Washington (December 12, 2023) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security and a member of the U.S. Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking, along with Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), issued the following statement today after the Senate HELP Committee passed the 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. The legislation was included in the larger SUPPORT Reauthorization Act, legislation that passed the HELP Committee today.

“The opioid epidemic has ravaged communities through overdose deaths and the spread of preventable diseases like hepatitis C and HIV,” said Senators Markey and Baldwin. “The federal government has a duty to provide a public health response to this public health crisis. The Eliminating Opioid-Related Infectious Disease Act will continue to empower health care providers and give them the tools they need to help save lives and prevent the spread of disease.”

“As the opioid epidemic continues to devastate families in Indiana and across the country, we must ensure our communities have the tools necessary to help combat the spread of addiction and disease,” said Senator Young. “This commonsense legislation will support ongoing initiatives focused on eliminating the spread of deadly diseases associated with this epidemic.”

In 2018, Senators Markey, Baldwin, and Young secured the passage of legislation to expand the CDC’s initiative to collaborate with states to improve education, surveillance, and treatment of opioid use-related infectious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C.

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