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Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY) issued the following statement today in response to President Trump’s announcement regarding the opioid crisis:

“As a candidate, President Trump promised to take care of communities ravaged by the opioid epidemic, like so many in Upstate New York. Today’s announcement is a small step in the right direction, but it took far too long to be announced. President Trump’s own Bipartisan Opioid Commission, chaired by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, recommended this action back in July, accompanied by a significant influx of money. The actions taken today will not provide one penny of additional resources to support prevention and treatment efforts in communities on the front lines of this crisis. Even Congressional Republicans are on the record in support of $45 billion in new funding to address this epidemic. And yet, we see none of that investment today.

“Moreover, since his first day in office, President Trump has attempted to undermine the Affordable Care Act, the single greatest effort made to date to expand health insurance coverage for mental health and addiction services that help to tackle the opioid epidemic.

“With today’s actions, it is abundantly clear that Congress must take the lead on this crisis, and I stand ready with solutions to help. Legislation I have introduced would bolster the addiction treatment workforce. A separate bill would give those reentering society a fighting chance to lead a healthy, drug-free life – something I was heartened to hear the president mention in his comments. I urge my colleagues to act on these items without delay, so that we can begin the work of saving lives and healing our communities. We have to be bold and take action – window dressing will do nothing more than exacerbate this problem.”

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