Plans for drug abuse emergency join others in the slow lane
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017. Credit: AP/Evan Vucci
One month ago, President Donald Trump said he was about to brand widespread opioid abuse a national emergency. “It’s a serious problem the likes of which we’ve never had,” he said.
Formally declaring an emergency would allow federal agencies to quickly take steps and tap more funds for treatment and prevention.
Trump said Aug. 10 the White House was drawing up the necessary documents.
There has been no visible action since.
“The president’s policy advisers are working through the details with all of the relevant components and agencies,” a spokesman said. Monday. “Right now, these actions are undergoing a legal review.”
Sometimes, what Trump proclaims to be a matter of urgency one month can end up on a back burner the next for practical, political or legal reasons.
The White House’s partial ban on travelers from a half-dozen mostly Muslim nations continues grinding through the courts.
The ban was initially announced in January as giving the government time to “improve screening and vetting protocols and procedures.”
Even now, it is difficult to tell if this improvement has been carried out.
Obamacare remains the law of the land. Before Congress failed to repeal and replace it as vowed, Trump warned that so-called cost-sharing payments to insurance companies would end. They have not yet.
High-profile efforts to crush the violent drug gang MS-13 are met with widespread public approval on Long Island. But they are carried out by the Justice Department and local agencies with an acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York in office.
U.S. Attorney Robert Capers was told to resign in March and did so. Bridget M. Rohde, who was his chief assistant, is still serving in the interim. Six months later, no candidate for a successor to Capers has been nominated. The same is true for the U.S. attorney for the Southern District in Manhattan.
In the four weeks that have passed since Trump’s “fire and fury” warning to North Korea, those expecting a clear resolution to the rogue nation’s nuclear threat still wait.
There has been nonmilitary action. On Monday, spokesmen for Kim Jong Un issued a typical warning that the U.S. would pay a “due price” for harsher sanctions pending before the UN Security Council.
“The DPRK is ready and willing to use any form of ultimate means,” the statement said.
The crisis will be with us a while, wherever it may be heading.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
