Congress sends Obama compromise bill to curb drug abuse

With a vote of 92-2, the Senate sent the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) to President Barack Obama’s desk.

The measure creates grants and other programs aimed at addressing drug abuse, especially heroin and opioids, a crippling problem that claims victims across racial, economic and geographic lines. There were more than 47,000 US drug abuse fatalities in 2014 – double the death rate in 2000.

The bill aims to counter the growing addiction to both illegal heroin and legal opioids, which are prescription drugs such as Percocet and oxycodone. This bipartISAn-supported legislation will save thousands from the most fatal drug epidemic in recorded USA history. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said in a release.

King said, “What is happening across ME – the overdoses, the deaths, the broken families, the struggling communities – demands more from us”.

The government has estimated that more than 2 million Americans have opioid abuse problems, and almost 500,000 more are heroin addicts.

Negotiations over the bill had persisted in Congress for almost a full year, which saw some Democrats shun the proposal because they said it was a “half measure” to fight narcotic addiction.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said the bill’s passage was a “solid start” to combating the opioid epidemic but more resources are needed in order for it to be effective. The measure itself does not provide new funding for the programs, which Democrats objected to but opted to support it anyway. “We must recognize the opioid epidemic for what it is – a public health emergency – and invest the real dollars it takes to combat it”.

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday gave near unanimous approval to a priority piece of bipartisan legislation that seeks to fight what’s viewed as an escalating national health crisis – addiction to legal and illicit opiates.

“This is a historic moment – the first time in decades that Congress has passed comprehensive addiction legislation, and the first time Congress has ever supported long-term addiction recovery”, Portman said.

The bill authorizes $181 million in new spending, with an expectation that lawmakers will approve almost $500 million for opioid programs in the next budget year, he said.

The House passed the bill last week, also near unanimously, by a vote of 407-5.

The bill “sets up programs that could be a big help to people who are struggling to get their lives back on track, but it doesn’t make the investments that would deliver on that promise”, he said.

Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk.

House Democrats initially signaled they would reject the final bill, after Republicans balked at their efforts to add nearly $1 billion to the deal by proposing tweaks to Medicare to free up the money.

Senate Democrats picked up that fight in a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday.

This bill makes a strong statement about our leaders’ commitment to ending opioid abuse; however, it can not be an effective roadmap to recovery without proper funding.

Before the procedural vote, at least 20 Senate Democrats wrote to McConnell urging that lawmakers commit funding to the bill immediately.