Heart of Gold –
Oct. 23, 2018 – A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) looked at the results of that emergency declaration. The report found little came out of the declaration. According to the GAO audit obtained exclusively by Vox, the declaration enabled the Trump administration to make use of three new authorities — clearing paperwork requirements for a survey of health care providers about addiction treatment, allowing two states to move forward faster with programs to address the opioid crisis, and expediting support for research about opioid addiction and overdoses. None of this is bad, but it’s certainly not groundbreaking — particularly for an overdose crisis that’s broken records for overdose deaths year over year, reaching an estimated 72,000 drug overdose deaths in 2017. Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who along with other Democrats requested the GAO audit, criticized the Trump administration for what they see as inaction…
