Senate Democrats want a bipartisan bill that tackles the opioid abuse epidemic to add more money for treatment of addicts.
A shortage of counselors and treatment programs needs to be addressed as soon as possible, said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate’s third-ranking Democrat. Schumer said Democrats want to add $600 million in emergency funding to the comprehensive Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act.
Schumer said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing that the bill is good but doesn’t go far enough.
“The bottom line is we need dollars,” he said. “Sequestration cut the money available to fight this scourge and now we don’t have sequestration so we need to increase the dollars.”
The $600 million in funding, which will be added as an amendment, would go to local governments to help boost treatment centers and other programs.
“We are welcome to some changes that the other side might want to propose,” Schumer said. “This idea of not providing dollars that are needed is not acceptable.”
Other Democrats on the panel echoed the need for more treatment options.
“In the end, if we don’t have services we are not going to truly be able to solve this for the long run,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
The bill, led by Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., would offer a multi-pronged approach to the opioid crisis that kills more than 40 Americans every day.
The bill would provide first responders with the overdose antidote Naloxone and establish an evidence-based treatment program.
