The House easily passed a bill to combat the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic Friday after Democrats who’d demanded more funding beat a retreat, saying they would fight for money another day.
Approved 407-5, the bill authorizes grants to expand access to overdose-reversing medicine and bolster therapeutic alternatives for addicts, in place of incarceration.
The lopsided vote cleared the way for Senate passage, where Democratic aides said they expect the bill to pass despite lingering opposition among some members.
Opponents say House and Senate negotiators didn’t post enough money to carry out the bill’s policies, though Republicans insist there will be plenty of money in the pipeline going forward.
The House Appropriations Committee released a bill this week that provides $581 million to combat opioid addiction in fiscal 2017, or roughly half of the $1.1 billion requested by President Obama to address the problem.
“Nobody can come to this floor and credibly claim that the House is not putting its money where its mouth is,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican.
The rate of opioid overdose deaths from prescription drugs and heroin hit record levels in 2014, killing nearly 30,000, and polling shows two-thirds of Americans want Congress to do more to address the crisis in a contentious election year.
In some places, more people are dying from the epidemic than from automobile accidents.
Democrats initially signaled they would block the bill negotiated by House and Senate conferees, after Republicans rejected their efforts to attach nearly $1 billion to the deal.
Every House Democrat supported the package, anyway, with all five “no” votes Friday coming from the GOP side.
For months, Democrats have urged Republicans to address the opioids epidemic, the threat of the mosquito-borne Zika virus and the lead-tainted water crisis in Flint, Michigan, by borrowing billions and asking taxpayers to pay for it later.
“These are extraordinary emergencies, they should be treated that way,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat.
Republicans, though, said the money should be drawn from existing federal accounts or approved as part of the annual budget process, so it competes with other needs and lawmakers have to set priorities.
Democrat said that process might take too long, as Congress struggles to balance out its priorities in the face of mandatory spending caps.
The White House also said it wanted to see more money for opioids, even hinting at a presidential veto if Republicans refused.
But with time running out before Congress’ summer recess, Mrs. Pelosi said Democrats would drop their plans to sustain a potential veto from President Obama. She cited “the spirit of this day,” as lawmakers grappled Friday with the overnight shooting of five police officers in Dallas.
Republican negotiators crafted the opioids bill by melding a comprehensive Senate plan with a series of House bills designed to combat the epidemic, yet only GOP members signed the agreement late Wednesday.
Democrats said the package should have been coupled with $920 million in additional funding.
They offered to meet Republicans halfway by proposing trims to Medicare to free up the money, but GOP negotiators rejected the plan, saying funding is already on its way.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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