Anti-opioid abuse bill expected to pass this week despite fight over funding

The Senate will likely pass legislation to combat opioid addiction this week, even though Democrats hadn’t signed off on the bill over the lack of new federal funding for treatment and prevention programs.

When the House and Senate conference committee on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) last met on July 6, several Democratic lawmakers offered amendments which would’ve added up to $920 million in additional funding, close to what the Obama administration had requested.

“While this conference report takes a positive step in the right direction by authorizing several new programs to combat opioid addiction, we need to take the next step by authorizing funding levels necessary to ensure these programs make the impact they’re designed to make,” said Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Ga.

The final bill didn’t contain new funding, and only Republicans on the committee signed off on it. When the legislation to the House floor, however, Democratic leaders decided to support the deal.

“It is not perfect, and does not do nearly enough from a funding perspective, but it makes some important steps that will allow us to begin to address the opioid addiction crisis that is impacting our nation,” said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J.

It passed the House 407-5, with all five no votes coming from Republicans. Such a strong show of support makes it more likely Senate Democrats will get behind it, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urged them to do so, while warning that amendments for additional funding won’t be attached.

“There’s no reason our Democratic colleagues shouldn’t support this conference report now as well, especially given their support for CARA when the Senate voted 94-1 to pass it,” McConnell said.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., however, accused Republicans on trying to address the opioid abuse problem “on the cheap.” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said if the bill makes it to President Barack Obama without new funding attached, he “certainly cannot promise that the president would sign it.”

Though the conference bill doesn’t provide new money, it does authorize appropriations which can be made through the normal budgeting process and includes a number of measures aimed reducing opioid abuse and addiction:

• Requires a task force to review practices on chronic and acute pain management within two years.
• Requires the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) consult with advisory committees before approving new opioids for pediatric patients, issue final guidance on generic drugs which claim abuse deterrence, and develop recommendations for opioid prescriber education.
• Allows National Institutes of Health to “intensify and coordinate” research on pain management and the development of non-addictive pain therapies.
• Allows HHS Secretary to make grants available to states for opioid reversal drugs.
• Authorizes $103 million from 2017 to 2021 for grant program to fund efforts like training first responders to administer opioid overdose reversal treatments and expanding prescription drug take-back programs.
• Implement regulations allowing nurse practitioners and physician assistants to receive a waiver to “dispense certain drugs for maintenance or detoxification treatment in an office-based setting to up to 30 patients in the first year and up to 100 patients after the first year and going forward.”

The Senate has only a few days to advance the bill ahead of a seven-week congressional recess.