Alexander’s Bipartisan Opioid Package Advances With Unanimous Nod

Senator Lamar Alexander’s bipartisan response to the opioid crisis has unanimously advanced out of the health committee that he chairs.

The package of bills includes 40 proposals from 38 different senators and it applies to agencies ranging from the Food and Drug Administration to the Department of Labor.

“Ultimately, it’s not something that can be solved by an agency in Washington, D.C. I wish we could have a single blockbuster idea that an agency here could solve the problem,” he said before Tuesday’s 23-0 vote.

Something happened today in the United States Senate that doesn’t happen very often. Our Senate health committee approved by a unanimous vote of 23 to 0 a bill to deal with our biggest public health epidemic, the opioid crisis. #HELPFightsOpioids pic.twitter.com/6hKFTDRqbn— Sen. Lamar Alexander (@SenAlexander) April 24, 2018

Alexander says the legislation is meant to set the stage for state and local governments to respond, as well as private industry. Several components give flexibility to accelerate development of more non-addictive painkillers, which Alexander has called the “holy grail.”

The U.S. House is also working on a response to the opioid crisis this week, with a subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce committee debating 60 bills in a meeting that may run late into Wednesday night.

Brentwood Republican Marsha Blackburn sits on the panel and has sponsored a bill that focuses on the punitive side of the response, dealing with the FDA’s process in handling suspicious packages of counterfeit drugs from overseas. The Hill reports a full House vote is expected by Memorial Day.