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A key Senate panel approved a health funding bill Tuesday that would nearly double the federal support for fighting the nation’s opioid epidemic. The 2017 funding bill unveiled by Senators Roy Blunt of Missouri and Patty Murray of Washington, who head the subcommittee that oversees health spending, would increase spending for addressing opioid abuse to $261 million. That’s up $126 million from last year, a 93 percent increase. (Scott, 6/7)

A Senate Appropriations subcommittee approved $261 million in funding for the opioid crisis on Tuesday, a 93 percent increase over last year. The funding is part of $76.9 billion the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education favorably reported for the Department of Health and Human Services for the upcoming fiscal year. A full committee markup is scheduled for Thursday. The funding proposed for opioids, which subcommittee Chairman Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) noted was a 542 percent increase over 2015 levels, is still shy of the $600 million Democrats had proposed earlier this year during debate over the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. Republicans blocked that funding when CARA, a bill targeting the opioid crisis, was on the floor. (McIntire, 6/7)

Members of Congress are kicking around several scenarios that would combine two or three health care bills into one large package, using the opioid legislation slated to be in House and Senate conference in the near future as a vehicle. The other pieces of legislation being discussed are a mental health bill and a medical innovation bill, according to a senior GOP aide. The aide cautioned that “this is a very fluid situation and there are a lot of potential scenarios. I don’t think anyone knows yet.” The various combination ideas are “trial balloons.” (Owens, 6/7)