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Senate comes together to fight opioid crisis. The Senate will vote this week on a massive bipartisan bill that combines 70 different measures aimed at reducing addiction and drug overdose deaths from opioids, such as heroin and prescription painkillers. The vote on the bill, the Opioid Crisis Response Act, is the culmination of months of hearings and negotiations across five committees. Supporters hope that the legislation will help reduce death tolls from opioid overdoses, which early data show surpassed 40,000 people in 2017.

The legislation provides more access to medical treatment for addiction, authorizes additional funding for states to carry out their programs, and gives the National Institutes of Health more power to carry out research on treatment for pain and addiction. It allows the Food and Drug Administration to limit how many prescription opioids, such as OxyContin, doctors are allowed to give patients, and to set guidelines for how they can be packaged so that they are harder for children to get.

If the two chambers are able to hash out legislation to President Trump’s desk — the lower chamber passed its massive opioid package in June — it would be a rare win for both Democrats and Republicans as they head into November’s midterm elections.

Though the Senate and House packages have several common features, the Senate version does not include a provision to allow more hospitals to be reimbursed by the government for treating patients with addictions. Under current law, hospitals are only allowed to receive Medicaid money if they treat no more than 16 patients for addiction or mental health troubles at a time. The Trump administration has authorized several states to lift the limit, which would allow people to receive care who would otherwise be waiting in line, increasing their risk of overdose. The Opioid Crisis Response Act also does not include a provision to help families access medical records for a patient with substance abuse disorder.

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Congress prepares for showdown with Trump on spending. President Trump last week threatened to partially shut down the federal government unless it approves funding for his border wall, but lawmakers from both parties say that isn’t going to happen. Republican leaders are desperate to avoid the last-minute spending fights that have plagued Congress for years. The GOP has worked with Democrats to move 2019 funding bills faster than any time in decades, and they are reasonably sure they have a deal with Trump to fund the government without a big fight over the border. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters that despite Trump’s threats, he is certain the president will sign the 2019 spending bills because of private discussions held with the GOP leadership. Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and other top GOP leaders met with Trump last week at the White House and, according to a GOP aide, the group reaffirmed a plan to complete 2019 government funding in September. One bipartisan spending bill likely to get a vote this month would fund the Defense Department and the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

AP: Susan Collins mum on Kavanaugh vote as pressure grows. The end of contentious confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has shifted the focus back to potential swing votes like Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. If Collins votes yes, his confirmation is likely. She and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska probably would have to both vote “no” for Kavanaugh to be blocked.

In keeping with her deliberative approach, Collins has kept mum about how she’ll vote. Still, she’s sent signals that Kavanaugh cleared a hurdle by telling her that Roe v. Wade is settled law. A spokeswoman for Collins said a recently released email from Kavanaugh — in which he disputed that legal scholars generally see Roe as settled — didn’t change the senator’s mind about what he told her. The pressure is intense. Liberal groups are running TV ads encouraging the senator to reject the nomination. People from across the country have mailed about 3,000 coat hangers to her office, symbolizing back-alley abortions that took place before they became legal. And activists have pledged to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund an opponent to Collins if she votes in favor of the president’s nomination. She is up for re-election in 2020.

Liberal group aims to maximize pressure on GOP on healthcare ahead of midterm elections. The group Health Care Voter is launching a seven-figure ad campaign targeting 20 House Republicans in the 2018 midterm elections. The campaign is the latest effort to punish Republicans for their votes to repeal Obamacare and to tie them to Trump administration actions that critics say are undermining the healthcare law. “The GOP’s attacks against our healthcare have been relentless and they must be stopped,” said activist Ady Barkan, who was also recently added to the group as a vice chair. Among the Republicans being targeted are Reps. Rod Blum of Iowa, Vern Buchanan of Florida, Karen Handel of Georgia and Bruce Poliquin of Maine. Blum’s and Poliquin’s seats are listed as toss-ups by the Cook Political Report, while Handel’s and Buchanan’s seats are lean Republican.

Obama endorses ‘Medicare for All’ in campaign rollout. Former President Barack Obama on Friday endorsed liberal Democrats’ campaign to give everyone coverage under Medicare, calling it one of the “good new ideas” that Democrats are promoting. “Democrats aren’t just running on good old ideas like a higher minimum wage, but on good new ideas like ‘Medicare for All,'” Obama said in a speech delivered in Urbana, Ill., Friday that was intended to kick off his midterm election campaigning.

An increasing number of Democrats have backed the Medicare for All Act in Congress, which was introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. The bill would insure everyone in the U.S. through Medicare, the federal healthcare program that covers adults 65 and older and people with disabilities. Although Obama set single-payer aside during his presidency in favor of Obamacare, he had previously endorsed it as a Senate candidate.

China classifies some opioids as narcotics in effort to fight epidemic. Chinese officials classified 32 substances, including two opioids, as controlled substances as part of a larger effort to combat illicit fentanyl shipments into the U.S., the Justice Department announced. DOJ said Friday that cooperation with other countries is key to curbing the epidemic ravaging the U.S., and Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he had told Chinese officials he wanted them to schedule more fentanyl-based substances as narcotics.

Teens get more nicotine with e-cigarettes than traditional cigarettes, new study finds. Teen users of popular “pod” vaping devices like JUUL brands are exposed to a higher amount of nicotine than with traditional cigarettes and older generations of e-cigarettes, according to a study published Friday in the journal Tobacco Control. The Food and Drug Administration is investigating JUUL’s popularity among teens and adolescents as part of a larger crackdown on e-cigarette use among minors.

FDA approves new dosage for opioid addiction treatment. Cassipa, a film applied under the tongue to stave off cravings from opioid addiction, has been approved by the FDA. The drug is a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone, and comes in a lower dosage than other similar brand and generics already on the market. The FDA recommends coupling the drug with counseling and social support and only after a patient has first stabilized on the higher dose. Side effects include numbness of the mouth, burning in the mouth, headache, nausea, vomiting, constipation, and swelling of the lower limbs.

Joe Manchin shoots Obamacare lawsuit with shotgun. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., went very literal in his latest campaign advertisement by shooting a copy of an anti-Obamacare lawsuit with a shotgun. It is the latest effort by Manchin to slam his opponent, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, for joining in the lawsuit. Manchin’s ad makes the cause that the lawsuit will gut the law’s protections for pre-existing conditions. “He is just dead wrong,” Manchin said before shooting a copy of the lawsuit in the ad.

RUNDOWN

New York Times Manchin looks to healthcare to stave off Republican tide in West Virginia

Kaiser Health News The remedy for surprise medical bills may be stitching up federal law

Bloomberg Facing long odds on Kavanaugh, Democrats make it all about Trump

NPR Infectious theory of Alzheimer’s disease draws fresh interest

Boston Globe Hope for new macular degeneration treatments buoys patients

Washington Post For new cancer treatments, less is more

Wall Street Journal Hospitals step up the war on superbugs

Reuters Ebola fight has new science but faces old hurdles in restive Congo