President Donald Trump is expected to sign legislation that aims to combat the opioid epidemic, CNN reported.
Trump is expected to speak at 2 p.m. ET today. Watch his remarks in the player above.
The legislation "contains more than 70 provisions to expand treatment and recovery, improve prevention, protect our communities, and stop the flow of illicit drugs at our borders," Zach Hunter, communications director for the House Energy and Commerce Committee said in a statement to the network.
The number of U.S. drug overdose deaths has begun to level off after years of relentless increases driven by the opioid epidemic, health secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday, cautioning it's too soon to declare victory.
"We are so far from the end of the epidemic, but we are perhaps, at the end of the beginning," Azar said at a health care event sponsored by the Milken Institute think tank.
Confronting the opioid epidemic has been the rare issue uniting Republicans and Democrats in a politically divided nation. A bill providing major funding for treatment was passed under former President Barack Obama. More money followed earlier this year under President Donald Trump. The legislation Trump is expected to sign Wednesday increases access to treatment, among other steps.
More than 70,000 people died of drug overdoses last year, according to preliminary numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this summer— a 10 percent increase from 2016. Health and Human Services — the department Azar heads — is playing a central role in the government's response.
The PBS NewsHour will update this story as it develops.