CHERRY HILL, N.J. — Less than three months after President Donald Trump declared the U.S. opioid crisis a public health emergency, the nation’s governors called on his administration and Congress to provide more money and coordination for the fight against the drugs, which are killing more than 90 Americans a day.
The list of more than two dozen recommendations made Thursday by the National Governors Association is the first coordinated, bipartisan response from the governors since Trump’s declaration.
While praising the president for taking a first step, which included a pledge to support states’ efforts to pay for drug treatment through Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for low-income people, the governors also called for more action.
They said the crisis was beginning to erode the nation’s workforce and undermine companies’ ability to hire.