Democrats are proposing a tax on opioids as a way to pay for addiction recovery programs that Republicans are reluctant to finance.
A group of mostly Senate Democrats introduced the Benefiting Opioid Addiction Treatment Act on Monday, which would charge opioid makers with a tax of 1 penny per milligram of opioid.
“For alcohol we have an alcohol tax, for cigarettes we have a cigarette tax,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., one of the sponsors of the bill, during a press conference Tuesday, noting the taxes for things that are unsafe for people.
The bill comes as Democrats in both the House and the Senate have tried to add $600 million in new funding to address addiction treatment. Republicans rejected both efforts.
“We have a pay for. This will pay for it,” Manchin said.
“We are not talking about generating funds for general revenue,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Vt. “We are talking about specifically putting this money into treatment.”
The Senate passed the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act 94-1 earlier this year, but Democrats said that the bill isn’t enough.
“The CARA legislation is great, but it doesn’t provide the resources to the front lines,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., at the press conference.
