House panel to take up opioid bills next week

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will vote next week on a dozen bills aimed at stopping the opioid epidemic that its chairman believes are on track to easily pass the House by next month.

Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) announced in a Facebook video on Thursday his committee will move forward with a markup of 12 bills, all of which passed unanimously out of the health subcommittee on Wednesday.

{mosads}“From there, literally [the bills] are going to be on the House floor, first or second week in May, where we expect strong bipartisan support for their passage,” Upton said.

The slate of bills include grants for co-prescribing opioid reversal drugs and requiring the Food and Drug Administration to consult outside groups before approving certain products. The House Bipartisan Task Force on Opioid Abuse has endorsed many of the measures.

The House is entering the debate on opioids that last flared in the Senate two months ago, when members reached a rare agreement and approved a bill 94-1. 

GOP leaders are planning to hold a vote on the House floor the first week in May, teeing up an accomplishment for members to tout on the campaign trail ahead of the November elections.  

As many as eight bills could be voted on, according to a Democratic leadership aide. The final bill will be the work of at least four House committees: Energy and Commerce, Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Education and the Workforce.