Toomey Fights Chinese Opioid Epidemic While Mcginty Demagogues

Press Release

After Senator Pat Toomey called for a crackdown on particularly dangerous opioids from Chinese labs contributing to overdose spikes in Pennsylvania, the Obama administration has responded, announcing an initial agreement with China to start cracking down more on deadly fentanyl flowing to our shores.

"Pat has effectively fought against the opioid epidemic in Pennsylvania while Katie McGinty has done absolutely nothing to help struggling Pennsylvanians," said Toomey for Senate spokesman Ted Kwong. "In a sign Pat's bipartisan leadership, his bill to stem the flow of illicit opioids was signed into law. In contrast, Katie McGinty has accumulated a long career of partisan demagoguery on every issue from taxes to energy to health care that has left Pennsylvanians high and dry."

The Obama administration made this announcement over the weekend:

"The Obama administration on Saturday announced new 'enhanced measures' it will take with China to potentially stem the U.S.-bound flow of fentanyl, the powerful narcotic drug linked to the deaths of thousands of Americans in the past several years. The steps--which included a Chinese commitment to target exported substances that are controlled in the U.S., but not China--also cover drugs that are analogues of fentanyl."

In May, Senator Toomey identified this devastating problem and demanded Secretary of State John Kerry to press the Chinese government to fix it:

"Chinese-made fentanyl is playing such an increasingly tragic role in overdose deaths nationally and in Pennsylvania that U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey recently demanded that the federal government crackdown on its importation and that China offer more cooperation. In a May 20 letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Toomey, R-Lehigh County, urged the Obama administration to pressure the Chinese government to halt the synthetic drug fentanyl and its analogues, or similar designer drugs, from being exported."

BACKGROUND:

Toomey's Efforts To Prevent Opioid Abuse In Medicare Have Already Been Signed Into Law. "U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey's (R-Pa.) proposal to fight the growing scourge of heroin and opioid abuse is on its way to the president's desk to be signed into law after the Senate approved the final version of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) by a vote of 92-2 Wednesday….First, CARA includes a bipartisan bill authored by Toomey and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, to cut down on the diversion of addictive painkillers to the black market, improve care for seniors battling addiction, and save taxpayers nearly $200 million. The Government Accountability Office estimated that nearly 170,000 Medicare beneficiaries were engaged in "doctor shopping" -- where a person visits multiple doctors to get duplicative prescriptions of powerful prescription opioids. The Toomey-Brown measure, which was adopted by the full Senate as an amendment to CARA, will enable Medicare to "lock" those who would cheat the system into a single prescriber and pharmacy." ("Bill to fight opioid abuse goes to president's desk," The Bradford Era, 7/14/16)

After His Letter To Secretary Kerry, Toomey Also Introduced Legislation That Would Force China To Crack Down On Exports Of Illicit Fentanyl. "Toomey has introduced legislation aimed at clamping down on the illicit supply of Fentanyl coming from China by cutting off foreign aid and access to the United States Export Import Bank until stricter regulations are put in place by the country.

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