The Trump administration, they added, would work with Congress to secure money to combat opioids in a year-end spending package, including through the Public Health Emergency Fund. They outlined Mr. Trump’s announcement on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting his formal speech.
The president in August called the opioid crisis a “national emergency.” But he did not sign a formal declaration designating it as such, allowing the prospect to languish amid resistance in his administration about making an open-ended commitment of federal funds to deal with a crisis that has shown no signs of abating. The crisis has claimed tens of thousands of lives — a death rate that one administration official noted Thursday rivals the number of Americans killed during the Vietnam War.
Beyond the lack of funding, it is not clear how much impact the public health declaration will have in the short term, given that Mr. Trump has yet to name central players who would carry it out, including a drug czar to steer a broader strategy on opioids and a secretary of Health and Human Services who would tailor policies and identify funding streams.
Representative Tom Marino, the Pennsylvania Republican whom Mr. Trump had named to head his Office of National Drug Control Policy, withdrew last week after reports that he did the bidding of the pharmaceutical industry in weakening law enforcement’s ability to curb drug sales in efforts to block black-market sales of opioids. The White House has yet to announce a new candidate.
And Tom Price resigned last month as health secretary after it was revealed he was flying on private jets paid for with taxpayer dollars; a nominee has not been named for that post either.
But proponents, including some anti-addiction groups and physicians, argue Mr. Trump’s action is an important symbolic step that would raise awareness and spark a new sense of urgency to deal with the opioid scourge.
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The administration officials said a public health emergency declaration would quickly lead to crucial changes, including the potential to secure federal grant money and the expansion of access to telemedicine services, which would broaden the reach of medical treatment to rural areas ravaged by opioid use and where doctors are often in short supply.
Mr. Trump’s promises to focus on the opioid crisis helped propel him to victory in New Hampshire’s primary last year.
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As president, he formed an opioid commission in March and installed at the helm Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a rival for the Republican nomination who had championed the issue during the 2016 race. In July, the commission recommended that the president declare a national emergency — either under the Stafford Act, which would have prompted the allocation of Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, or the Public Health Service Act, the option Mr. Trump has chosen.
Mr. Price had ruled out the idea of a national emergency, in part because of concerns about the potentially exorbitant costs to the federal government. Still, Mr. Trump surprised his advisers by telling reporters soon after his commission’s report that he was ready to take just such a step.
There have been few major actions to match those words, even as administration officials have worked feverishly behind the scenes to come to agreement on an opioid policy that would reflect the president’s position.
In the meantime, members of Mr. Trump’s opioid commission and lawmakers in both parties had grown impatient for action. On Wednesday, a group of Democrats led by Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan released a letter they wrote to the president asking him to allow the government to negotiate lower prices for naloxone, a drug that quickly counteracts the effects of opioid overdoses. Declaring a state of emergency would give the secretary of Health and Human Services the power to seek such price reductions, they said.
Mr. Christie commended the president on Thursday for what he called “bold action” to address the opioid crisis, and said the commission would put forth a comprehensive plan next week.
BARCELONA — Catalonia’s secessionist leaders spent Thursday debating what to do — a call for independence from Spain or snap elections — as chaos and confusion swirled around the fate of Spain’s wealthiest region.
As deadlines loomed, and threats from Madrid of a takeover mounted, Catalonia’s pro-independence president, Carles Puigdemont, first scheduled, then canceled, then rescheduled, announcements about what would happen next.
Finally, Puigdemont appeared in the government palace and read a short statement, saying he would not call for snap elections.
Puigdement said the regional parliament must decide what will happen next — a sign that his governing coalition was tearing apart.
The Catalan parliament was scheduled to meet later Thursday or Friday, when perhaps more clarity will emerge.
People pack Sant Jaume square in Barcelona as they protest the Spanish government. (Emilio Morenatti/AP)
Significantly, Puigdemont did not renew calls for the autonomous region to declare independence.
Instead, Puigdemont denounced what he described as heavy-handed tactics by the central government in Madrid.
With these gestures, Puigdemont and his allies hope Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy may suspend his push to take control of the Catalan government, including its police, public media and finances.
Puigdemont reportedly sought a promise by Rajoy that the Spanish senate would not approve the invocation of Article 155 of the 1978 Spanish constitution, which would allow the central government to seize control in Catalonia.
Rajoy last week promised to invoke Article 155 — a “nuclear option” that has never before been tried — would be invoked “to restore institutional legality and normality.”
Puigdemont not only faced pressure from Madrid but from his fellow secessionists.
As rumors swirled that he was about to walk away from a declaration of independence, his former supporters denounced him on social media and the streets as a coward and a traitor.
A former ally called him a Judas on Twitter.
Fellow party members said they would defect — and his second-in-power reportedly threatened to resign.
The separatists in Catalonia, led by Puigdemont, staged a chaotic referendum this month despite the fact that the courts had declared it unconstitutional.
More than 2 million people ultimately cast ballots for independence, though the turnout for the referendum was around 40 percent of eligible voters.
During the referendum, Spanish National Police and Civil Guard officers used harsh tactics, in some cases beating voters with rubber batons and dragging people away from the ballot boxes.
In Madrid, people called the flip-flopping and last-minute cancellations “agonizing” and “unprofessional.” Commentators decried the “irresponsibility” of keeping everyone on pins and needs.
But the general sentiment was the drama was part of a strategic plan to negotiate.
“Neither of the sides wants to go through to the most extreme scenario,” said Ignacio Escolar, editor in chief of the El Diario newspaper. “Otherwise they already would have done it. I think we are in the last minutes of a negotiation that has time all the way up through the end of senate’s session tomorrow.”
People pack Sant Jaume square in Barcelona as they protest the Spanish government. (Emilio Morenatti/AP)