Senate lawmakers are growing impatient with their House counterparts over legislation that would help states combat the nation’s growing opioid abuse epidemic.
The House plans to act on legislation as early as this month, but Republican leaders have been short on specifics and timing after lagging by more than a month behind the Senate, which passed its own legislation by a vote of 94-1 on March 10.
“I take House leadership at their word when they say that they want to move their anti-heroin legislation through regular order,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a chief sponsor of the Senate measure. “But I will say this: The House needs to act, and soon. In Ohio, this is urgent. In Ohio, this is a crisis. And I’m going to do everything in my power to protect the people of Ohio, even if that means taking on the House and leaders in my own party. Let’s not forget: People’s lives are at stake.”
House Republican leaders say they agree with their GOP counterparts across the Capitol about the urgency of the matter, but they remain vague about what they plan to do.
Signaling the importance of the issue, the GOP tapped Rep. Bob Dold, R-Ill., to talk about legislation to combat opioid addiction in the weekly Republican address on April 9.
Dold is the chief sponsor of legislation that would provide incentives for states to increase access to naloxone, a drug that counters the effects of an opioid overdose.
“This type of abuse spans every demographic, financial situation and community,” Dold said. “It can literally happen to anyone. That’s why the opioid epidemic demands a national response. We can’t let politics get in the way of giving people a second chance at recovery.”
Dold’s bill has bipartisan support, but no place yet on the House calendar.
Senate Republicans are becoming increasingly impatient with their GOP House colleagues. Political conventions scheduled for July, followed by the August recess, have shrunk the legislative calendar. Congress will have limited time this year to take up legislation outside of the must-pass appropriations measures that will soon consume floor time.
Senate lawmakers are urging the House to simply endorse the legislation that passed overwhelmingly.
According to GOP aides, Portman has met privately with House GOP leaders and urged them to take up the Senate bill, named the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act.
The bill takes a comprehensive aim at opioid addiction with provisions that would expand prevention and education, launch new intervention programs and strengthen prescription drug monitoring programs.
Like Dold’s House bill, the Senate measure would increase the availability of naloxone, making it more available to police and first responders who deal firsthand with opioid overdoses.
In addition to Dold’s legislation, the House GOP leadership has dropped some clues as to what other measures they may take up on opioid addition.
In an Independent Journal opinion piece, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., pointed to more than a half dozen pieces of legislation, including two bills authored by Reps. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Larry Bucshon, R-Ind., that will focus on opioid abuse treatment, prevention and education.
Another bill sponsored by Rep. Susan Brooks, R-Ind., would “create better guidance” for doctors when it comes to prescribing opioids for pain management, McCarthy said.
A fourth bill would focus on improving the care of newborn babies born to opioid-addicted mothers.
A Republican leadership aide said House lawmakers are aiming to package several measures together in one bill that can eventually be combined with the Senate legislation.
McCarthy said he is calling for committee action to be finished in April so he can move legislation to the floor in May.
Last week, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the chamber is going to act, but wants to consider House ideas and examine a White House proposal that would spend $1 billion to combat opioid addiction, though it is unlikely Republicans will endorse new federal spending.
“There is common ground here,” Ryan said. “The issue of opioid abuse is an issue we will be tackling.”
