House passes opioid package, which now heads to Senate
WASHINGTON _ The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill Friday to help fight heroin and prescription opioid abuse after Democrats dropped a demand that the measure include nearly $1 billion for drug treatment services.
The legislation, which was crafted by a joint House-Senate committee, now goes to the Senate next week, where Democrats must decide whether to approve it even though President Barack Obama might not sign it into law because of a lack of funding.
Currently, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act authorizes nearly $200 million for a variety of programs aimed at curbing prescription opioid and heroin abuse. But Congress must appropriate the money at a later date.
Earlier this week, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama might not sign the bill if no funding was attached.
The legislation passed 407-5 on Thursday with lawmakers from both parties supporting the bill in a rare show of election-year bipartisanship.
The bill would provide resources to expand opioid prevention and educational efforts and to increase the availability of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone for police and first responders. The measure strengthens programs to monitor and track opioid prescription trends and boosts efforts to identify and treat incarcerated addicts.
Earlier this week, Democrats tried to add $925 million to the bill to pay for drug treatment services. The Obama administration had asked for $1.1 billion.
Republicans have rejected both funding requests, saying the House Appropriations Committee would provide $581 million to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and $90 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to address opioid abuse in their 2017 fiscal year funding bill.
_McClatchy Washington Bureau
