Ronald Brownstein, Columnist

Want to Keep Fighting Fentanyl? Don’t Cut Medicaid

While Trump is demanding that other countries do more to fight the opioid epidemic, Congress is poised to do less.

May 13, 2025 at 5:30 AM EDT

Ronald Brownstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He is also a CNN analyst and previously worked for The Atlantic, The National Journal and the Los Angeles Times. He has won multiple professional awards and is the author or editor of seven books.

A Trump priority, but what about Congress?
Photographer: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North America

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President Donald Trump says the opioid epidemic is such a clear and present danger that it justifies extraordinary actions against the foreign nations he accuses of facilitating the flow of fentanyl into the US. Meanwhile, his Republican allies in Congress are about to hobble the federal government’s most important domestic tool for fighting opioid addiction: the Medicaid program.

The result is that, just as Trump is demanding that other countries do more to fight the opioid epidemic, Congress is poised to do less.