The $1.3 trillion omnibus government funding bill that President Donald Trump signed into law on March 23 includes an amendment by U.S. Reps. Andy Barr (R-KY) and Evan Jenkins (R-WV) to increase federal funding for the nation’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, H.R. 1625, targets $4 billion in total funding for drug treatment, prevention and law enforcement programs to combat the opioid epidemic, which marks “the largest investment to date” for such programs, Rep. Barr said.
“As a direct result of an amendment I offered with Congressman Evan Jenkins, the final bill includes $280 million for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking program, a major increase in our efforts to fight drug trafficking in Eastern Kentucky and other areas ravaged by drug addiction and overdoses,” said Barr.
Specifically, the HIDTA program’s new designated funding amount is $26 million more than the previous year, according to Rep. Evans, who introduced House Amendment (H.Amdt.) 439 on Sept. 13, 2017 to increase program funding. The amendment the same day was accepted and added to H.R. 3354, which proposed providing fiscal year 2018 appropriations for the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies, and which became part of the new overall omnibus spending package.
“This bill is about more than just keeping the government open past Friday – it’s about making critical investments in making our state a better place to live. It’s about funding the fight to stop the opioid crisis from ravaging our communities and costing lives,” Evans said on March 22 following passage of H.R. 1625 by the U.S. House of Representatives on a 256-167 vote. The U.S. Senate passed it 65-32 on March 23.
The HIDTA grant program was created by Congress under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 and directs government monies to federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies in HIDTA-designated areas, which are critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States as determined by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). There are currently 28 designated HIDTAs covering 18 percent of all counties in the United States, and 66 percent of the U.S. population, according to DEA.
Rep. Barr also lauded additional provisions of H.R. 1625 that aim to rebuild the nation’s military, noting that it “fully funds a well-deserved 2.4 percent pay increase for our troops.”
“Importantly for Kentucky, the bill funds the purchase of additional C-130J aircraft which will benefit our Air National Guard, and includes additional funding that I sought for equine assisted-therapy to help our returning warriors recover from the psychological scars of combat,” Barr said.
In addition to supporting critical U.S. military needs, the congressman noted that H.R. 1625 retains several other promises federal lawmakers made to American taxpayers. However, Barr said it’s also “critical that Congress do more to address the true cost drivers of our national debt and offset these investments in discretionary spending with long overdue reforms to our unsustainable mandatory programs.”