W.Va. Senator Calls For Withdrawal Of President's Drug Czar Nomination
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia is among those on Capitol Hill calling for action after a "60 Minutes" story about the opioid epidemic.
Senator Manchin is asking President Trump to withdraw his nomination for drug czar and has introduced legislation to repeal a law which helped disarm the Drug Enforcement Agency.
The report showed that drug czar nominee Representative Tom Marino sponsored a bill that aimed to make drug enforcement more difficult.
But the bill had the backing of the Justice Department and was sponsored by members of both parties. So no one in Congress thought to question it.
But in the "60 Minutes" report, a former DEA attorney said the law weakened the agency's ability to stop companies from distributing large quantities of opioids to "suspect" outlets.
Senator Manchin says he's horrified: "They made it and camouflaged it so well all of us were fooled. all of us. Nobody knew!"
"There's no oversight now. That bill has to be retracted has to be repealed!" he said.
As for the drug czar nominee, President Trump says Representative Marino was an early supporter of his, but he says he'll look at the situation.
