Ohio Sen. Rob Portman found that President Obama’s slate of new proposals for combating opioid abuse don’t go far enough.
The Republican, who co-sponsored major legislation on the issue called the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, took aim at some of the proposals that Obama will outline during a speech Tuesday.
Portman said he supports a proposal from the administration to increase the cap on patients getting the addiction treatment buprenorphine. Currently a doctor can prescribe the treatment to only 100 patients because the drug itself can be addicting.
The White House wants to increase that limit to 200.
“This change has taken far too long and I am disappointed this change is not as expansive as legislation recently considered in the Senate which would raise the cap to 500, and allow nurse practitioners to prescribe medication for treatment,” Portman said Tuesday.
He was referring to legislation from Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., called the Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment Act that as passed out of Senate committee earlier this month and now goes to the full Senate.
Portman said he is pleased to see additional funding to expand treatment, as the White House will announce nearly $30 million in new grants to states. Portman noted that the additional funding was part of the latest omnibus funding package passed last year.
“The CARA bill recently passed by the Senate authorizes several treatment programs, including treatment for those in the criminal justice system and for women who are pregnant or postpartum,” he said.
The bill passed by a wide margin of 94-1. However, that was after Democrats unsuccessfully sought to add $600 million in funding to the bill for treatment services.
Portman opposed the amendment, saying that he supported the idea of more funding but that the Senate needed to get CARA passed first.
He said the White House should join calls to the House to pass the bill immediately. The House didn’t take up the bill before going on Easter recess.
