GOP Senator Marsha Blackburn (R – Tenn.) is holding up spending bill to keep the government funded until the Biden administration provides answers about a controversial program.
The program in question is reported to provide crack pipes to drug addicts from a program intended to help people with substance abuse disorders.
The government is working to avoid a partial shutdown, and the Senate is aiming to pass a three-week government funding bill by February 18th.
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Blackburn’s demands are simple, the Senator clarified stating, “All we want to know is how much money they are using for safe-smoking kits? What is in the kits? Where is this money going? Once I get an answer, I will lift my hold. I’m just waiting for an answer.”
Specifically, a $30 million harm reduction grant operated by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a division of the Health and Human Services Department is in question.
A provision of this program, highlighted by The Washington Free Beacon, provides for safe smoking kits and supplies, which it said could include crack pipes. [READ NEXT: Biden Cabinet Member Resigns]
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra claimed in response that no federal funding will be used to include pipes in smoking kits, and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated that the kits will include things like alcohol swabs to prevent disease transmission.
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