ICYMI: Senator Murray Secures Millions to Stop the Flow of Fentanyl and More in Draft Homeland Security Appropriations Bill
Senator Murray: The fentanyl crisis is an all-hands-on-deck moment that requires support and investment at every level—and with overdose deaths continuing to set new records, there is absolutely no time to waste.”
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Seattle, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, hosted a roundtable discussion with Washington state mayors to discuss the fentanyl crisis affecting local communities across Washington state and ongoing efforts at the local, state, and federal levels to combat the opioid epidemic and the rise of deadly fentanyl. Senator Murray was joined for the discussion by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin, and Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle.
The rate of opioid deaths in Washington state has more than doubled since 2019, led by a surge in deaths from fentanyl—a powerful, synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Fentanyl deaths among children and teens surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, and overdose deaths from fake prescription pills laced with fentanyl have risen dramatically, especially among young people. First responders were called to suspected opioid-related overdoses more than 2,000 times a month across Washington state last year, and by the end of 2023, about 30 people for every 100,000 in Washington state had died of an overdose. Tribal communities have been acutely afflicted—their death rate is quadruple the state average.
“The fentanyl crisis is an all-hands-on-deck moment that requires support and investment at every level—and with overdose deaths continuing to set new records, there is absolutely no time to waste,” said Senator Murray. “Addressing the opioid epidemic has been a longtime priority of mine, and I’ve worked across the aisle for years to get more resources and tools to our communities so they can invest in the programs they are seeing do the most good. As Chair of the Appropriations Committee, I’m focusing on making sure we keep up these efforts to tackle this crisis with everything we’ve got—shortchanging our response to this crisis cannot be an option.”
“Cities and towns across America are grappling with the deadly impacts of the fentanyl and synthetic opioid crisis,” said Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell. “The scale and severity require the engagement of all levels of government—particularly the federal government—to fund dual public health and public safety approaches that will keep our communities safe, hold dealers accountable, and connect people struggling with addiction to treatment services.”
“Fentanyl remains a significant national concern, and it’s essential to acknowledge that numerous cities are grappling with a spectrum of substance abuse challenges, spanning from methamphetamine and cocaine to alcohol and other intoxicants,” said Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards. “Strong federal-local partnership is essential to ensuring that federal law enforcement, local law enforcement, and local prevention and treatment resources are aligned to support the residents in our nation’s communities, and I am thrilled that Senator Patty Murray is hosting this conversation.”
“As the county seat of Snohomish County and the location of the jail, emergency room and most of the social services, the fentanyl crisis is having a particularly detrimental effect on Everett,” said Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin. “From graffiti to street-level crime and gun violence, we’ve found that nearly every serious issue facing our community is caused or exacerbated by these deadly drugs. I’m so grateful to Senator Murray for being our champion, advocating to get us the resources we need to help those who are struggling and to help keep our community safe.”
“We have a fentanyl crisis in Southwest Washington. 30% of all fatalities in Clark County in 2022 were due to overdose, a 97% increase since 2019,” said Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle. “The issue is particularly acute with our homeless population, which has seen more than one overdose fatality per week so far in 2024. One of the contributing factors that led to Vancouver declaring a state of emergency to respond to the homelessness crisis was the increased public health and safety concerns within our homeless population as a result of fentanyl. We need the federal government to increase funding for the support services and facilities that are essential to addressing this crisis.”
As Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray has made addressing the opioid epidemic and the fentanyl crisis a priority in our government funding bills. Despite the tough funding circumstances of the debt ceiling deal, Senator Murray secured a $125 million boost for substance use disorder treatment and prevention in the draft Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations legislation that passed through Committee in July, as well as additional funding to support NIH research into opioid misuse. Senator Murray is currently negotiating final funding bills for Fiscal Year 2024.
Senator Murray led passage earlier this week of the Senate’s national security supplemental package, which included the FEND Off Fentanyl Act—legislation to help U.S. government agencies more effectively disrupt illicit opioid supply chains and penalize those facilitating the trafficking of fentanyl.
In the last major government funding legislation, signed into law in December 2022, Senator Murray secured the inclusion of a mental health and substance use disorder package she negotiated to bolster states’ opioid crisis response efforts and increase access to substance use disorder treatment and overdose reversal medication, among other things. Also in that legislation, Murray secured an additional $345 million—for a total of $5 billion—to address the opioid crisis. In the annual funding bill before that, Murray secured a $300 million boost for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’s work to address substance use disorders, by funding State Opioid Response Grants, overdose prevention work at CDC, among many other things.
As the top Democrat on the Senate HELP Committee in the 115th Congress, Senator Murray negotiated and passed into law the largest-ever federal legislation to tackle the opioid crisis—the SUPPORT Act. Senator Murray is working to reauthorize that bipartisan legislation now.
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