It has been 63 days since Trump said he would declare the opioid epidemic a national emergency. He still hasn't.

President Trump.
(Image credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) have co-authored a letter to President Trump asking where his opioid epidemic declaration is. It has been 63 days since Trump promised he would declare a crisis, but he has not done so yet.

"On Aug. 10, 2017, you declared that '[t]he opioid crisis is an emergency and I'm officially saying right now it is an emergency — we're going to draw it up and we're doing to make it a national emergency. It is a serious problem of the likes of which we've never had,'" wrote Warren and Murkowski. But while the senators "applaud" Trump for addressing addiction, "we are extremely concerned that 63 days after your statement, you have yet to take the necessary steps to declare a national emergency on opioids, nor have you made any proposals to significantly increase funding to combat the epidemic."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.