Keating Pleased Obama Administration Taking Action on Opioid Epidemic

As part of his budget proposal, President Obama is including $1.1 billion to address the nation's opioid epidemic.

Congressman William Keating says he's glad the problem is being addressed in a large way by the administration. Speaking on "The Taylor Cormier Show, Keating says if the proposal is approved, $920 million would go toward community-based programs that already exist, which he says will make those programs even more effective. "As much as we're doing things, there's still not enough treatment facilities. There's still not enough education. And what you're looking at is taking those things that are already working, building upon them, and also looking for other areas," said Keating.

$50 million would be used to expand access to substance use treatement providers, with another $30 million being used to evaluate the effectiveness of medication-assisted treatment programs.