WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), along with several of his colleagues, today sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urging him to schedule a vote on the emergency supplemental legislation he offered with Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) to provide substantial funding to address the opioid and heroin epidemic in the United States.

The letter comes as the Senate is expected to pass the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), which authorizes – but provides no new funding for – new programs to help stem the prescription opioids and heroin crisis. Senator King and his colleagues write in the letter that, without passage of substantial funding, CARA will fail to make important strides in the fight against the epidemic.

“The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) holds great promise for the fight against opioid use disorders. However, that promise – to realize its potential to help families coping with the devastating toll of this epidemic – can only be realized with real dollars needed to deliver life-saving prevention and treatment services. Until then, the job is not done. We urge you to finish the job by committing real, immediate funding to actually tackle this epidemic head-on,” Senator King and his colleagues wrote. “With the opioid epidemic crippling communities around the country, every day that counsellors and treatment centers do not have the resources to help those fighting opioid use disorders is a day lost. We hope that you will schedule a vote on legislation that provides substantial funding to address the opioid and heroin epidemic as soon as possible.”

Senator King has been a leading proponent of passing emergency legislation that would provide immediate funding to fight the opioid and heroin epidemic. In January 2016, he cosponsored legislation with Senator Shaheen that would dedicate $600 million to law enforcement programs at the Department of Justice and treatment programs through the Department of Health and Human Services. The Senate earlier this year rejected that legislation as an amendment to CARA, which Senator King criticized as a “missed opportunity.”

The complete text of the letter can be read below:

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July 13, 2016

The Honorable Mitch McConnell

Majority Leader

United States Senate

Washington DC  20510                                                                     

Dear Leader McConnell:

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) holds great promise for the fight against opioid use disorders. However, that promise -- to realize its potential to help families coping with the devastating toll of this epidemic – can only be realized with real dollars needed to deliver life-saving prevention and treatment services. Until then, the job is not done. We urge you to finish the job by committing real, immediate funding to actually tackle this epidemic head-on.

Fortunately, legislation to accomplish this critical task is ready and available for consideration. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s emergency supplemental legislation would commit $600 million in funding to address the crisis right now. Similar language received bipartisan support in the Senate when we debated CARA earlier this year. While the Shaheen legislation followed the Senate’s tradition of not offsetting emergency funding, the conference committee also rejected $920 million for addiction treatment, consistent with the President’s budget request, which was fully offset with bipartisan proposals. With the opioid epidemic crippling communities around the country, every day that counsellors and treatment centers do not have the resources to help those fighting opioid use disorders is a day lost. We hope that you will schedule a vote on legislation that provides substantial funding to address the opioid and heroin epidemic as soon as possible.

It is also imperative that we take on the opioid epidemic without undermining work in other areas critical to public health. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill contains a $457 million increase in funding for heroin and opioid prevention and treatment, it also makes unacceptable cuts to important accounts elsewhere. The same Americans who suffer from opioid use disorders may also need access to birth control; they may also need mammograms to detect early onset breast cancer; and they may also need health insurance through the private insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act. Unfortunately, House Republican appropriators zeroed out funding for accounts or eliminated provisions dedicated to these purposes.

We owe all Americans a strong response to the opioid crisis that shows we can work together and eschew extreme partisan goals or political games. That means providing real dollars immediately, strengthening other public health priorities, and staying away from poison pill riders. The American people have called on the Senate to do its job and pass emergency funding for opioid use disorder prevention and treatment services. We stand ready to act when you are.

Sincerely,

Senators Angus King (I-Maine), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Oreg.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Gary Peters (D-Mich.).

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