Pennsylvania congressman’s nomination as drug czar in jeopardy
WASHINGTON — A Pennsylvania congressman’s nomination to be national drug czar could be in jeopardy after news reports that a law he sponsored was designed to undermine narcotics enforcement.
President Donald Trump said that U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, R-Lycoming, is “a great guy” and “a very early supporter of mine,” but that he would withdraw Mr. Marino’s nomination to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy if it is “1 percent negative to doing what we want to do.”
Those comments came Monday, the day after “60 Minutes” and The Washington Post teamed up to reveal a lobbying
effort to weaken the Drug Enforcement Administration’s ability to prosecute distributors. Their report centered on Mr. Marino’s legislation, which slid through the House and Senate on voice votes.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., announced Monday she would sponsor legislation to repeal the law.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., on Monday was the first to publicly call on the president to withdraw the nomination. Like the rest of his Senate colleagues, Mr. Manchin had raised no objection when the bill came to the floor last year, but Monday, he said he was “horrified” enough by the news reports to take a stand against Mr. Marino’s nomination.
“We need someone leading the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy who believes we must protect our people, not the pharmaceutical industry,” Mr. Manchin said in a written statement. “We are sent here by the people to represent them, to protect their interests and to improve their lives and create opportunities for everyone. That is why I am demanding the White House pull Rep. Marino’s nomination from consideration.”
Mr. Manchin’s daughter, Heather Bresch, is CEO of Mylan Pharmaceuticals. As one of the country’s top five manufacturers of opioids, Mylan is the subject of an ongoing Senate inquiry into compliance, sales, marketing and contributions to third-party advocacy groups. Ms. McCaskill, the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, launched the investigation to explore manufacturers’ role in opioid addiction.
A Manchin spokesman did not respond to questions about why his boss didn’t oppose Mr. Marino’s Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act when it was before the Senate last year.
Mr. Marino’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
The Washington Post reported that most lawmakers at that time didn’t understand the true impact of the law, which was written by a few members whose political campaigns were heavily financed by the drug industry.
That was the case for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who believed the legislation made only uncontroversial technical changes that had been studied and approved by subject-matter experts on the Senate Judiciary Committee. After Sunday’s news reports, Mr. Casey now opposes it.
“Special interests in Washington conspired to draft legislative language that appeared innocuous and technical yet was anything but,” he said in a written statement. “This legislation should be repealed immediately and DEA’s authority to hold drug distributors to tough standards should be restored.”
“Every member of Congress supported the measure in question and the DEA did not voice any objections,” said a statement from the office of Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. “If there is an unintended or unforeseen consequence of this legislation, Sen. Toomey is open to working across the aisle to find a solution.”
The law limits the DEA’s ability to block suspicious narcotics shipments from distributors to pharmacies. Previously the DEA could intervene in cases of “imminent danger,” but under the Marino law they must show a “substantial likelihood of immediate threat,” which is a more difficult standard to meet.
The Post reported that the law was the “crowning achievement of a multifaceted campaign by the drug industry to weaken aggressive DEA enforcement efforts against drug distribution companies that were supplying corrupt doctors and pharmacists who peddled narcotics on the black market.”
Mr. Marino is in his fourth term in Congress and is a former federal prosecutor. He represents a district that is among the nation’s hardest hit by the opioid epidemic.
“Why are these people sponsoring bills when people in their backyard are dying from drugs that are coming from the same people that these bills that they’re sponsoring are protecting?” the DEA’s former chief industry regulator, Joe Rannazzisi, told “60 Minutes” in the report that aired Sunday.