Baldwin Helps Advance Bipartisan Bill to Address Opioid and Fentanyl Crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin helped pass major legislation out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee to address the opioid and fentanyl crisis by investing in prevention, treatment recovery, and law enforcement efforts. The bipartisan Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2023, or SUPPORT Act included key provisions Senator Baldwin authored to train first responders to prevent overdoses, combat opioid-related infectious diseases, and improve the health of expecting mothers and their children, among other things.

“Too many families know the pain of losing a loved one too soon to a drug overdose or poisoning," said Senator Baldwin. “As we continue to see the sharp rise in poisonings and overdoses caused by synthetic drugs like fentanyl, we need to fight this epidemic on all fronts – making sure that these drugs cannot come into our country, our law enforcement have the resources they need, and our communities have access to life-saving overdose reversal drugs. I am happy to have worked with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to advance this needed legislation, help fight this growing crisis, and save lives.” 

In response to the opioid epidemic, Congress originally passed the SUPPORT Act in 2018 – legislation that focused on prevention, treatment, and recovery services for opioid misuse, including fentanyl. Now, Congress is working to reauthorize many of the provisions and add to their efforts to combat the opioid and substance use disorder crisis.

The SUPPORT Act incorporates a number of Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan bills, including:

• Safe Response Act -Bipartisan legislation to ensure that first responders and other essential community members have access to training on how to use life-saving reversal drugs, like naloxone.
• Bruce’s Law – Bipartisan legislation to bolster federal prevention and education efforts surrounding fentanyl.
• Eliminating Opioid-Related Infectious Disease Act –  Bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) ongoing initiative to eliminate the risk of infectious disease caused by substance use disorder to continue through 2028.
• FASD Respect Act – Bipartisan legislation to collect data collection on prenatal smoking, alcohol, and other substance misuse, in addition to the outcomes associated with such activities on children’s health.
• PACE Act – Bipartisan legislation that codifies a program to support State, territories, Indian Tribes or Tribal organizations, and local governments in carrying out public health activities to prevent or reduce adverse childhood experiences.
• EFFECTIVE Act – Bipartisan legislation to allow the FDA to deny a new drug application for an opioid analgesic drug on the basis of the drug not being clinically superior to other commercially available drugs.

The SUPPORT Act also includes a key provision that Senator Baldwin advocated for that would reauthorize and improve the CDC’s Overdose Data to Action program to ensure that communities who receive grants as part of the program are able to use funding for emerging substances of concern, such as xylazine.

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