A leading drug abuse treatment group slammed a House bill aimed at combating opioid abuse, saying it doesn’t measure up to a Senate bill.
The Harm Reduction Coalition, a top substance abuse advocacy group, wrote to leaders of the House Judiciary Committee on Monday with concerns about the panel’s approach to addressing opioid abuse. The committee will consider the bill and several others later this week.
The letter comes as the House has moved in recent weeks to draft its own legislation rather than take up the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which passed the Senate more than a month ago by a 94-1 vote.
Specifically, the group is troubled by the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act, which sets up a grant program to give states and localities money for providing treatment services.
The coalition was particularly upset that the House bill has “a substantially different approach to authorizations.”
The bill “omits vital provisions in CARA addressing recovery, collateral consequences and prevention and education,” according to the letter. “These omitted provisions represent critical community priorities.”
The coalition was also upset about the lack of input from stakeholders, pointing out that the Senate bill that was created after extensive outreach to stakeholders.
While the House bill does have a higher authorization level for grants than CARA, the coalition is concerned that the committee is “poised to mark up a bill which has not had the benefit of meaningful and substantive review and input from community stakeholders,” the letter said.
The committee plans to mark up the bill and three others dealing with opioid abuse on Wednesday.
That is the same day the House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to mark up 12 opioid-related bills. Committee Chairman Fred Upton said he expects the committee bills to reach the House floor by the second week in May.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, one of the leading sponsors of CARA, has repeatedly called out the House over drafting its own legislation while sidestepping a vote on his bill. Portman called on the House to put the bill on the suspension calendar, which is used by the House to pass bills quickly.
“It would pass by a large bipartisan margin, just like it did in the Senate,” he said on the Senate floor on Thursday. “President Obama would sign it and it would begin to help millions of people.”
