WASHINGTON, DC – Nearly two months ago, the House acted and passed H.R. 6, the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act, by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 396-14. At the time, UPI called it the “most sweeping bill yet to fight opioid addiction,” and outlets across the country highlighted individual provisions within the package.
Combating the opioid crisis has long been a top priority at Energy and Commerce. Our current efforts have been moving forward on two tracks: advancing collaborative, bipartisan legislative solutions and continuing investigations into several key issues that have contributed to the crisis. Taken together, this is the most significant congressional effort against a single drug crisis in history.
It is imperative that the Senate quickly follow suit, sending H.R. 6 to President Trump’s desk to become law.
House approves most sweeping bill yet to fight opioid addiction
The House overwhelmingly passed a broad bipartisan bill on Friday — its largest effort to date to fight the national opioid crisis.
The bill, a combination of 58 individual bills already approved by the House in the past two weeks, passed by a vote of 396-14.
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Notably, it requires that medical records include a patient’s addiction history. Known as Jesse’s Law, it is named for Jessie Grubb, who died from an overdose after she was prescribed opioids by a doctor unaware of her seven-year addiction history.
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The vote Friday followed several months of debate in the House and was lauded for its bipartisan backing.
“At a time when it seems we couldn’t be more divided, it’s clear that striking back against addiction is something that transcends politics and brings us together as a community, as a country and as a Congress,” said Greg Walden, R-Ore., House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman and leader of the bill.
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Upton votes to stop overseas shipments of drugs like fentanyl
U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, is among lawmakers who voted for a bill that aims to stop overseas shipments of synthetic opioids like fentanyl from entering the United States.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5788, the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevent (STOP) Act, by a 353 to 52 vote, on Thursday, June 14, Upton’s office said in a statement.
“Every day, powerful synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, are ordered online and then shipped from countries like China into the United States. This common-sense, bipartisan legislation will close loopholes in the mail system currently being exploited by drug traffickers,” Upton said.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to 100 times as potent as morphine, and other synthetic opioids, are sometimes mixed with heroin and other drugs and sold on the street.
Fentanyl was listed as contributing to death in more than half of Kalamazoo County’s fatal accidental drug overdoses in 2017, according to a newly-released report from the Kalamazoo County Medical Examiner’s Office.
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US House of Representatives passes multiple bills targeting opioid crisis
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed multiple bills this week relating to efforts addressing the opioid crisis, including a measure named after a late Charleston native.
Between Tuesday and Thursday, legislators passed 39 resolutions regarding opioid misuse and addiction treatment. This includes a bill allowing the sharing of practices in Appalachia for addressing drug abuse and legislation enforcing new requirements for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration related to informing pharmacists when they may refuse to fill a prescription of a controlled substance.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, West Virginia has the highest death rate due to drug overdose in the United States with 52 deaths per 100,000 people.
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Latta-authored INFO Act included in nearly 50 bills passed by house to combat opioid epidemic
Over the past two weeks, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed nearly 50 bipartisan bills combating the opioid crisis, according to a release issued by Congressman Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green.
Included in the package of bills was the INFO Act, authored by Latta, which would improve access to data and grant information for advocates, state and local governments, law enforcement, pharmacists, and health care providers. H.R. 6, legislation that packaged together many of the bills, including the INFO Act, passed the House by a vote of 396-14.
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House passes Mass. congresswoman’s bill to ease addiction workforce shortage
A bipartisan effort to encourage more people to enter jobs in the substance abuse treatment field cleared the U.S. House this week, as lawmakers considered a series of bills aimed at addressing issues related to the opioid epidemic.
U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Melrose, who sponsored the legislation with Kentucky Republican Rep. Hal Rogers, praised lawmakers for unanimously approving the measure that seeks to offer student loan repayment benefits to those who agree to work in addiction treatment jobs in high-need areas.
“Congress took a major step forward in our fight to combat the opioid crisis,” she said in a statement. “Every new treatment professional we invest in could mean survival for someone’s child, parent, sibling or friend, who may not have had access to treatment otherwise.”
Clark added that the bill, which responds to workforce concerns raised by treatment providers across Massachusetts, “provides the support needed” for communities to better respond to the opioid crisis.
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Congressman’s opioid resolution passes House
The House of Representatives passed by voice vote Tuesday a plan U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger hopes will make Medicare and Medicaid policies more adaptable to innovative treatment for pain that would normally require opioid prescriptions and provide alternative solutions for treatment of substance abuse disorders.
House Resolution 5590 directs the Department of Health and Human Services to develop an Opioid Addiction Action Plan by Jan. 1. This plan, which will include public input as well as the input and expertise of the Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health, will specifically address ways in which Medicare and Medicaid can better address the opioid crisis, according to a press statement released by Kinzinger.
Kinzinger introduced the measure with colleagues Yvette Clarke, D-NY, Danny Davis, D-Chicago, and Darin LaHood, R-Peoria.
“Communities across the country are feeling the devastation of addiction, as the opioid drug epidemic plagues our neighbors, family, friends,” Kinzinger said in a press statement. “The House has passed several pieces of legislation to combat this crisis and continues to push for solutions that will allow for better treatment, increased training for emergency personnel, and prevention methods to stop addiction before it starts.”
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To learn more about Energy and Commerce’s comprehensive efforts to combat the opioid crisis, click here. To learn more about the House’s comprehensive efforts to combat the opioid crisis, click here.
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