President Joe Biden will pitch new actions against two of the biggest killers of Americans ― fentanyl and cancer ― during his State of the Union speech, White House aides told reporters on Tuesday morning.
During the Tuesday evening speech, Biden will ask Congress to permanently list fentanyl as a Schedule I drug, the same level as heroin and LSD, aides said. He’ll also ask lawmakers to reauthorize two major pieces of legislation funding cancer treatments.
Both steps are part of what the Biden administration calls its “unity agenda,” a series of broadly popular and bipartisan goals Biden first laid out in last year’s State of the Union. The other major planks of the agenda are aiding veterans and tackling the mental health crisis.
White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said the administration made progress on all these goals over the past year: passing the PACT Act to help veterans exposed to burn pits, removing obstacles to access the anti-overdose drug…
