Congress allowed its landmark opioid-fighting law, the SUPPORT Act, to expire on Sept. 30, but advocates for substance use treatment hope to see some progress on new legislation this fall. Where it stands: Dysfunction in the House, which narrowly avoided a government shutdown last month before Republicans ousted their speaker, brought legislating to a standstill. But with Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) elected to the role on Wednesday, the pace should pick up. The House could bring up its new SUPPORT Act anytime. The Senate hasn’t begun to consider it. The House bill: The Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved a measure in July that would reup the prior version’s funding authorization for prevention, treatment and recovery programs. It would also repeal a 1965 rule prohibiting Medicaid-funded addiction treatment in large mental health institutions, which Congress adopted at the time for fear the states would foist more costs on the federal government. The bill from the panel’s Health Subcommittee chair, Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), would also prohibit states from disenrolling people from Medicaid when they’re incarcerated. The bill would allow their coverage to automatically resume upon release so they’d have health care access at a time when they’re most vulnerable to dying from an overdose. The bill would also permit pregnant people in pretrial detention to retain their Medicaid coverage. “We were hoping to get this moving forward faster,” Guthrie said. “But we're now currently where we are,” adding that he wanted to see his bill passed “as soon as possible.” The Judiciary Committee, which has partial jurisdiction over the bill, advanced the legislation at the end of September on a 29-3 vote. The panel included a measure that would make the horse sedative xylazine — which drug traffickers are adding to illicit fentanyl to deadly effect — a Schedule III controlled substance, for three years, subject to additional regulation. And in the Senate? The ranking Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, has proposed a bill, but no Democrat has. Missing the deadline to re-up the SUPPORT Act “puts vital resources in jeopardy,” Cassidy said in a statement.
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