The White House punted to Congress on opioids funding. Congress doesn’t have a plan
With fewer than two dozen days left on the 2017 legislative calendar, Congress is unlikely to create a major new stream of funding before the new year.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency two weeks ago. Six days later, a White House-appointed panel proposed a national drug court system, a dramatic increase in addiction treatment beds, and what President Trump called “really tough, really big, really great advertising” to warn of the perils of drug use.
Neither the White House nor Congress has suggested how to pay for those measures.
With fewer than two dozen days left on the 2017 legislative calendar, a contentious tax cut pending, and the specter of a government shutdown looming in December, Congress is unlikely to create a major new stream of funding before the new year. Key
