House panel rejects new funding for fighting opioids

A package of opioids bills will head to the House floor later this week, but without the new mandatory funding that Democrats have demanded.

The House Rules Committee cleared two bills late Tuesday that attempt to combat opioid and heroin addiction, which kill 72 Americans a day, according to federal figures. The bills, which help to expand access to an antidote called naloxone and improve treatment options, had bipartisan support, but some Democrats were upset that no new amendments adding mandatory funding were allowed.

"None of these measures provide new funding," said Jim McGovern, D-Mass., ranking member of the Rules Committee, which oversees the amendment process for bills before they hit the House floor. "This crisis is so enormous that to not realize that we need to have additional resources to support what works at state or local levels would be a mistake."

One of the bills, the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act of 2016, includes $500 million in funding to fight the addiction crisis. However, that isn't new funding.

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