Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Sunday said the presidential opioid commission's inaction is prolonging the nation's opioid epidemic, according to the New York Daily News.
Since President Donald Trump established the Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis via an executive order in March, the group has missed two self-imposed deadlines to issue a report on how the nation should respond to the crisis.
"The administration and the commission needs to stop dragging its feet on steps that could help save lives," said Mr. Schumer, according to the Daily News. "There's money available. The commission is supposed to put the best ways to spend that, and they haven't done that."
Mr. Schumer and 19 other Democratic senators signed a letter to the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, criticizing the commission's slow response. The letter cited recent overdose numbers published by the Daily News, noting the 1,374 drug overdose deaths New York City saw in 2016.
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