During Monday’s impromptu press conference, President Trump pledged to officially declare the opioid crisis a national emergency.
‘We are going to have a major announcement, probably next week, on the drug crisis and on the opioid massive problem and I want to get that absolutely right,’ Trump said.
Turns out, according to Politico’s reporting, that Trump’s opioid announcement was just as spontaneous as his decision to hold the Rose Garden presser, with officials now scrambling to come up with a plan to deal with the deadly drug epidemic.
President Trump announced on Monday that he planned to label the opioid crisis a national emergency, a move that White House and agency staffers aren’t prepared for, Politico found
Last month, first lady Melania Trump (left) hosted a opioid abuse roundtable, which was attended by Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway (right)
Earlier this month, first lady Melania Trump (center), along with Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway (second from right) traveled to West Virginia to visit the country’s first non-profit infant recovery center
‘They are not ready for this,’ said one of Politico’s sources, described as a public health advocate who had spoken with officials from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Trump administration has held a number of events – including two with the first lady, last month and this – in which members of the administration are listening to citizens’ concerns, but no action plan has actually been drafted.
But there’s been an internal debate over whether the president should actually release an emergency declaration.
That tool of the executive is mostly used to guide federal dollars and assistance toward natural disasters, occurring in a specific geographic region and with a definitive end date.
OMB Director Mick Mulvaney along with now former HHS Secretary Tom Price, Politico wrote, had opposed issuing an emergency declaration because it would cost billions and legal questions could arise.
Price, who was forced to resign in September over taking private flights, had argued that the government could fight the crisis without the official declaration.
‘We believe that at this point, the resources that we need or the focus that we need to bring to bear to the opioid crisis can be addressed without the declaration of an emergency,’ Price said a month before he resigned. ‘Although, all things are on the table for the president,’ the HHS secretary added.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is chairing Trump’s opioid commission, told the Associated Press on Oct. 10 that ‘it’s not good’ the president has yet to deem it a national emergency.
At that time the White House explained the delay by saying crafting an official declaration was an ‘involved process.’
Politico’s reporting suggests the process wasn’t far enough along for Trump to suggest that next week would be showtime.
The publication talked to officials from the White House, a half dozen federal agencies, state health directors and lobbyists who explained that there’s no consensus on how to implement an emergency declaration on something like this.
What’s certainly not helpful is that there are major vacancies at the top.
Beyond Price, whose replacement has yet to be named, Trump just announced a new Department of Homeland Security head, Chief of Staff John Kelly’s No. 2 Kirstjen Nielsen.
Nielsen now has to be confirmed by the Senate.
Trump’s pick to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., had to withdraw, after he reportedly helped push a law that was friendly to the prescription drug lobby, which hampered the Drug Enforcement Agency’s efforts to curb opioid use.
Additionally, the DEA needs a new leader too.
Trump had originally called the opioid epidemic an ’emergency’ in August, making the proclamation – but not issuing any sort of order – from the steps of his Bedminster, New Jersey resort.
‘The opioid crisis is an emergency, and I am saying, officially, right now, it is an emergency. It’s a national emergency,’ Trump said then. ‘We’re going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis.’
‘It is a serious problem the likes of which we have never had,’ the president added.