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President Trump Opioid Legislation Press Conference Day 2
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Trump signs opioids law at White House event
Oct 24, 2018 | CNN
By Maegan Vazquez
President Donald Trump signed sweeping opioids legislation into law at the White House on Wednesday afternoon during an event marking "a year of action" by the administration to combat the opioid epidemic. -
President Trump tries to project image of bipartisan action with opioid bill signing
Oct 24, 2018 | USA Today
By David Jackson and John Fritze
Subdued and on-script, President Donald Trump struck a bipartisan tone as he signed sweeping legislation Wednesday to combat the opioid epidemic, an issue that has animated his effort to support Republican midterm candidates. -
Trump signs sweeping opioid bill. Expect to hear about it on the campaign trail.
Oct 24, 2018 | Washington Post
By Katie Zezima and Seung Min Kim
President Trump signed a sweeping opioids bill into law Wednesday, a rare piece of legislation that garnered bipartisan support. -
Trump Signs Sweeping New Legislation To Address Opioid Epidemic
Oct 24, 2018 | NPR
By Scott Horsley
President Trump signed sweeping legislation on Wednesday to address the opioid epidemic. In a deeply divided election year, the addiction crisis in a rare focus of bipartisan attention. -
Trump Signs Vast Opioid Legislation Into Law
Oct 24, 2018 | Law360
By Jeff Overley
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law far-reaching legislation to ease the opioid crisis, marking one of his administration’s most significant bipartisan achievements. -
Trump signs sweeping opioid bill with vow to end 'scourge' of drug addiction
Oct 24, 2018 | NBC News
By Marianna Sotomayor
Almost a year after declaring the opioid epidemic a public health emergency, President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law a sweeping legislative package that lawmakers and public health experts believe will help curb the growing crisis in the United States. -
Melania Trump appears to remind president to sign opioid bill before leaving room
Oct 24, 2018 | The Hill
By Aris Folley
President Trump on Wednesday signed sweeping legislation meant to curb the nation's opioid epidemic, but he appeared to be reminded to sign the legislation by first lady Melania Trump. -
Trump signs opioids law a year after Chris Christie commission called for action
Oct 24, 2018 | NJ.com (NJ)
By Jonathan D. Salant
Almost a year after then-Gov. Chris Christie's opioid commission disbanded with an admonition to Congress to fund efforts to tackle the crisis, President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed sweeping legislation designed to do just that. -
First Look
Oct 25, 2018 | National Programming
By MSNBC
Video link: https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/06c98388-ad15-4120-9bef-4d0b87ec11b8?token=be58d5b6-8d1f-49e8-897e-f8e5ae032216
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Trump signs opioids law at White House event
Oct 24, 2018 | CNN
By Maegan Vazquez
President Donald Trump signed sweeping opioids legislation into law at the White House on Wednesday afternoon during an event marking "a year of action" by the administration to combat the opioid epidemic.
"Together we are going to end the scourge of drug addiction in America," Trump said during the event. "We are going to end it or we are going to at least make an extremely big dent in this terrible, terrible problem.
"The bill signed includes provisions aimed at promoting research to find new drugs for pain management that will not be addictive. It also expands access to treatment for substance use disorders for Medicaid patients.The legislation was approved by a vote of 98-1 in the Senate earlier in October and approved by the House with a vote of 393-8.
The White House on Wednesday also announced public-private partnerships with Amazon, Belden Industries, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, CVS Health, Dispose RX, Emergent BioSolutions, Facebook, Global Teen Challenge, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Leidos, My Pillow, National Head Start Association, National Safety Council, Red Cross, Rite Aid, Ultimate Fighting Championship, Unshattered, Walgreens and Walmart.
The private-sector organizations will implement a variety of commitments aimed at curbing the opioid crisis, including administering drug disposal programs, streamlining medical records, increasing opioids education and supporting individuals in addiction recovery.
Wednesday's event marked the one-year anniversary since the Trump administration declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency.
First lady Melania Trump, several cabinet secretaries, members of Congress involved in the opioid legislation, several state and local officials, and several private-sector individuals attended the event.T
he emergency declaration last year set priorities in tackling the epidemic and has directed funds from the US Department of Health and Human Services to carry out that mission. Congress has allotted more than $8 billion this year for the opioid crisis. But some experts saythat isn't nearly enough and that tens of billions of dollars is needed to back any such effort to combat the crisis.
More than 72,000 Americans died of drug-overdose deaths in 2017 -- up nearly 7% from 2016, according to government data. Opioids contributed to more than 49,000 of those deaths.
New preliminary data published Tuesday from the National Center for Health Statistics showed overdose deaths nationwide, while still exceedingly high, declined in the months leading up to March 2018, the most recent month for which data was reported.
In August, Trump also urged Attorney General Jeff Sessions to sue certain pharmaceutical companies that have contributed to the opioid crisis in the United States.
The first lady has included the opioid epidemic as one part of her three-pronged Be Best program of helping kids, specifically focused on neonatal abstinence syndrome. Included in the sweeping legislation signed is "Tyler's Law," an opioid-fighting assistance program.
"Be Best will continue to shine a light on successful programs like MATER that demonstrate positive results for children. Over the past year, I have traveled both nationally and internationally -- learning about many of the programs offered through private organizations, schools and hospitals, which are meant to help children and families as they deal with drug addiction," Melania Trump said at Wednesday's event. "What I consistently hear is the need for support at all levels."
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President Trump tries to project image of bipartisan action with opioid bill signing
Oct 24, 2018 | USA Today
By David Jackson and John Fritze
Subdued and on-script, President Donald Trump struck a bipartisan tone as he signed sweeping legislation Wednesday to combat the opioid epidemic, an issue that has animated his effort to support Republican midterm candidates.
Discussing a crisis affecting urban centers as well as rural communities that supported his election, Trump touted the measure as a bipartisan response to a problem rarely cited as a top issue for voters that nevertheless touches millions of them personally.
"We are going to end it or we are going to at least make an extremely big dent in this terrible, terrible problem." Trump said during an East Room event that drew members of both parties. "We have mobilized the entire federal government to address this crisis."
With less than two weeks to go before the midterm election decides control of Congress, the legislation gave the president an opportunity to promote a deliverable to voters in the face of criticism from Democrats and some policy experts that his administration has been slow to respond to a crisis that claimed 72,000 lives last year.
Trump often discusses opioids as he campaigns for Republican candidates at rallies across the country, framing the addiction problem as a major – if sometimes overlooked – issue that has affected millions of Americans personally.
“It’s still a very prominent issue here,” said Jim Merrill, a veteran political consultant in New Hampshire who worked on Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign in 2016.
“Actually showing action and showing some positive steps forward certainly has the possibility of benefiting President Trump politically,” he added.
Trump declared a public health emergency on the issue a year ago this week, but it's not clear whether that action translated into tangible change for health care or addiction treatment providers dealing with the problem in hard hit communities.
Speaking at a rally in Nevada this past weekend, Trump touted the “bold action” and “historic effort” he said his administration embarked on to address the problem. His administration's response has fallen into two categories, he has said: Stepped up enforcement and more funding for states to expand treatment.
"We obtained $6 billion to fight the opioid epidemic," Trump said during his most recent stop in Houston this week, referencing a funding bill approved by Congress in March.
The new legislation that Congress approved Oct. 3, makes it easier to intercept drugs being shipped into the country, authorizes new funding for more comprehensive treatment, speeds up research on non-addictive painkillers and clears Medicare and Medicaid regulations that advocates have said can stand in the way of treatment.
Critics have said Washington continues to under-fund treatment, exacerbating a shortage that state and local governments have scrambled to close.
Trump has repeatedly claimed during campaign events that his administration's efforts are having an impact on the epidemic. “The numbers are way down,” he said during a rally in Tennessee this year, referencing falling opioid prescriptions.
But the number of opioid prescriptions has, in fact, been falling since before Trump took office last year. Opioid prescriptions peaked in 2012 at just over 255 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and fell to 191 million last year.
“It’s something that impacts urban communities, suburban communities small towns and rural areas,” said Dan Judy, a Republican pollster who has surveyed voters about the issue. “It’s actually one of the rare issues that … has not become a strictly partisan issue.”
Though the opioid crisis had been ravaging communities for years, it picked up political salience during the 2016 presidential primary in New Hampshire, which held the first primary of the Republican nomination process. The Granite State was hit hard, and voters pressed candidates for answers as they came through the state to campaign.
After becoming president, Trump credited the issue for his win in New Hampshire, according to the leaked transcript of conversation with then-President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico.
"I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den," he told the Mexican leader.
Opioid addiction has also beset run-down industrial areas in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and West Virginia, where displaced workers may turn to drugs. Trump tapped into many of those same communities in 2016, pitching himself as a voice for Americans who were left behind by a shifting economy.
"I wish it was getting more attention. I think it’s one of Trump’s best achievements and a feather in the GOP cap," said Scott Jennings, a political adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
"You know what they say: Good policy makes good politics."
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Trump signs sweeping opioid bill. Expect to hear about it on the campaign trail.
Oct 24, 2018 | Washington Post
By Katie Zezima and Seung Min Kim
President Trump signed a sweeping opioids bill into law Wednesday, a rare piece of legislation that garnered bipartisan support.
The bill addresses numerous aspects of the opioid crisis, including prevention, treatment and recovery. It knits together bills sponsored by hundreds of lawmakers, many of whom are embroiled in tough reelection battles and can now tout their support of the law in the run-up to Election Day.
“Together we will defeat this epidemic — it’s a true epidemic — as one people, one family and one magnificent nation under God,” Trump said.
Drug overdoses killed about 72,000 people last year, and opioids have become a major campaign issue for both Democrats and Republicans. Drugs have become central in races in states such as West Virginia, Ohio and Florida, which have been hit hard by the opioid crisis. According to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal, ads in congressional and gubernatorial races that mention opioids have aired more than 500,000 times in 25 states; in 2014, there was only one ad about opioids, in a Senate race in Kentucky.
Just a handful of congressional Republicans dissented from the wildly popular opioids bill — it passed 393 to 8 in the House and 98 to 1 in the Senate — although Trump falsely said at a campaign rally in Ohio this month that the legislation cleared Congress with “very little Democrat support.”
Democratic Senate candidates, particularly those from states most ravaged by the opioid crisis, have promoted their efforts to stem the epidemic in an array of positive campaign ads.
One ad from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) features a nurse speaking about the high rate of infants born with a dependency on opioids and says: “They need a champion more than anyone. That’s Sherrod Brown.” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) earlier this year released an ad with a similar message, featuring a Wisconsinmother whose daughter died three years ago from an overdose.
In West Virginia, the state with the highest rate of drug overdoses, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D) has hammered his opponent, Republican Patrick Morrisey, over his history of lobbying for the pharmaceutical industry, although Morrisey has said that he did not lobby on behalf of bills involving opioids.
“When I found out my attorney general was a lobbyist that helped the state to be inundated with pills, I was just floored,” a West Virginia nurse says in an ad the Manchin campaign released earlier this year.
But even on an issue that has prompted an overwhelming desire for action, political considerations soon took over. Some believe that lawmakers enthusiastically endorsed the bill so they could tout a win before Election Day. Some controversial aspects that passed out of the House — such as giving the attorney general power to create a special category for synthetic drugs and penalties for those who make or sell them — were stripped out of the final legislation to ensure passage.
The law contains a measure sponsored by Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) that will close a loophole that makes it easier for traffickers to send fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is responsible for the sharp increase in overdose deaths, through the mail, primarily from China.
It will also have a large focus on treatment, creating a grant program for recovery centers that include housing and job training. It also increases access to medication-assisted treatment, in which a drug user takes an opioid medication under medical supervision and is ultimately weaned off drugs. It allows broader coverage for substance abuse treatment under Medicaid and Medicare.
Public health officials say the new law is an important first step toward fighting the opioid crisis, but they say it mostly tinkers with the problem rather than addressing it directly.
“It’s a very good starting point. But I call it wave one, and I hope there will be wave two,” said Daniel Ciccarone, a professor of family and community medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. “This is everything but the kitchen sink. Anyone who has any thought about how to address the opioid crisis got a bill in there.”
Congress has appropriated $8.5 billion for opioid-related programs this year, but there is no guarantee of additional funding in later years. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) have proposed committing $100 billion over 10 years to fighting the opioid crisis.
“I certainly think it’s moving in the right direction, but I do think it’s woefully underfunded,” said Chinazo Cunningham, a professor of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center. “It feels to me as though it’s not really a coordinated effort, that it’s bits and pieces — honestly, a little bit working on the edges.”
In September, the Trump administration announced that it awarded more than $1 billion in grants to help fight opioids, focusing primarily on treatment and prevention.
The bill signing comes almost a year after Trump declared a public health emergency on opioids. A report released by the Government Accountability Office this week found that the declaration has led to only incremental steps, such as surveying doctors on how they prescribe a medication used to treat opioid addiction.
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Trump Signs Sweeping New Legislation To Address Opioid Epidemic
Oct 24, 2018 | NPR
By Scott Horsley
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Republicans and Democrats don't agree on much these days, but they have all felt the pain of the nation's opioid epidemic. Last year, more than 70,000 Americans died from a drug overdose. Opioids were responsible for about two-thirds of those deaths.
At the White House today, President Trump signed legislation that will allow lawmakers from both parties to say they are taking steps to address the problem. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: The opioid bill was passed by both the House and Senate with near-unanimous approval, a level of bipartisan support that Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio says is unusual in today's highly polarized political climate.
ROB PORTMAN: I guess maybe because the severity of the crisis. And particularly in states like mine, people are willing to work together and join hands and figure out how to solve it and forget the politics.
HORSLEY: Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire agrees. The opioid crisis cuts a wide and deadly swath from rural areas to big cities. And polls show it's the rare issue that voters in both parties are alarmed by.
MAGGIE HASSAN: We are losing over a hundred people a day in the United States of America to this epidemic. You can go anywhere in the country and talk to people about the impact it's had on them. This is impacting people in all walks of life in multiple different ways.
HORSLEY: The opioid bill signed by the president today aims to address the problem in different ways, targeting both supply and demand. President Trump signed the bill with some fanfare in the White House East Room almost exactly a year after he declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Together, we are going to end the scourge of drug addiction in America. We are going to end it, or we are going to at least make an extremely big dent in this terrible, terrible problem.
HORSLEY: Lots of politicians are claiming credit after the bill signing, as the measure incorporates lots of different ideas - efforts to interdict drugs at the border, for example, and to increase support for drug users seeking treatment.
What the bill doesn't include is a whole lot of new money to fight the problem. Hassan says lawmakers have approved some $6 billion to combat opioid addiction over the next couple of years.
HASSAN: But experts in the field tell us that is not nearly enough. We have to treat this as a starting point. We have a lot more work to do.
HORSLEY: Portman wants to see more effort to address overprescribing of opioids, noting that many addicts start out with a legitimate need for pain pills. But, he adds, despair also plays a role.
PORTMAN: Part of the answer to this is to get people who are in places like small-town Ohio, rural Appalachia more opportunities. That is, I think, one of the antidotes to the drug issue more broadly.
HORSLEY: Health Secretary Alex Azar said this week there are some encouraging signs that the epidemic may be leveling off, or at least not growing as rapidly as it once was.
But drug addiction remains an elusive and evolving problem. Overdose deaths from heroin and prescription drugs may be near their peak, but Portman says methamphetamine is regaining a foothold, and cocaine is making a comeback as well.
PORTMAN: You know, it's a societal issue we have. America has a bigger drug problem than other countries - not just opioids, but we, by far, lead the world. And we need to focus on that broader issue.
HORSLEY: For now, though, today's bill-signing gives members of Congress something they can point to when confronted with the pain of the drug epidemic back home. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.
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Trump Signs Vast Opioid Legislation Into Law
Oct 24, 2018 | Law360
By Jeff Overley
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law far-reaching legislation to ease the opioid crisis, marking one of his administration’s most significant bipartisan achievements.
The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, a 660-page package that cleared both chambers of Congress with near-unanimous votes, contains dozens of sections affecting policies overseen by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
At a White House ceremony on Wednesday, Trump described the new law as “landmark legislation to defeat the opioid epidemic,” which claimed more than 40,000 lives in 2016.
But while the law covers lots of ground, most of its provisions are modest. They focus largely on pilot projects related to addiction treatment, studies related to prescribing limits and abuse-deterrent opioids, clarifications of regulatory authority and relatively small changes to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.
The SUPPORT — or Substance-Use Disorder Prevention That Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment — Act aims to improve addiction treatment in a number of ways. It includes more funding for Medicaid “health homes” that coordinate care for people with substance abuse disorders, loosens restrictions on substance abuse treatment via remote telehealth visits and allows Medicare to cover opioid treatment programs that use drugs and therapy to address substance abuse.
With respect to the FDA, the law clarifies the agency’s authority to require packaging of painkillers in blister packs that correspond with treatment regimens that last only a few days. The law also clarifies that the FDA can define adverse events of opioids to include reduced effectiveness over time.Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement on Wednesday that the act “makes important, incremental changes.” In the same statement, Pallone criticized the Trump administration for its ongoing attempts to gut the Affordable Care Act, saying its goals would “undermine the health care that Americans rely on for opioid treatment.”
The law is practically budget-neutral, authorizing a few billion dollars in spending and offsetting it mostly through efficiency measures. Many experts say that financial investments potentially reaching into the hundreds of billions of dollars for abuse prevention and treatment would be needed to prevent massive death tolls from persisting for years to come.
Under the law, the federal government's Open Payments program — which requires drugmakers to disclose payments to teaching hospitals and physicians — would also require disclosure of payments to other health care providers, including physician assistants and several types of nurses.
Elsewhere, the law aims to curtail illicit shipments of fentanyl by enhancing electronic data in international mail. The law also contains an anti-kickback section that would punish certain referrals of patients to drug rehabilitation homes, and it requires that controlled substances covered by Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D be prescribed electronically starting in 2021, subject to certain waivers when technological limits are present. -
Trump signs sweeping opioid bill with vow to end 'scourge' of drug addiction
Oct 24, 2018 | NBC News
By Marianna Sotomayor
Almost a year after declaring the opioid epidemic a public health emergency, President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law a sweeping legislative package that lawmakers and public health experts believe will help curb the growing crisis in the United States.
"Together we are going to end the scourge of drug addiction,” Trump said at a bill-signing ceremony at the White House. “Or at least make an extremely big dent in this terrible, terrible problem.”
Moments before signing the bill, known as the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, the president called the package the “single largest bill to combat the drug crisis in the history of our country.”
The legislative package directs funding to federal agencies and states so they can make increasing access to addiction treatment a priority, and sets in place interventions to help mitigate the crisis, like preventing overprescription and training law enforcement to intercept shipments, including the deadly and highly addictive drug fentanyl, at U.S. borders.
Wednesday's bill signing marked a yearslong effort by both the legislative and executive branch to respond to the growing opioid crisis, which killed more than 48,000 Americans in 2017, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Moreover, it will be remembered as a major bipartisan feat at the end of another congressional term that many consider to be the most divisive and bitterly partisan one yet.
Democrats applauded the law Wednesday as a step in the right direction, though many said the legislation did not go far enough to confront the epidemic. Some, like Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, warned that Republican threats to undo Medicare and Medicaid would only increase the death rate.
"Despite touting this new law today, President Trump and Congressional Republicans continue to threaten to undermine the health care that Americans rely on for opioid treatment," Pallone said in a statement. "It is disingenuous at best to promise relief to people struggling with opioid addiction while also attempting to cut funding for Medicaid and eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions, which include opioid use disorder."
Congress and the White House sat down for the first time to discuss combating the epidemic last October ahead of a number of congressional hearings by the House and the Senate on the subject.
The bipartisan approach on Capitol Hill led to a mostly hands-off but supportive process from the White House, which often tends to intervene in contentious legislative battles like health care, taxes and immigration, according to congressional sources.
One Republican congressional source familiar with the process told NBC News that the administration made a priority of directing funds to discover a nonaddictive painkiller and combating overprescription by giving patients smaller doses of opioids in "blister packs."
"The administration was supportive, gave us very timely technical assistance and helped shape bills that were being negotiated while also giving us plenty of space to negotiate with Democrats," another Republican Congressional aide said.
The widespread reach of the crisis, which has struck red and blue states in equal measure and devastated urban and rural communities alike, united hundreds of lawmakers to hold hearings and propose legislation that would shape the SUPPORT bill. Passing the legislation proved to be good ammunition for lawmakers campaigning for re-election in November, as candidates battled over who could provide more solutions to the crisis.
Trump himself talked up the bill at a recent campaign rally in Lebanon, Ohio, but falsely claimed that the legislation came to fruition with "very little Democratic support."
Under the shadows of Justice Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearings in early October, both the House and the Senate passed the compromise bill with overwhelming majorities. Only eight House members and one senator, Mike Lee, R-Utah, voted against the landmark legislation this month.
Earlier Wednesday, Kellyanne Conway, the president's counselor, contradicted the president's comments, telling reporters outside the White House that every Democratic senator, including those eyeing potential 2020 bids, voted for the opioid bill "because this is the crisis next door" for all Americans.
Public health experts have applauded the bill for increasing access to treatment, which they argue is a key step to curbing the epidemic. One of the measures removes an old provision that did not allow those with substance abuse issues to access mental health facilities with more than 16 beds for treatment under Medicaid. The bill also creates a grant program for states to help recovery centers and addiction specialists increase their quality of care.
But some experts, like Keith Humphrey, a Stanford professor who helped both House and Senate staff in crafting the legislation, said Congress did not address deep-rooted issues in the health care system that would truly transform the crisis. He said the opioid law does not come close to the scale of measures passed in less contentious congressional eras aimed at combating HIV/AIDs, for example.
“It's not the time to be leisurely, and saying that we’ll get there eventually is not sufficient as an answer,” Humphrey said of decreasing overdose deaths. “If it takes another year, that’s another 60 or 70,000 people in their graves. That's not good enough.”
Lawmakers and aides see the SUPPORT law as the first step of many to combat the epidemic, which killed more Americans than guns and cars in 2017. The House continues to investigate the role of opioid distributors and plans to release a report on potential misconduct in the coming weeks.
The White House on Wednesday also touted new private sector initiatives from companies like Amazon, which said it has programmed its Alexa voice service to answer questions about opioids and addiction, and insurance giant Blue Cross Blue Shield, which will establish a national toll-free hotline to help Americans locate treatment centers.
Emergent BioSolutions, a biopharmaceutical company, will offer free Narcan nasal spray, which can help reverse an opioid overdose, to over 16,500 public libraries and 2,700 YMCAs.
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Melania Trump appears to remind president to sign opioid bill before leaving room
Oct 24, 2018 | The Hill
By Aris Folley
President Trump on Wednesday signed sweeping legislation meant to curb the nation's opioid epidemic, but he appeared to be reminded to sign the legislation by first lady Melania Trump.
A viral video from the signing event showed Trump entering the East Room of the White House to sign the legislation, but also appeared to show him making his way out of the room before signing the bipartisan bill.
Melania Trump appeared to direct her husband to return to sign the bill, prompting laughter from those in the room.
The bipartisan bill, which was passed by Congress earlier this month, includes dozens of treatment and enforcement provisions authored by hundreds of lawmakers representing states devastated by the opioid epidemic.
The bill also reauthorizes funding for the 21st Century Cures Act and lifts some restrictions on using Medicaid funding for opioid treatment.
Trump, last year, went viral for a similar incident after he left the Oval Office without signing two new executive orders aimed at tackling longstanding concerns around trade enforcement.
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Trump signs opioids law a year after Chris Christie commission called for action
Oct 24, 2018 | NJ.com (NJ)
By Jonathan D. Salant
Almost a year after then-Gov. Chris Christie's opioid commission disbanded with an admonition to Congress to fund efforts to tackle the crisis, President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed sweeping legislation designed to do just that.
Christie, the chairman of the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, was in the audience in the White House East Room as Trump signed the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act into law.
"Together we are going to end the scourge of drug addiction in America," said Trump, who last October declared the opioid crisis a "public health emergency" under the Public Health Services Act, though did not declare a more far-reaching "national emergency" as the Christie commission recommended.
Christie's commission went out of business Nov. 1, 2017 after offering 65 recommendations on how to address the opioid crisis. Some of them were in the bill signed by Trump, which combined several separate pieces of legislation into one all-encompassing measure.
The measure strengthens efforts to stop the flow of illegal narcotics such as fentanyl and to cut down on opioid prescriptions in favor of non-addictive painkillers. It also expands the use of medication-assistance treatment for addicts.
Around 63,600 Americans died in 2016 from drug overdoses, including 2,056 New Jerseyans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Today, we've kept our promise to those suffering from addiction and delivered real solutions to towns across America," said Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., co-chair of the congressional Bipartisan Heroin Task Force.
The massive bill included $10 million in grants to hospitals for a program begun at St. Joseph's University Medical Center in Paterson, where emergency room physicians try to ease patients' pain in ways that don't involve prescribing opioids.
This will "allow providers across the country to use alternative means to address common acute pain, while preventing unnecessary opioids from getting into patients' hands," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9th Dist., who sponsored the original legislation that passed the House.
U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Robert Menendez, D-N.J., sponsored the Paterson measure in their chamber.
"Their success in significantly reducing the use of opioids will rightfully now be a model for the country," Booker said.
Another provision will allow states to use Medicaid funds for drug treatment in facilities with more than 16 beds. New Jersey last year received a waiver to allow such treatment.
It also require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to work to end the spread of infectious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C though needles used to inject opioids and other drugs.
And the Food and Drug Administration will get new authority and additional funding to prevent synthetic opioids such as heroin and fentanyl from reaching the U.S. through overseas mail, including through the international bulk mail center in Secaucus.
"It's law -- the resources and funding our neighbors are counting on to fight opioid addiction are on the way," said Rep. Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist. "We have all seen the struggle in our New Jersey communities and know too many of our neighbors who have lost a loved one to addiction."
Several companies, including Johnson & Johnson, agreed to take steps to help address the opioid crisis, and their executives joined Trump on stage before he signed the measure.
JNJ's representative was Linda Murray, senior vice President of consumer experience and global editor-in-chief of BabyCenter. The company said it was providing information to nurses and physicians to help them address substance abuse and working on an educational campaign on opioid addiction to reach more than 2.5 million people expecting a child.
"Substance abuse and addiction are serious public health issues and we are committed to being part of the ongoing dialogue and doing our part to find ways to address this crisis," the New Brunswick-based company said in a statement.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, noted that Trump was signing the bill at the same time he and congressional Republicans have sought to repeal the Affordable Care Act and have been taking steps to diminish coverage in the interim.
"It is disingenuous at best to promise relief to people struggling with opioid addiction while also attempting to cut funding for Medicaid and eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions, which include opioid use disorder," said Pallone, D-6th Dist.
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Oct 25, 2018 | National Programming
By MSNBC
Video link: https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/06c98388-ad15-4120-9bef-4d0b87ec11b8?token=be58d5b6-8d1f-49e8-897e-f8e5ae032216
Rough Transcript: for some time members of the gop along with the trump administration have aggressively tried to repeal obamacare. however, with 12 days until the midterms, republican candidates are making claims they are the ones working to protect people with preexisting conditions. >> reporter: president trump touting his administration's progress against the opioid epidemic. >> Trump: seized more than 2.8 million pounds of illicit and deadly drugs. >> reporter: the rate of overdose deaths beginning to slow down, but it's another healthcare claim for the president under scrutiny tweeted Republicans would protect people with pre-existing conditions.
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