WASHINGTON, DC – Coming on the heels of the House’s passage of H.R. 4641, legislation offered by committee members Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN) and Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-MA) to establish an inter-agency task force to review, modify, and update best practices for pain management and how pain medication is prescribed, the House passed 10 more Energy and Commerce Committee bills to combat the opioid epidemic. For more information on these bills, which passed the full committee on April 22, 2016, click here.

The Energy and Commerce Committee suspension bills that passed in the House this week include:

• H.R. 4978 – NAS Healthy Babies Act, as amended


• H.R. 3680 – Co-Prescribing to Reduce Overdoses Act of 2016, as amended


• H.R. 3691 – Improving Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women Act of 2016


• H.R. 1818 – Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act of 2016


• H.R. 4969 – John Thomas Decker Act of 2016


• H.R. 4586 – Lali’s Law


• H.R. 4599 – Reducing Unused Medications Act of 2016


• H.R. 4976 – Opioid Review Modernization Act of 2016


• H.R. 4982 – Examining Opioid Treatment Infrastructure Act of 2016


• H.R. 4981 – Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Expansion and Modernization Act, as amended

All but two of the 10 suspension bills passed by voice vote. H.R. 1818 passed by a vote of 415 to 1, and H.R. 4586 passed by a vote of 415 to 4.

“The many bipartisan bills we considered in committee – and passed in the House this week – touch on the spectrum of issues driving the opioid crisis and will make a difference,” said Chairman Upton. “While there is no one solution, these bills represent good steps forward in addressing a problem that has rapidly grown and impacted every American community.”

The House will next vote to go to Conference with the Senate to iron out the differences between the package of bills each chamber passed to address the epidemic.

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