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Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and especially for the courtesy to spend a minute or two talking about not only this rule, but also the legislation that will be coming to the floor soon. I want to thank especially Chairman Fred Upton, who has put his whole heart and soul into the 21st Century Cures Act, joined by Diana DeGette, certainly Dr. Burgess, Congressman Murphy, and others who have really played a key role in trying to find cures to diseases that don't exist today, find treatments for those in order to bring better health to all Americans, both physical health and, certainly in the case of Dr. Murphy, mental health as well.
This really means a lot. This will make a difference in real people's lives back home in our communities. I have heard from those people, like Carol Fulkerson in Bend, who has MS. She is ecstatic about this.
She said it is a great step toward making it possible to find a cure to MS. Can you imagine what that means in a person's life? There are critical reforms and improvements on mental health and substance abuse programs, as we have heard. These changes will help people all across America, and certainly in Oregon. A Medford resident, Justin, overcame his own battle with addiction through a dual diagnosis treatment program that dealt with the underlying issues fueling addiction instead of just sort of a Band-Aid approach to his symptoms.
These are the kinds of ideas coming from our folks back home that are now incorporated in legislation.
I heard from a clinical lab owner in rural Oregon, Judy Kennedy, who voiced her support for the provisions in Cures that provide precise diagnostic testing services to rural and other underserved communities across the country. We are going to do so much to improve the health, both mental and physical, in the lives of people we represent when this legislation becomes law.
Mr. Speaker, I am just delighted to support this bill. I think it is an enormous step forward in so many ways, and I commend Chairman Upton and all those who have been involved in this in its writing. I urge passage of the rule so we can get on to this legislation.
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