Bill to Fight Addiction in Political Squabble
April 1, 2016
By: Tom Troy, Toledo Blade
April 1, 2016
A bill widely seen as necessary to gain control of a spiraling epidemic involving opioids, heroin, and fentanyl, could be falling prey to election-year politics.
The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) pending in the House is co-authored by U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio), who is facing a tough re-election bid this year against former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.
Co-authored by Mr. Portman and U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.), CARA passed the Senate by a 94-1 vote March 10.
Mr. Portman contends his legislation goes further than the ideas advanced by President Obama, but complains his bill is being stalled by Democrats in the House.
U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers (R., Columbus) said Democrats are pushing President Obama to express disagreement with the bill for political reasons.
“[U.S. Sen.] Chuck Schumer [D., N.Y.] and a few others have been trying to prevent Mr. Portman from getting his bill passed because I think they don’t want him to get legislative credit,” Mr. Stivers said.
“The House is going to pass [the bill]. The only issue now is the President has been con-vinced by Schumer and others to say he has problems with the bill,” Mr. Stivers said.
Democrats contend their issue is with the need for $600 million to pay for the bill Senate Republicans refused to appropriate.
According to Mr. Portman’s office, CARA would:
? Ensure federal resources are provided to evidence-based treatment and recovery programs that are working on the local level.
? Target prevention and education resources to prevent abuse before it starts.
? Help first responders reverse overdoses to save lives.
? Expand prescription drug take-back programs to get addictive pain pills off bathroom shelves.
? Establish monitoring to prevent over-prescribing of painkillers.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo), a co-sponsor of the House version, has joined the call for the bill to pass as quickly as possible.
In her news release, she made no mention of the need for additional funds, which she put at $725 million. In an interview Thursday, Miss Kaptur said the funding appropriation should pass at the same time as the CARA measure.
She said the money pays for additional hospitalization, such as a need for 24 hospital beds in Lucas County.
“The 2016 budget provides $400 million, but it’s not sufficient to provide the beds that are needed,” Miss Kaptur said.
She cited reports that 113 deaths in Lucas County were attributed to heroin and/?or fentanyl in 2015.
“Without the immediate action of Congress, our communities’ local law enforcement and medical officials have their hands tied while they wait for more resources to be distributed to fight this public health crisis,” she said.
David Bergstein, a spokesman for Mr. Strickland, said passing the bill is well within the power of the Republican-controlled House.
He said Mr. Portman “claims that he supports drug abuse prevention efforts” but that in January he voted against the omnibus spending bill that provided the necessary funding. The bill passed over Mr. Portman’s vote.
“It’s wonderful that he’s focused on this issue, but there’s this blatant hypocrisy,” Mr. Bergstein said.
Drug policy administrators in the Obama Administration have endorsed the bill.
Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee Jan. 27 that, “there is clear evidence that a comprehensive response looking at multidimensional aspects of this that are embedded in the CARA Act are tremendously important.
“We know we need to do more, and I think that all of those components put forward in the bill are critically important to make headway in terms of this epidemic.”