President Trump’s tweet pressing for action on opioid legislation in the Senate has some senators hoping for movement on a massive legislative package within the next few weeks.
A handful of committees are involved in putting together a package to reduce addiction and deaths from opioids, including Commerce, Justice, Finance, and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Each have passed opioid legislation aimed at addiction treatment, drug abuse prevention, law enforcement, and medical research.
The Senate is putting together its own bill to tackle the opioid crisis rather than take up the House-passed bill from June 22, known as H.R. 6. This means that once the Senate passes its legislation, it will need to be hashed out with the House in conference.
[Opinion: The opioid epidemic is a cultural problem, it requires cultural solutions]
“I understand the Senate has hotlined a measure and appears to be working out member issues,” said a House GOP aide. “Going to a conference could be a good way to iron out those differences, but the onus is on the Senate to pass a bill first – H.R. 6 or otherwise.”
Trump on Monday called on the Senate to take up a bill to curb shipments of illicit fentanyl through the U.S. postal system. The bill, the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act, would require the postal service to install the same tracking delivery system used by private shippers like FedEx to try to identify and halt shipments of fentanyl.
Tackling the opioid epidemic has been a priority for the Trump administration and for members of Congress who often hear about the issue from their constituents. The latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and prevention show that more than 72,000 people were killed from drug overdoses in 2017.
High doses of the drugs, whether prescription painkillers, heroin, or the more potent fentanyl, cause a person to fall asleep and stop breathing. Fentanyl was responsible for the bulk of the deaths, according to the latest data.
The STOP Act is one of several pieces of legislation to be considered in the Senate package. There is a push to get a vote on the STOP Act by next week, and if that fails then to take up the legislation again after the Labor Day recess, according to a source familiar with the legislation.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, one of the sponsors of the STOP Act, said Trump’s tweet was a helpful boost for the legislation.
“I think it was helpful because it made it clear to both the House and the Senate this was a priority of his,” he told the Washington Examiner. “It has been for quite some time.”
Portman said he met with Senate leadership on Monday evening as part of a regular leadership meeting and again pressed for taking up the STOP Act.
“It is just a question of finding the time,” he said.
Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said a vote on opioid legislation would be “soon,” adding that leadership was “working on a time agreement.”
Sen. Lamar Alexander, HELP Committee chairman, said deliberations were “coming along well.” He said he was working with the committee’s top-ranking Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, and with other senators in the committee to work out the details.
“About half of the senators have contributed to the bill,” Alexander said. “We have a few more discussions to have and we hope to take it to Sen. McConnell soon.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told reporters that one issue has been whether the legislation is comprehensive enough. But Capito was optimistic an agreement could be reached on the legislation, and added that she hopes the bills get done by the end of September.
Asked whether a bill could be passed before the midterm elections, Alexander said, “I certainly hope so.”
