A push from Senate Democrats to add $600 million to a massive bill that would combat opioid and heroin abuse was narrowly defeated on Wednesday.
The Senate voted 48-46 on Wednesday to deny an amendment from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., to add $600 million in emergency funds to the bill. Democrats had complained the bill didn’t address treatment for opioids enough, but the measure has gotten wide bipartisan support.
The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act aims to tackle the opioid and heroin epidemic, aiming to spread the use of an overdose antidote called naloxone and put more resources toward treatment of addiction.
The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., has received bipartisan support on its way to the Senate floor. However, Democrats in recent weeks wanted to add more funding to the bill, at which Republicans balked.
Portman voted for the amendment and said that he is in favor of more resources for combating opioid and heroin abuse, but Congress needs to pass the bill first.
“This is the first step to getting the money. That is the point,” Portman said on the Senate floor.
