April 21, 2021 6:05 AM By Brandon Lee
The House and Senate are moving forward with dueling extensions of a ban on highly addictive fentanyl analogues that expires on May 6.
The extension would keep the governmentâs ability to classify fentanyl-like substances as one of the most strictly controlled drugs, a tool President Joe Bidenâs administration has defended as necessary to fight synthetic opioids.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called for the ban to be made permanent during remarks on the Senate floor yesterday. âWe should not just kick the can down the road for two months or five months or 12 months,â McConnell said.
Bill reflects a proposal in Bidenâs infrastructure plan
Initiative includes 5-year fund to reconnect neighborhoods April 19, 2021 1:42 PM By Lillianna Byington
Democrats began translating President Joe Bidenâs infrastructure plan into legislation Monday with a bill to reconnect urban communities cut off by highways.
The bill from Senate Democrats, led by Environment and Public Works Chairman Tom Carper (Del.), would create grants to finance the removal or retrofitting of highway overpasses and depressed highways that have harmed neighborhoods often occupied by low-income individuals and communities of color.
The legislation would authorize $15 billion over five years for the program. Bidenâs $2.25 trillion infrastructure and jobs package released last month proposed $20 billion for a new plan âto reconnect neighborhoods cut off by historic investments and ensure new projects increase opportunity, advance racial equity and environmental justice,
Republican cites mismanagement in opposing new transit funding
Democrats push for larger share of federal spending April 15, 2021 3:44 PM By Lillianna Byington
Transit is emerging as a key partisan split as lawmakers draft legislation to reauthorize surface transportation programs and respond to President Joe Bidenâs $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan.
Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said transit agencies have already received enough money from the federal government. Congress provided agencies with more than $82 billion in regular annual funding and several Covid-19 relief packages over the past year, Toomey said during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing Thursday.
âWe sent all these billions of dollars to transit agencies without requiring any kind of reforms to be implemented,â Toomey, the panelâs ranking member, said. âLetâs face it, the financial woes of many big city transit agencies long predate Covid.â No othe
18 GOP senators want FBI inquiry into Kahlâs social media
Kahl nomination has yet to advance to a full Senate vote April 13, 2021 7:36 PM By Roxana Tiron (Updates with FBI response in eighth paragraph.)
The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee joined 18 GOP senators in seeking an FBI probe into whether Colin Kahl, one of President Joe Bidenâs Pentagon nominees, publicly disclosed classified or sensitive information on social media.
Jim Inhofe, the panelâs ranking member, said Tuesday he supports the request for an investigation and the Senate should review the results before voting on Kahlâs nomination.
Civil rights groups want fentanyl-like substance ban to end
A record 85,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2020 April 14, 2021 12:13 PM By Alex Ruoff (Updates throughout with hearing comments from the head of the ONDCP and Rep. Anna Eshoo.)
President Joe Biden is facing a crucial test of his promise to reduce overdose deaths in the U.S. through addiction treatment, civil rights and drug policy groups say.
The imminent expiration of a ban on highly addictive fentanyl analogues could complicate Bidenâs preferred approach, which is focused on safe and supervised opioid use, medication-assisted treatment, and reducing the flow of illicit substances into the U.S. Those policies diverge from the previous administrationâs, which embraced crackdowns on the opioid trade alongside addiction treatment.