MADISON, Wis. — Sen. Tammy Baldwin was home in Madison on Monday. She spent her morning at the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy to get an inside look at how the campus is helping to combat a crisis of opioid overdoses across the state.

However, those efforts could face roadblocks if federal funding is cut or altogether eliminated.

What You Need To Know

  • Last year, Sen. Baldwin helped secure $2 million in federal funds to create a regional center to fight the fentanyl crisis across the state

  • On Monday, she visited the Wisconsin Opioid Overdose Response Center (WOORC) at the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy

  • The center will provide community pharmacies around the state with resources such as life-saving naloxone and fentanyl testing strips to prevent and treat overdoses

  • Sen. Baldwin also toured labs where Wisconsin researchers are working on developing lifesaving treatments for opioid use disorders

Last year, Sen. Baldwin helped secure $2 million in federal funds to create a regional center to fight the fentanyl crisis across the state. Now, she is worried there could be a cut to those funds that Wisconsinites have come to rely on.

“I’ve heard from countless Wisconsinites who have lost friends, family, neighbors, and loved ones to this epidemic. Whether it’s stopping drugs from coming into the country or supporting Wisconsin universities’ groundbreaking research, I’m committed to fighting the opioid crisis on all fronts,” Sen. Baldwin said. “The work being done here will save lives – and that’s why I’m sending a loud and clear message that the President cannot cut off funding for vital programs like these.”

Sen. Baldwin took a tour of the Wisconsin Opioid Overdose Response Center (WOORC) at UW-Madison to find out firsthand how the federal funding she helped secure has been used to combat the fentanyl crisis across the state.

The center, which is set to launch this year, will provide community pharmacies around the state with resources such as life-saving naloxone and fentanyl testing strips to prevent and treat overdoses.

“They are being extremely proactive in the programming as well as the research to try to put an end to this epidemic,” Sen. Baldwin told reporters after her visit.

Based at the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy, the regional center aims to fight the fentanyl crisis, which accounts for more than 75% of annual opioid overdose deaths.

“One area across the state may not be what is impacting somebody else,” Michelle Haese, Policy Initiatives Advisor for the Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services, told Sen. Baldwin during a discussion with students and stakeholders. “So, what is happening in Milwaukee looks much different than, say, Ashland or Marinette County.”

After the conversation, Sen. Baldwin also toured labs where Wisconsin researchers are working on developing lifesaving treatments for opioid use disorders. With federal dollars now potentially put in jeopardy, Sen. Baldwin hopes blocks by the courts won’t just be temporary.

“This is unconstitutional and an illegal grab of power,” Sen. Baldwin responded when asked about the latest developments on the funding freeze. “The constitution is crystal clear that Congress makes laws, Congress passes budgets, and the administration implements them, whether Trump likes them or not.”

On Monday, a second federal judge had planned to block the President Donald Trump’s administration from putting an across-the-board pause on federal funds, thereby extending the already existing temporary ban.

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