The House on Friday wrapped up its work on nearly 20 bills aimed at combating the opioid abuse epidemic, with Democrats continuing to object to the lack of new funding in the package.
The House voted 400-5 to pass a Senate bill called the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act that passed that chamber more than a month ago by a vote of 94-1. The plan is to essentially hollow out the Senate bill and replace it with 18 House bills on opioid addiction and then go to conference with the Senate over the amended package.
The bills address different facets of the opioid and heroin abuse crisis, which federal figures show kills 72 Americans a day. The bills include efforts to expand access to treatments for addiction, access to an overdose antidote and give states and localities access to additional grants to fight opioid abuse.
Democrats continued to fight for additional funding to be added to the package, a running theme throughout the debates on both House and Senate bills.
“Yes, we are taking the first step today, but there is a lot more to do to save lives and help our country,” said Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., on the House floor. “We need to fund these programs so they are not just words on a page.”
Polis called on lawmakers to reject the plan to bundle the 18 opioid bills together alongside the Senate bill, saying that more debates and amendments are needed.
“We should allow a full debate in the House to address this issue,” he said.
The House moved to fast track 16 of the 18 opioid bills it has considered this week. The bills were considered without going through normal amendment and debate processes so they could be voted on much faster.
“These rules block out and prevent many creative and effective ideas from both sides of the aisle from coming to the floor,” he said.
One of the bills creates new grant programs and adds $500 million in funding, but that funding is taken from other programs. Democrats have said that new funding is needed.
“Republicans are refusing to provide the emergency funding that is needed to make the difference,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi during a press conference Thursday.
Democrats earlier this week tried to add $600 million in emergency funding to the package but were rebuffed by Republicans.
Republicans said the bills needed to get through and address the healthcare crisis.
“Do not let this day go by. We may not have gotten everything that everybody wanted,” said Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the lead sponsor of the Senate bill, congratulated the House for acting on opioid abuse.
“While I remain concerned that the House approach is not truly comprehensive, I am hopeful we can resolve our differences rather quickly,” he said Friday.
