President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that drug czar nominee Rep. Tom Marino (R.. Pa.) had withdrawn his name from consideration for the position.
The announcement came in the aftermath of a joint report between the Washington Post and "60 Minutes" outlining Marino's pushing of a bill weakening the Drug Enforcement Administration's authority to keep companies from distributing addictive opioids.
At a press conference at the White House on Monday, Trump promised to make a change in his nominee for head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy if the actions of Marino during the opioid crisis had been "negative."
"Rep. Tom Marino has informed me that he is withdrawing his name from consideration as drug czar. Tom is a fine man and a great Congressman!" Trump tweeted.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/920268091329859585
Trump said Monday he would declare a national emergency to address the country's opioid epidemic, calling it a "massive problem" that he wanted his administration to get right.
"This country and, frankly, the world has a drug problem," he said. "We’re going to do something about it."
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) has introduced legislation to repeal the 2016 bill, called the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act. It easily passed through Congress and was signed by President Barack Obama.
"Media reports indicate that this law has significantly affected the government’s ability to crack down on opioid distributors that are failing to meet their obligations and endangering our communities," McCaskill said.