Police officers check on a man who said he was smoking fentanyl in downtown Seattle last year. | John Moore/Getty ImagesAmerica’s drug overdose crisis is out of control. Washington, despite a bipartisan desire to combat it, is finding its addiction-fighting programs are failing.
Asked why the Senate committee with responsibility for the law hasn’t even begun to consider it, Chair said other priorities had precedence. “We’re working on a myriad of problems,” he said after listing his efforts to shore up the primary care system and lower drug prices. President Joe Biden is frustrated as well, even as he has not openly pressured lawmakers to pass the bill.
Grants to improve access to treatment and recovery have expired but the funding will continue if Congress already appropriated the money.