WEST WING READS 07/18/2019 DRUG OVERDOSES DROP!

Drug Overdose Deaths Drop in U.S. for First Time Since 1990 “Three decades of ever-escalating deaths from drug overdoses in the United States may have come to an end, according to preliminary government data made public Wednesday. Total drug overdose deaths in America declined by around 5 percent last year, the first drop since 1990,” The New York Times reports. “The decline was due almost entirely to a dip in deaths from prescription opioid painkillers . . . President Trump made the opioid crisis one of the health care priorities in his 2016 campaign message.” The President declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency in 2017. Click here to read more.

Rather than addressing the causes of our border crisis, “obstructionists in Washington have spent the better part of a decade chasing down news cameras and pointing fingers, rather than proposing workable legislation,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) writes in Fox News. “Bottom line: We owe it to our Border Patrol officials, the American people, and earnest asylum seekers to put the talking points aside and give them the resources they are asking for.”

“The Department of Justice announced the arrest of nearly two dozen MS-13 gang members this week who are connected to horrific murders carried out in California. Victims were hacked to death with machetes and in some instances, had their hearts ripped out,” Katie Pavlich reports for Townhall. All told, 19 of the 22 individuals charged were in the United States illegally. “California, a sanctuary state that refuses to work with Immigration and Customs enforcement, protected them. According to the indictment, they engaged in crime sprees spanning multiple states.”

“With 224,000 jobs created last month, June’s jobs report brought good news for American workers – more jobs and higher wages. Simply put, Congress, working with the Trump Administration, is bringing real results to the American people,” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) writes in Overton County News. “Americans are enjoying one of the lowest unemployment rates in 50 years.”

“Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is viewed more favorably than any member of the so-called ‘squad’ of freshman Democratic congresswomen, according to a new poll,” Amber Athey writes in The Daily Caller. “’The Squad’ gained more attention last week when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tried to diminish their influence in the Democratic Party. Its members responded by implying that Pelosi is racist and intentionally attacking women of color.”