families going bankrupt, they had n
Decide by today whether to hear a bay area based freedom of speech case. The legal battle began in morgan hill five years ago on. Cinco de mayo. A year after a group of Mexican American teens paraded a mexican flag around campus triggering 30 fights between white and latino students. The white students were turned to turn their shirt inside out or go home. The justices will decide if a fear of violence was justified or if the First Amendment protects the right of students to peacefully protest at school the children and wife of the late Robin Williams is in court to fight offer the estate in San Francisco. Withs three children claim his wife is trying to change the terms of the trust and problem them of personal belongings. She claims that some of her husbands personal items were take were without permission. He killed himself last august. Abc7 reporter will have a report at top of the hour. A bill to rename the waldo tunnel in marin after Robin Williams is headed to the Appropriations
Gathered in this little room off the Senate Chamber, and he came bustling in and sat down with us. For the next 30 to 40 minutes, we all talked with him about health care while literally a dozen members of the u. S. Senate at one point or another poked their head in. And in those kinds of conversations you have with people that you really know, abbreviated little, did you look after yeah, i am on that and did you take, yeah, i got that. Back and forth, back and forth between him and his colleagues in the u. S. Senate. And when we left that day, i thought to myself, in a business where it is so much easier to stop something from happening than it is to actually find your way to get something done, this is how this guy succeeds. Relationships, trust followthrough. It was all on display that day as a sidebar to the meeting that we were having about health care. In short, senator kennedy absolutely was the bigfoot from massachusetts in so many ways if you needed somebody to help you get so