WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, today participated in an oversight hearing she requested to hold the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) accountable for efforts to prevent opioid overmedication.
Senator Capito previously helped secure in appropriations legislation language from the Jason Simcakoski Memorial Opioid Safety Act, a bipartisan VA reform bill she introduced to provide safer and more effective pain management services to our nation’s veterans. Named for a veteran who overdosed under VA care, provisions of the legislation were passed by Congress and signed into law as part of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act in July 2016 and the 21st Century Cures Act in December 2016.
Today, Senator Capito had the opportunity to hear from Jason’s father, Marvin Simcakoski, who testified at the hearing and spoke about the senator’s leadership in efforts to combat opioid abuse among veterans and hold the VA accountable. She continued those efforts today, introducing the Andrew White Veterans Community Care Opioid Safety Act to strengthen opioid therapy safety and pain care through the VA community care programs. Senator Capito named the bipartisan legislation in memory of West Virginian Andrew White, a Marine who was overprescribed a strong antipsychotic drug after returning home from Iraq and died tragically in his sleep at the age of 23.
For a video of Senator Capito questioning VA officials about their efforts to combat opioid abuse, click here or on the image above.
More information on the hearing, witness testimony and an archived webcast are available here.
# # #