War on Death –
April 11, 2018 – WASHINGTON – The opioids epidemic that is ripping apart lives across the country appears to be uniting Republicans and Democrats in Congress. “I know of no other issue right now that commands the attention of so many members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate committee that oversees health care issues. Four committees in the House and the Senate are holding hearings Wednesday on an assortment of bills looking at different ways to combat the epidemic, which resulted in more than 42,000 opioid overdose deaths in 2016 and which experts agree is growing worse. Alexander is pushing for his committee to send a bipartisan opioids package to the Senate floor by the end of the month. The goal in the House is to pass a sweeping opioids bill by Memorial Day.
