By Rep. Rob Portman For years, the United States has struggled to overcome an epidemic of addiction that has devastated communities in Ohio and across the country. Unfortunately, recent data suggests that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic worsened this crisis. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), at least 81,000 people died from a fatal drug overdose between June 2019 and May 2020 -- the highest 12-month total in our nation's history. Before this spike, we were making real progress in the fight against addiction -- in 2018, nationwide drug overdose deaths declined for the first time in nearly three decades. Federal laws I authored like the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) and CARA 2.0 provided state and local government and nonprofit groups with support for proven prevention, recovery, and treatment programs to help addicted individuals heal. Over the past decade, I have visited addiction recovery centers, addiction and mental health boards, and nonprofits across Ohio, from Cleveland to Cincinnati, from Toledo to Portsmouth and beyond, to talk about what should be done to build on CARA. I took what I heard at those productive conversations back to Washington and got to work on the next step in the fight against addiction. The result is new bipartisan CARA 3.0 legislation I recently introduced to build on the successes of CARA and CARA 2.0 and expand its scope to ensure all Americans fighting addiction have the chance to overcome this disease. It will do so by addressing three important areas: research and education, treatment and recovery, and criminal justice reform. First, CARA 3.0 will bolster our work to prevent drug abuse before it happens through funding for research and education. This includes a national drug awareness campaign and research and development of alternative pain treatment methods that don't lead to addiction. And CARA 3.0 will also take the important step of addressing the disproportionate effect the addiction crisis has had on people in poverty and communities of color through a national commission to help develop better treatments and best practices for overdoses. Second, our bill will build upon what works in how we treat addiction. It will double down on proven, evidence-based addiction treatment methods while expanding treatment options for groups particularly vulnerable to addiction, including young people, new and expecting mothers, rural communities, and communities of color. And it will make permanent the current expanded telehealth options for addiction treatment that were created in response to the social distancing required by the COVID-19 pandemic. CARA 3.0 will also bolster the recovery options for individuals working to put addiction behind them through funding to support recovery support services and networks. It will enable physicians to provide medication-assisted addiction treatments like methadone and buprenorphine to a greater number of patients, and allow those drugs to be prescribed via telehealth for greater ease of access. Our bill will also destigmatize addiction recovery in the workplace by ensuring that taking one of these medications to treat addiction does not count as a drug-free workplace violation. Finally, CARA 3.0 reforms our criminal justice system to ensure that those struggling with addiction, including our veterans, are treated with fairness and compassion by the law, putting them on a path to recovery instead of a downward spiral of abuse. Importantly, CARA 3.0 funds a Department of Justice grant program to help incarcerated individuals struggling with addiction to receive medication-assisted treatment while they are still in the criminal justice system. This is a key step in breaking the cycle of incarceration. It also empowers law enforcement officials to immediately direct individuals they encounter struggling with addiction to appropriate treatment services instead of arresting them. This will reduce stigma, help more individuals get treatment and minimize the risk of overdoses. CARA and CARA 2.0 have given states and local communities new resources and authorities to make a real difference in our state. CARA 3.0 renews and strengthens these programs and provides a significant boost in funding as well. When added with existing CARA programs that are reauthorized through 2023, we will be investing well over $1 billion to address this long-standing epidemic, putting us on the path toward a brighter future free from addiction. The tragic rise in overdose deaths during COVID-19 underscores the need for CARA 3.0. My hope is that we can come together quickly and pass this important bipartisan legislation to once again turn the tide of addiction and help all Americans live up to their God-given potential.

By Sen. Rob Portman Drug-related overdoses, especially those attributed to opioids, are surging during the coronavirus pandemic. With over 500,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19, policymakers are rightly focused on vaccines, therapies, testing and other public health measures. But we can't ignore the growing drug epidemic and risk it spiraling even further out of control. More than 40 states have reported an increase in opioid-related deaths during the pandemic, the American Medical Association reports. And more than 81,000 people died of drug overdoses between May 2019 and May 2020 -- the highest 12-month total in our nation's history -- according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Looking specifically at opioids, the CDC says fentanyl overdose deaths rose nearly 40 percent over that period, the largest spike of any drug. This deadly, synthetic drug knows no ZIP code and is devastating individuals and families all across the country. Fentanyl has become a significant problem in my home state of Ohio, where state troopers seized a total of 129 pounds of fentanyl in 2020 -- enough to kill more than 60 million people. We must act quickly to reverse these troubling trends and return to the hopeful progress we were seeing over the past few years. In part because of the anti-drug legislation we passed in Congress, nationwide overdose deaths declined in 2018 for the first time since 1990. Congress can help by passing a bipartisan bill I introduced with Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., to more effectively confront one of the biggest drivers in the overdose spike -- illicitly manufactured fentanyl -- and address a looming deadline on May 6. Fentanyl is a drug 50 to 100 times deadlier than morphine; just one pound of it is lethal enough to kill nearly half a million people. What's more, fentanyl is often found laced in with other drugs, including psychostimulants like methamphetamines and cocaine, further complicating our efforts to combat its deadly effects. It is cheaply and illegally manufactured in China and often then laced with other drugs and smuggled across our southern border or sent directly into the country through the U.S. mail. In order to avoid prosecution, prior to 2018, drug traffickers started making slight modifications to fentanyl, sometimes adjusting a single molecule and creating what are called fentanyl analogues. While analogues have the same narcotic properties as fentanyl, their tiny variations allow them to evade prosecution. In recognition of the dangers posed by this situation, the Drug Enforcement Agency in 2018 used its authority to temporarily classify fentanyl analogues as Schedule I substances, which are a class of drugs considered to have no medical use but a high potential for abuse. Scheduling fentanyl analogues in this manner allows law enforcement to aggressively intercept and destroy these substances. Unfortunately, this designation was only temporary. In 2019, Congress was able to extend that designation until May 6, 2021. But after that, criminals who run labs in China and Mexico will be able to avoid law enforcement as they flood the U.S. with unlimited deadly fentanyl. Our bipartisan FIGHT Fentanyl Act would fix this problem by permanently classifying fentanyl analogues as Schedule I. While there will be more work to do to turn the tide of addiction and protect our communities against synthetic opioids, this would be an important step toward rededicating our efforts to stop these drugs from stealing thousands of lives and causing so much pain. The COVID-19 crisis will continue to be at the forefront of our minds as we work to defeat this unprecedented pandemic, but Congress must also continue its work to address the addiction crisis in our country. This is an epidemic that preceded COVID-19 and will sadly likely persist afterward. Now is the time to redouble our efforts to ensure we can stem the tide of addiction and save lives. Passing the FIGHT Fentanyl Act and other bipartisan initiatives in the new Congress would do just that.

By Rob Portman Our country seems more divided along partisan lines than at any time I can remember. That's why I was pleased to hear President Biden encourage bipartisanship in his inaugural address. I agree with his statement that, at "our historic moment of crisis and challenge ... unity is the path forward." Unfortunately, that rhetoric has not yet been matched by action. Most disappointing is the partisan approach the new administration is taking to the covid-19 pandemic, one of the few areas where there has been real bipartisanship over the past year. We know covid policy can be bipartisan, because Congress already passed five laws appropriating more than $4 trillion with huge bipartisan majorities. The most recent $900 billion package passed at the end of December by a vote of 92 to 6. The basis for this year-end legislation came from a bipartisan group of five Democrats and five Republicans who worked over several weeks to come up with the $900 billion consensus package. As a member of that group, I am convinced we can find that common ground again. Yet the new administration has chosen to go around Republicans this time, not just by proposing a huge $1.9 trillion package with no consultation with any Republican -- or Democrat -- in the bipartisan working group, but also by trying to pass the $1.9 trillion plan under reconciliation, bypassing the normal 60-vote Senate margin. In a 50-50 Senate, Democrats seem determined to proceed without a single Republican vote. Trying to find a way forward together, I worked with nine of my Republican Senate colleagues over the past month to develop a targeted $618 billion covid-19 response proposal that can gain significant bipartisan support. Our plan focuses on priorities we share with the president, including providing the same increase in funding for producing and distributing vaccines; offering economic relief for Americans with the greatest need; extending enhanced federal unemployment benefits; supporting our small businesses; helping get kids back to school; and addressing the drug addiction epidemic that is a heartbreaking part of the pandemic. Our approach builds on the $900 billion package that Congress recently passed, barely half of which has been spent thus far. We were hopeful that the administration would be interested in good-faith negotiations. Instead, administration officials are insisting on provisions that Republicans oppose. For instance, under the Democrats' plan, stimulus checks will go to a family making up to $200,000 a year, even if they haven't borne the brunt of the pandemic. The package also includes numerous items that have nothing do with covid-19, amounting to a wish list of Democratic policy priorities. Many of us also have concerns over the economic effects the Biden administration plan could have on the economy. Prominent Democratic economist Lawrence H. Summers and others have warned that the stimulus in the massive $1.9 trillion plan could overheat an already recovering economy and lead to higher inflation, hurting middle-class families and threatening long-term growth. Recently, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that the economy is expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels by midyear without any new stimulus. The consensus among many economists is that even absent any new coronavirus legislation, 2021 will bring higher economic growth and lower unemployment. Instead of adding to our record debt and deficits with a massive $1.9 trillion package that is not justified by the current conditions, we should focus on the most urgent economic and health-care needs of the American people. That's what our more targeted Republican proposal does. The Biden administration's partisan approach repeats the same mistake that Barack Obama made early in his presidency. It sets the wrong tone for the beginning of a new administration and risks undermining other bipartisan efforts going forward. Past presidents showed they can get big things done early in a new administration by working with both parties. President Bill Clinton famously worked with Republicans in 1993 to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement. President Ronald Reagan's economic reforms of 1981 passed the Senate by an overwhelming margin of 89 to 11. President George H.W. Bush rallied both parties to support the Americans With Disabilities Act before the two-year mark in his term. President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act passed both chambers with widespread support. In contrast, Obama's first order of business was to ram through a nearly $800 billion stimulus proposal on a nearly party-line basis. There was plenty of partisanship in the Trump administration, but on covid-19 we worked together each time. Biden faces an early choice. He can act on the hopeful bipartisan rhetoric of his inaugural address -- and his presidential campaign -- or contradict that message by trying to jam a $1.9 trillion bill through reconciliation with no GOP support. Working together has the benefit of crafting more-targeted policies, while showing a divided country that we can unite at a time of crisis.