U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut says he’s glad that the Senate passed a bill to combat the nation’s opioid crisis. It includes a couple of provisions he co-sponsored. He says he’s now urging his colleagues to appropriate the money to implement the program.
Democrat Murphy’s Recovery Coaches Offer Addiction Counseling & Healing (COACH) Act is a bipartisan bill he co-sponsored with Republican U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. Inspired by Connecticut’s Recovery COACH program, it would provide federal grants to states to ensure that individuals with substance use disorders have access to specifically trained coaches who are also in recovery to serve as mentors. Murphy says he’s now got to get his colleagues to appropriate the money.
“Sometimes it’s easier to get Republicans to support setting up a grant program, sometimes harder to get them to support putting money into it. But that’s the next step. And I’ve been successful in the past establishing programs for mental health and addiction and then getting the money..”
Murphy says his hope is to get $10 to $20 million into the fund to start. Murphy’s other provision in the opioid bill was co-sponsored with Democratic U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. It would ensure that children who spend time in the juvenile justice system continue to receive health care coverage under Medicaid after they are released from custody.
