Alert

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor/HHS), today announced that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has awarded Missouri another $10 million opioid crisis grant. This is the second year in a row Missouri has received $10 million in opioid crisis grant funding.

“In 2016, nearly three Missourians died every day from an opioid overdose,” said Blunt. “Drug overdose deaths have surpassed motor vehicle accidents as the number one accidental cause of death in our state. Addiction is treatable, but only around ten percent of those struggling with the disease get the help they need. This grant funding will provide additional resources to expand and improve treatment and prevention services.”

Blunt secured funding for the opioid crisis grant program in this year’s government funding bill, which was enacted last month. The program was authorized under the Cures Act, which Blunt supported and was signed into law in December 2016.

In addition, as Labor/HHS chairman, Blunt led efforts to increase flexible, state funding this year and his bill provided an additional $1 billion for a new state opioid response grant program. The Department of Health and Human Services is expected to announce this additional funding to states in the coming months.

Blunt continued, “Over the last three years, the committee has increased funding for opioid-related programs by nearly $3.3 billion, or a 1,228 percent increase. I’ll continue working to ensure our communities have the resources they need to address this public health crisis, especially in areas that need it most.”

As chairman, Blunt has led efforts to increase opioid-related funding and repeatedly called for increased resources to combat the epidemic. At a Republican leadership press conference earlier this year, Blunt called for increased resources to address the opioid epidemic. In remarks on the Senate floor and in a recent op-ed, Blunt outlined the steps necessary to combat the opioid epidemic. In December 2017, Blunt held a hearing to examine prevention, treatment, and recovery activities related to the opioid crisis.