Shaheen-Sponsored Legislation to Address Opioid Crisis Passes Senate

Press Release

Today, the Senate passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), legislation co-sponsored by U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) that authorizes a series of new initiatives to help stem the tide of the heroin and opioid crisis. Senator Shaheen voted in favor of the legislation that passed 94 (Y) to 1 (N). Passage of this legislation comes the week after Republicans in the Senate rejected Senator Shaheen's amendment, by a vote of 48 (Y) to 47 (N), to provide emergency funding to states, first responders and treatment providers. Due to obstruction from the Republican majority, her amendment needed to meet a 60 vote threshold to proceed.

"As any police officer or treatment provider in New Hampshire can tell you, they desperately need resources today," said Shaheen. "Not a year from now. Not two years from now--but today. CARA is good legislation that will help fight the heroin pandemic in the long term. However, without real dollars behind this bill, it's the equivalent of offering a life preserver with no air in it. The Senate must rise to meet this challenge as it has done in previous health emergencies. There is simply no excuse for Congress providing emergency funding for the Ebola and swine flu epidemics, while ignoring an opioid crisis that's killing a person a day in the Granite State. My emergency funding legislation will save lives and I will seek every opportunity to pass it."

Many Republicans in the Senate have stated that Senator Shaheen's amendment was unnecessary, claiming that last year's omnibus provided enough funding to federal programs. Senator Shaheen corrected these assertions:

"The omnibus provided a modest boost to key federal programs that had been underfunded for many years," said Shaheen. "This increase was very welcome but it does not begin to address the magnitude of the opioid crisis. Nobody confronting this pandemic will tell you that they're getting the resources they desperately need from the federal government. The omnibus shouldn't be used as an excuse for Congress to ignore the immediate need for resources in New Hampshire and across the country. The omnibus also didn't provide a way to direct funding to first responders and treatment providers quickly. My amendment fast-tracks urgently needed resources specifically to those on the frontlines battling this pandemic."

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act would authorize prevention and education to prevent the abuse of opioids and promote treatment and recovery. It would also expand the availability of the overdose reversal drug Narcan which has saved thousands of lives. Shaheen's emergency funding legislation would provide supplemental appropriations totaling $600 million to programs at the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services.

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