Press Releases

U.S. Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, appeared on the latest edition of “The Deciders.” During his appearance, Congressman Griffith outlined policies and actions needed to protect America’s rural communities. 

Click here or below to watch the full episode featuring Congressman Griffith.

Chairman Griffith on helping draft policies to combat the synthetic opioid crisis:

“The one that I think probably had the most impact in the early years was the Drug Prescription Monitoring Program…I was very proud we got that included in the [SUPPORT ACT]. And then my bill, the HALT Fentanyl bill, that I did with Bob Latta. So we scheduled all the analogues, there’s about 4,300 of them, as Schedule I.”

Chairman Griffith on efforts to lower drug costs in the United States:

“You’ve got to have that balance. You want the medical pharmaceutical companies to do the research, to find the new medicine, to find the breakthrough. We want to keep the jobs here in the U.S. instead of sending them to China. At the same time, it’s not fair and President Trump’s been all over this. It’s not fair that other countries in the world use our breakthroughs at a much lower cost. So he’s working hard and I agree with him. They have to pay for some of the research costs too. It should not just be the American consumer.”

Chairman Griffith on the impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data centers:

“The right answer is to figure out a way that [data centers] pay all of [their] own upgrade costs to the electric system. [They] pay for [their] own substation, or as the case is with a facility that is being built in Wise County, Virginia. They are building a natural gas generator as a part of the data center, and that I think is the right answer.”

“That doesn’t mean there won’t be individuals who are negatively impacted and we have to work to make sure we lessen that impact. But I think there are going to be so many new jobs created from the new technologies…history tells us that every time there is a new technology, there are new jobs that follow. We need to make sure that we are the first to engage these new technologies, but we have to make sure that the people who are the working poor and economically distressed are not left behind. That's our job: is to make sure they are not left behind.”

“We need to embrace [AI]. If we do not embrace it, then the Chinese will lead and they will be the world superpower and we will be relegated to a secondary role.”

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