Overnight Health Care: GOP pushes stiff work requirements for food stamps | Sen. Johnny Isakson opens up about family's tragic loss to opioids | Republicans refuse to back vulnerable Dem's opioids bill | Dems offer new public option plan

View in your browser     Welcome to Wednesday's Overnight Health Care, where we hope everyone filed their taxes. (Or at least asked for a six-month extension, like President Trump did, h/t NYT)   House Republicans have launched their first legislative push on welfare reform. A provision in the House farm bill would require millions of beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly called food stamps, to work or attend job training classes or lose their benefits. Democrats and anti-hunger advocates are vowing to fight, saying the work requirements will do more harm than good, and will result in almost one million people losing all or part or their SNAP benefits.  What's in the bill? The legislation would dramatically expand mandatory state workforce training programs and would require all adults aged 18 to 59 to work at least 20 hours a week or be enrolled in a training program in order to receive SNAP benefits. What's the controversy? Aside from the work requirements, critics say the mandatory employment assistance programs in the legislation aren't adequately funded and would force food stamp recipients into the programs without enough support. Workforce training programs have historically had bipartisan support, but committee Democrats say the farm bill would force millions more people into an underfunded state bureaucracy. Future status? Murky. The bill faces an uphill battle in the House, with opposition coming from the left and the right. There's no companion bill in the Senate, and lawmakers there have already pledged a bipartisan process when they get started. But, coming on the heels of Trump's recent executive order on welfare, Democrats see a worrying conservative attack on public assistance programs.   Get the rest of the story here.     The third of The Hill's Close to Home series on opioids, presented by Partnership for Safe Medicines, talked to Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) about his family's tragic loss. His grandson, Charley Joyner, died of an opioid overdose Dec. 8, 2016, right before the 25-year-old was set to graduate college with honors. For nearly four years, Charley had been in recovery from a drug addiction. "That one slip up, that one night before graduation, cost him his life," Isakson said in an interview. Perspective: Isakson joins parents and grandparents across the country who have similar stories of losing a child to addiction, even after doing everything they could to help. Charley's demographic, males between the age of 25 and 44, saw the largest increase in opioid-related overdose deaths between 2015 and 2016. Key quote: "You want to do something when there's nothing left that you can do because a loved one has passed away," he said. "You want something to feel like you're doing something good in their memory or in their name." (Isakson and his wife started a scholarship fund at Georgia Southern University, Charley's school.) Read more here.     Republicans aren't signing onto an opioid bill from Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who faces a tough reelection race. Her bill would repeal a 2016 law that a Washington Post–"60 Minutes" investigation last fall found is impeding the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) ability to freeze suspicious opioid shipments, flooding pharmacies in small towns with pills and fueling the opioid crisis. "I have tried to get Republican co-sponsors and for the life of me I can't figure out why everyone's afraid of this bill," McCaskill said. In the House: Democratic aides say Republicans on the committee have told them a fix on the issue is unlikely to be included in the opioid package the panel is working on, and that there is not a pressing need for a legislative fix. A spokesperson for Republicans on the committee said lawmakers are still discussing possible changes with the DEA. "We continue to work with DEA regarding possible legislative changes," the Energy and Commerce spokesperson said. "It's imperative we get this policy right, and we are doing our due diligence." Read more here.   Opioid 'listening sessions' on the Hill Kellyanne Conway -- counselor to the president, who has been coordinating the White House's opioid strategy -- met today with members from both chambers and parties about the administration's strategy to combat the opioid epidemic, per Hogan Gidley, deputy White House press secretary. Who took part? She was joined by representatives from Department of Justice, Department of Agriculture, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Homeland Security. What's next? "The Administration looks forward to continued cooperation with Congressional leaders in both chambers and both parties to stop the 'crisis next door' once and for all," Gidley said in a statement.   Also on the opioid front Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) introduced a bill to provide $100 billion in funding over 10 years to address the opioid crisis. A group of senators is urging the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take measures to reduce the price of a potentially life-saving medication reversing the effects of an opioid overdose.   There's another Dem public option plan Democrats have been throwing out all kinds of proposals about what should happen next after ObamaCare. Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Wednesday came out with the latest: the Choose Medicare Act. It gives people on ObamaCare plans and businesses the chance to get a Medicare-like public option. It joins a range of other Democratic plans: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has his signature Medicare for All bill. This goes the farthest, as it replaces private insurance plans. Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) have a bill to create a public option on the ObamaCare marketplaces called Medicare X. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) has a bill to let people buy into Medicaid. Some Democrats are sponsoring more than one of these plans. Murphy said he thinks it's good for Democrats to throw ideas out there and debate them. Read more here.   Trump EPA revamps air pollution rule. The Trump administration has quietly reshaped enforcement of air pollution standards in recent months through a series of regulatory memos. The EPA is now allowing certain facilities to be subject to less-stringent regulations and is letting companies use friendlier math in calculating their expected emissions. Why the changes? The memos are fulfilling the top wishes of industry, which has long called for changes to how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversees the nation's factories, plants and other facilities. But greens are pushing back: Environmentalists and public health advocates say the memos could greatly increase levels of air pollutants like mercury, benzene and nitrogen oxides. They accuse the EPA of avoiding the transparency and public input requirements that regulatory changes usually go through. Read more here.   What we're reading HHS secretary readmitted to hospital (The Hill) Federal court rejects Ohio law diverting public funds from Planned Parenthood (The Hill) Bare-bones health policies are cheaper than ACA plans--and riskier too (The Wall Street Journal) Doctors keep licenses despite sexual abuse (The Associated Press) US regulators float ideas for boosting medical device safety (The Associated Press)   State by state Wyoming copes with shortage of mental health care workers (The Sheridan Press) Ohio legislators look to clamp down harder on communities that try to pass local gun restrictions (Cleveland Plain Dealer) Washington spends little to help the state's 900,000 smokers quit -- despite collecting $622M in tobacco taxes (The Seattle Times)   From The Hill's opinion pages Speculative lawsuits aren't the cure for opioid addiction Democrats plan to savage America once again with ObamaCare's individual mandate     Send tips and comments to Jessie Hellmann, jhellmann@thehill.com; Peter Sullivan, psullivan@thehill.com; Rachel Roubein, rroubein@thehill.com; and Nathaniel Weixel, nweixel@thehill.com. 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