January 04, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 4, 2023

Contact: Sasha Galbreath, Sasha.Galbreath@mail.house.gov 

In Case You Missed It: Trone Delivered Results During the Last Week of the 117th Congress

Trone spearheaded the largest-ever investment in mental health and addiction, secured over $30 million in Community Project Funding, and passed 11 of his bills into law in December alone

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman David Trone (MD-06) wrapped up the last week of the 117th Congress by delivering a historic investment in mental health and addiction to the American people, securing over $30 million in Community Project Funding for Maryland’s Sixth District, and getting 11 of his bills signed into law.

As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Trone was able to secure over $30 million in Community Project Funding for Maryland’s Sixth District through the FY23 omnibus funding deal. These investments will create new jobs, deliver much-needed resources to Sixth District communities, and restore neglected infrastructure, including: 

• $4,800,000 for the repair of the Fayette Street Bridge on behalf of the City of Cumberland
• $4,000,000 for the Fisher Avenue Streetscape Project for the Town of Poolesville
• $4,000,000 for a clubhouse replacement for the Boys & Girls Club of Washington County
• $4,000,000 for the East Street Trail Liberty Road Bridge Crossing for the City of Frederick
• $4,000,000 for a STEM workforce development program at Mount St. Mary’s University
• $1,875,000 for the refurbishment of Barton Hose Company No 1
• $1,315,843 for refurbishments and upgrades for the City of Frederick’s Permanent Supportive Housing, Food Distribution Center, & Soup Kitchen
• $1,000,000 for an outpatient mental health clinic for the Sheppard Pratt Health System
• $1,000,000 for renovations and refurbishments of a health center for the Chinese Culture and Community Service Center
• $942,303 for building restoration and preservation for the Pleasant View Historical Association
• $750,000 for campus expansion for the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics – Hagerstown
• $698,848 for the purchase of equipment for the Garrett County Government
• $698,083 for the purchase of clinical equipment for the Frederick County Government
• $650,000 to purchase a new electronic health record system for the Garrett Regional Medical Center
• $531,718 for the construction of a new childcare center for the City of Frostburg

Also included in the omnibus and signed into law was Congressman Trone’s Frederick Jobs and Historic Preservation Training Center Land Authority Act, which allows the National Park Service Historic Preservation Training Center in Frederick to acquire new land in order to establish a new training center and workshop. This land will allow the agency to expand its local operations and better achieve its mission nationwide.

Today, over 50 million Americans suffer from mental illness and over 20 million Americans struggle with substance use disorder. Trone fought hard to ensure that the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act was included in the final government funding package. This legislation is going to dedicate billions of dollars to combat our nation’s mental health and addiction crises, including supporting grants for states fighting on the front lines, bolstering programs and services in areas most impacted, and improving interagency coordination. Eight of Trone’s bills he led or co-led were included and signed into law: 

• H.R.1385, Behavioral Health Coordination and Communication Act will create an interagency office to coordinate the disjointed federal efforts and foster constant communication among all relevant agencies and departments in order to focus the federal government’s approach to mental health and substance use disorders. 
• H.R.2376, Excellence in Recovery Housing Act will develop new guidelines for best practices for recovery housing, provide grants to states to implement those guidelines, create an interagency working group to coordinate the government’s work on recovery housing, and commission a study to review the availability and quality of recovery housing. 
• H.R.2379, State Opioid Response Grant Authorization Act of 2021 will authorize $1.75 billion annually for five years, for a total of $8.75 billion, to fund programs and resources for states and tribes for prevention, harm reduction (naloxone distribution), treatment (residential and outpatient), and recovery (housing and peer support groups)
• Elements of H.R.4244, STOP Stigma Act will require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue guidance for renaming grant programs with names that contain stigmatizing terms such as abuse, addict, or alcoholic.
• H.R.6636, Due Process Continuity of Care Act will amend the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP) to allow for Medicaid coverage of health care services for juvenile pre-trial detainees.
• Co-led: H.R.7483, Cost of Mental Illness Act of 2022 will direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study on the direct and indirect costs of serious mental illness for nongovernmental entities, the Federal Government, and State, local, and Tribal governments, and for other purposes.
• Co-led: H.R. 2067, Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act would implement a one-time, 8-hour training on identifying, treating, and managing patients with substance use disorders for all controlled medication prescribers.
• Co-led: H.R. 6279, Opioid Treatment Access Act would modernize and improve the process of obtaining methadone to treat opioid use disorder, allowing pharmacies to dispense methadone so that patients can receive methadone at more convenient locations.

The FY23 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included four of Rep. Trone’s priorities aimed at addressing the opioid epidemic, investing in water infrastructure, and combating Iranian aggression. The provisions include: 

• Fighting Emerging Narcotics Through Additional Nations to Yield Lasting (FENTANYL) Results Act, which will authorize programs through the State Department that would build foreign law enforcement capacity to detect synthetic drugs and carry out an international exchange program for drug demand reduction experts. 
• $15 million in funding to help fix the Brunswick Water Treatment Plant/Wastewater Treatment Plant, which provides over 20% of the city’s drinking water. Right now, the city’s water distribution system turns drinking water brown and its wastewater treatment plant can barely keep up with demand when it storms. 
• $5 million in funding for the Boonsboro-Keedysville Regional Water System Reservoir Replacement Project to fix the 1.3-million-gallon Washington County drinking water reservoir, which is suffering from leaks impairing its function. As of May 2022, the town estimates that they are losing 82,000 gallons of water a day, nearly 30 million gallons a year.
• The Deterring Enemy Forces and Enabling National Defenses (DEFEND) Act, which will develop a strategy for Abraham Accords and other countries to combat Iranian aggression threatening peace and security in the Middle East.

With just a few days left in the year, Trone’s Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act was signed into law by President Biden. The legislation will better equip law enforcement officers to respond to mental and behavioral health crises and connect folks with the right resources and services to address their needs. The new law will:

• Authorize $70 million in annual grant funding for training, including scenario-based exercises and evaluative assessments;
• Require the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to develop curricula in training topics, or identifying existing curricula, in consultation with law enforcement, mental health organizations, family advocacy organizations, and civil liberties groups, among other stakeholders; and,
• Require the National Institute of Justice and the Government Accountability Office to evaluate the implementation of the program and the effect of the training, to ensure that the curricula have a tangible impact on law enforcement encounters with people in crisis, and identify possible changes that would further improve outcomes.

The final Trone-led bill that was signed into law last year was legislation to remove the bust of former Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney, author of the Dred Scott Decision, and replace it with one of Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court justice.

Congressman David Trone was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018 to serve the 6th District of Maryland, which includes all or part of Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties. Trone serves on the Appropriations, Veterans’ Affairs, and Joint Economic Committees. In Congress, Trone is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders, including the mental health and addiction crises, criminal justice reform, and funding for medical research.

Follow Congressman Trone at @RepDavidTrone for updates on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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