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The Trump administration is awarding nearly $2 billion in grants to states and local governments to help fight the opioid crisis. Health and Human Services Secretary Alexander Azar says the grants come from money that President Donald Trump secured from Congress last year. Trump says "nothing is more important than defeating the opioid and addiction crisis." (9/4)

About $930 million in funding approved by Congress will go to states and some territories with a focus on prevention and treatment, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a press call. The programs are broad and include expanding rural telemedicine, support for obtaining the overdose reversal drug naloxone and prevention programs, he said. “We know we have more work to do,” Mr. Azar said. “More Americans still need treatment.” Another $900 million in grants over three years will go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help most states, localities and territories track overdose data and develop strategies on treatment. (Armour, 9/4)

The president, joined by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, highlighted his administration’s efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, which include reducing the high cost of drug prescriptions, increasing illegal drug seizures, raising awareness through national anti-drug campaigns as well as improving reporting of opioid-related deaths. (Subramanian, 9/4)

Although state response grants by law have to focus on opioids, Azar added, they're meant to help states with the infrastructure they can use to manage treatment of other addictions. Azar estimated that opioid prescriptions have declined by 31% under the Trump administration. Medication-assisted treatment for Americans addicted to opioids is up by 38% and naloxone prescriptions are up 378% in the same time frame. (Luthi, 9/4)

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle reacted positively to the announcement. The state opioid response grant program was created under the law known as 21st Century Cures (PL 114-255). "These new funds will help our efforts to combat the opioid epidemic that continues to grip our state," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who has been active in legislative efforts related to the epidemic. "My visits to treatment and recovery facilities around the state have again highlighted the need for additional resources to support education, treatment and recovery programs that work." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., whose state also has been hard hit, also praised the move. (Raman, 9/4)

Trump administration officials announced Wednesday morning that New Hampshire will receive more than $26 million in a new round of federal grants designed to combat the opioid crisis. The bulk of that money, about $22 million, comes in the second installment of a State Opioid Response grant that was originally approved by Congress and awarded to New Hampshire in 2018. (Moon, 9/4)

Dave Mara, Gov. Chris Sununu’s advisor on addiction and behavioral health, said the grant will help gather more data, and show a more complete understanding of the opioid epidemic. The funds will allow the state to study emergency department data, information from medical examiners’ reports and other data to find and understand patterns, and use that knowledge to better target prevention and treatment programs. (Albertson, 9/4)

U.S. Sens Todd Young and Mike Braun, both Indiana Republicans, issued a news release Wednesday saying Indiana will receive will receive $18,147,223 of that grant funding. “As I travel across Indiana, it is clear that no community has been spared from the harmful impacts of opioids,” Young said in a news release issued jointly by the Hoosier senators. “Today’s announcement is welcome news for Indiana as we fight to curb this devasting opioid epidemic. More funding will allow more access to prevention services and treatment options for countless Hoosiers struggling with opioid addiction across our state.” (9/4)

Kentucky will receive a $31.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to combat the state's opioid epidemic, part of a federal program created in 2016 to address the nationwide crisis. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced the grant in a news release Wednesday, touting the 21st Century Cures (CURES) Act he advanced to create the State Opioid Response Grants Program. (Sonka, 9/4)

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday announced that Ohio will get $55.8 million in grants to fight the drug epidemic - part of $1.8 billion that the Centers for Disease Control and the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration awarded across the nation. The only two states that got more money were California, which got $69.8 million, and Pennsylvania - which got $55.9 million. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said the Ohio Department of Health will distribute the money awarded to the state. (Eaton, 9/4)

In a boost to its fight against the opioid epidemic, Connecticut will receive a combined $17 million from two federal agencies to track overdoses and expand access to treatment. The state will get $11.1 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to broaden its availability of medication-assisted treatment, which combines behavioral therapy and medicine to treat addiction. (Lyons, 9/4)

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, on Wednesday announced that the Vermont Department of Health will soon receive its third State Opioid Response (SOR) grant of $4,020,896 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Vermont now has been awarded a total of $10,140,700 from SAMHSA through SOR grants since the inception of the grant program. (9/4)

The Trump administration is awarding nearly $2 billion in grants to states and local governments to help fight the opioid crisis, including $46.7 million for Tennessee, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Collins, 9/4)

Utah will receive nearly $24 million in federal funding to combat the state’s opioid crisis — where its number of opioid deaths ranks 21st in the nation — by expanding access to treatment and gathering data on the drug overdose crisis. (Bojorquez, 9/4)

The office of Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said Nebraska received over $4 million. In a statement, Fischer said the money "represents another important step in our ongoing fight to combat drug addiction, which continues to harm our families and communities.'' (9/4)

The union representing career HHS employees is accusing the agency spearheading the Trump administration’s response to the opioid crisis of engaging in a series of illegal labor practices, according to multiple sources and a notice obtained by POLITICO. The National Treasury Employees Union is in the process of filing “many grievances” against the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, including a complaint over the sudden elimination in August of telework accommodations for disabled employees, the union’s national president told POLITICO. (Diamond, 9/4)