Congressman Pat Tiberi Stops by Muskingum County

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — Congressman Pat Tiberi stopped by Muskingum County this afternoon to talk key issues in the community.

An area of major concern not just for Southeast Ohio, and our state, but for the entire county is the drug epidemic. One of the primary focuses for Congressman Tiberi is a piece of legislation he and Senator Rob Portman are working on called the “Stop Act.” The Stop Act is a bi-partisan bill designed to close loopholes that allow drug traffickers in the United States to use the U.S. Postal Service to ship drugs. Since private carriers for the most part have successfully put an end to drug shipments coming through their services, traffickers have been resorting to the USPS.

“We are both trying to stop the elicit drugs, Fentanyl, coming in from, primarily China, but also other Asian countries through the U.S. mail service. These are potent, they are mixed with heroin, they are very, very deadly even upon touch, and it’s contributing to the epidemic overdose rates that we have not just in our state but throughout the country,” said Tiberi, the U.S. Congressman for Ohio’s 12th District.

The bill which was introduced earlier this year is in the process of obtaining co-sponsors, with the next step hopefully being hearings and getting a vote out of committee in both the House and Senate. Currently, both bills are identical, but could be changed with amendments. However, the bills must be identical before they can go to the President’s desk.

Some of the loopholes that the Stop Act would close include requiring the Postal Service to make sure any package coming into the United States from other countries have a return address. Companies like FedEx and UPS already require that identification and setting the same standard with the USPS would provide the ability to better track any packages being used for potentially illicit purposes.

Congressman Tiberi also says that in the wake of a government shutdown, both Republicans and Democrats are also still working to reach an agreement on changes to the Spending Bill. The current bill is set to expire Friday, and Tiberi says when you open the door to those changes, it increases the likelihood of a possible shutdown.

“So what we might do is extend the bill for a week, or extend the funding to keep government open for a week while some of these agreements can be worked out.  I’m hopeful that we can get through this,” said Congressman Tiberi.

In addition to a possible government shutdown, healthcare reform has resurfaced.

“Health care is also back on the table. The President, during our Easter break, brought it back up again. There are members that are talking, and part of those conversations with the Vice President. We go back in session tomorrow, and we’re trying to find a compromise to move the bill forward to the House floor and ultimately to the Senate, to try and fix the Obamacare individual markets,” added Congressman Tiberi.

While pressure remains on President Trump to reform healthcare in his first 100 days, Congressman Tiberi says the urgency has more to do with the fact that individual markets are collapsing, leaving many Americans without a choice on healthcare.

“If you’re in the individual market, you’re going to have fewer choices come next year if we don’t get something done soon. And that’s probably the biggest time driver for us…so we can help fix the individual market and give some certainty to people who are on the individual market that they’ll have healthcare choices. Right now one-third of Americans on the individual market don’t have a healthcare choice,” he explained.

Congressman Tiberi says it is more challenging than ever trying to find the balance between getting something done soon, and making sure that it is right, but he’s confident they will get there.