White House attacks House Republicans over fentanyl

The White House on Tuesday attacked House Republicans over fentanyl, saying allowing a government shutdown would mean not providing funding to fight trafficking of the drug.

Some far-right House members have embraced the idea of a shutdown, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who warned last week that she would not vote to fund the government if the House doesn’t vote to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

“House Republicans have a stark choice to make: will they honor their word, meet their responsibility to avoid a shutdown, and act on life and death priorities like fighting the fentanyl crisis?” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a memo released Tuesday.

“Or will they break their promise and choose to shut down the government — hurting our economy, undermining our disaster preparedness, and forcing our troops to work without getting their paychecks — all to appease Marjorie Taylor Greene and her far-right friends’ demands for a baseless impeachment stunt simply to politically attack the President?” he added.

The statement comes after the Biden administration announced more than $450 million in new funding to combat the overdose epidemic. Overall, the administration is urging Congress to provide $800 million to fight fentanyl trafficking and stop the drug from being illegally imported from China, according to the memo.

The memo also included statements from GOP lawmakers who have said fentanyl is a top issue, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who last month likened the number of fentanyl overdoses in the U.S. to “an airliner crashing every day” and said “if that happened, we would all be demanding action to keep Americans safe. It’s past time we do the same for the fentanyl epidemic.”

While the House, Senate and Biden agreed earlier this year to a deal to raise the debt ceiling, conservatives have since balked at the spending levels set by that agreement. Congress has until Sept. 30 to agree to a government funding measure. 

“Again, House Republicans have a pressing choice to make: do they keep their commitment to the country and provide the resources we need to address our urgent challenges, or do they set back the most critical needs of the American people by deciding that a baseless impeachment stunt demanded by Marjorie Taylor Greene and their most extreme members is somehow more important?” Bates said.

Biden last week called for a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government.