Dear John,

I hope you had a wonderful week! We wrapped up our last week of session here in DC for the year.

As we finished our final legislative week in DC, I wanted to share a bit about two bills I’ve been focused on these past few weeks.

As I’m sure is the case for many of you, the opioid crisis in this country breaks my heart every single day – it's taking children, parents and loved ones away far too soon and having destructive impacts in every corner of our community.

The fact of the matter is that overdose deaths are preventable – and we have a responsibility to do everything we can to help save lives.

Earlier this year, I introduced the bipartisan RECONNECTIONS Act with my colleague Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) to get overdose prevention resources, like naloxone, into the hands of all those who need them and ensure the opioid crisis is treated like the public health crisis it is.

The House passed our bipartisan bill this week – and it’s now heading to the Senate! I’m proud that my colleagues recognized the urgent need to expand access to these life-saving resources and I look forward to continuing the bipartisan work to keep our communities safe.

And last week, I worked with my colleague, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) to introduce the bipartisan Kid PROOF Act. This bill would expand access to lethal means safety supplies, like lockboxes and safes, for parents of youth at risk of overdose or suicide – helping parents safely store opioids or other dangerous materials and keep them away from at-risk youth in the home.

We need to do everything we can to help parents keep their kids safe and healthy – and that’s what this bill will help accomplish.

Here's what else I was up to this week:

Working to address critical medication shortages
Right now, nearly 80% of critical pharmaceutical ingredients are produced outside the U.S. and we are paying the price – there were shortages of nearly 300 medications in 2022.

This week, I introduced the bipartisan RAPID Reserve Act to support domestic manufacturing, build our critical medication reserves and reduce our reliance on China. 

Advocating for overdose prevention tools
This week, I spoke on the House Floor in favor of my bipartisan RECONNECTIONS Act, which will help communities across the country address the fentanyl crisis head-on. Just a few hours later, the bill passed the United States House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support!

You can watch my Floor speech here.

Discussing Minnesota’s ag priorities
It was great to meet with Minnesota Farm Bureau President Dan Glessing in DC this week to discuss how we can deliver a strong, bipartisan Farm Bill for MN-02 family farmers and producers. Look how color coordinated we were during our visit!

Behind the scenes with Rep. Craig:

My District Office Staff was busy last weekend! They held nomination interviews for the MN-02 Service Academy applicants. Thank you to everyone – including every extraordinary applicant – who participated in this year’s nomination process. I am wishing the best of luck to everyone!

That’s it for this week. Take care – and be safe!

Until next time,
 

Angie Craig

Member of Congress