Senator Shaheen, Senate Democratic Caucus Decry Congressional Inaction on Critical Issues Ahead of Long Senate Recess

**Shaheen calls on Congress to Pass Emergency Funding to address the opioid crisis.** 

**Shaheen: How many more people need to die before Congress takes this epidemic seriously?**

You can watch Senator Shaheen’s full remarks here 

(Washington, DC) – Today, ahead of the seven-weeklong-recess, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) joined Minority Leader Reid, Senators Feinstein, Murray, Booker, and members of the Democratic Caucus to call on GOP leadership to address gun violence, establish funding to combat the opioid crisis, put forward bipartisan Zika legislation, and do their job by holding a hearing and vote for President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Merrick Garland. Shaheen focused on the dire need for Congress to pass emergency funding to stem the tide of the opioid and heroin crisis in New Hampshire and across the country. Yesterday, the Senate passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), which authorizes support for treatment providers and law enforcement’s efforts to combat drug trafficking, but does not provide funding for these programs.

Discussing the growing opioid and fentanyl crisis Shaheen said, “These are lives cut short, more families devastated, more communities robbed, even deadlier drugs are being dealt on the streets, and yet, Congress still is not treating this epidemic like an emergency. That is just shameful. How many more people need to die before Congress takes this epidemic seriously?

Shaheen continued, “It’s time for Congress to do its job, to treat this epidemic like the public health emergency that it is, to put a funding bill on the President’s desk that will begin to stem the tide of this epidemic.

You can watch Senator Shaheen’s remarks here.

Shaheen has continued to lead the effort in Congress to pass emergency supplemental funding for those on the frontlines of the opioid addiction crisis. Her legislation would provide supplemental appropriations totaling $600 million to programs at the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services that focus on treatment and recovery, as well as state and local law enforcement initiatives.