Sen. Marsha Blackburn has placed a hold on the House-passed stopgap spending legislation over a controversial grant program, a move that could complicate the legislation’s passage in the Senate as a Friday deadline looms.
The Tennessee Republican said in a statement last week that she placed a hold on the continuing resolution over allegations that a $30 million grant program under the Department of Health and Human Services aimed at reducing the risks of substance abuse was distributing drug paraphernalia. The move followed a report by the Washington Free Beacon that the program would fund the distribution of crack pipes to drug addicts, a claim the Biden administration denied.
A hold is an informal Senate practice by which senators inform leadership, usually in the form of a letter, that they do not wish for a particular measure to reach the floor for consideration. But the decision to honor such a request rests with the majority leader, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The hold could stall the bill’s passage by requiring more procedural steps than if it had unanimous consent, and the opposition of Blackburn or other Republican senators could prompt changes to the language of the legislation. That would require the House to pass the bill again before Friday’s deadline to avoid a government shutdown. Blackburn’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
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Other senators expressed alarm over the allegations, including Sens. Marco Rubio and Joe Manchin, who introduced a bipartisan bill called the Preventing Illicit Paraphernalia for Exchange Systems Act. The Florida Republican and the West Virginia Democrat said the bill would prohibit the use of federal “funds for local substance use disorder services for the purchase of sterile needles or syringes for the injection of illegal drugs, or to procure, supply, or distribute pipes, cylindrical objects, or other paraphernalia that can be used to smoke, inhale, or ingest narcotics.”
“Everyone knows someone who has struggled with addiction, and unfortunately, many have lost a loved one from the disease,” Rubio said in a statement. “Addiction is crippling, not only for the individual, but also for the family and communities throughout our country. We need to do more, but sending drug paraphernalia to addicts is not the answer.”
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“Every American and West Virginian has been impacted by the drug epidemic that killed over 101,000 Americans from April 2020 to April 2021,” Manchin said in a statement. “While this is a heartbreaking issue that must be fully addressed by the federal government, using taxpayer funds to buy paraphernalia for those struggling with substance use disorder is not the solution. Our bipartisan PIPES Act will ensure that American Rescue Plan funds can’t be used to buy illicit drug paraphernalia, and I look forward to passing legislation to address this issue quickly.”
