ICYMI: ‘Pappas leads effort to staff new drug testing lab amid Trump hiring freeze’

In case you missed it, this week the Union Leader reported on new bipartisan legislation introduced by Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) to exempt Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) lab personnel from the Trump administration’s federal hiring freeze or any workforce reductions related to spending cuts, reprogramming of funds, or the probationary status of employees, as their roles are critical to combating drug trafficking and keeping communities safe.

Read the full story from the Union leader here.

Key Excerpts:

• With a new drug lab scheduled to open in New Hampshire next spring, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., is co-authoring bipartisan legislation to exempt Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) lab workers from President Trump’s ongoing hiring freeze on civilian workers.
• While most DEA positions were exempt from the freeze that Trump signed January, Pappas said lab positions such as chemists and fingerprint analysts were not specifically exempt.
• Drug overdose deaths are declining in New Hampshire, but Pappas said the work in this new lab is critical in helping to detect the newest generation of illicit drugs such as fentanyl analogs, fentanyl mixed with methamphetamine, xylazine, and other novel psychoactive substances.
• Pappas said he learned of the hiring glitch while recently attending the DEA’s temporary lab in Bedford where five chemists and fingerprint analysts now work.
• In September, Pappas and the rest of the state’s all-Democratic congressional delegation wrote the Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought urging the administration to allow the new lab to staff up in time for its opening.
• “It is crucial that the administration exempt lab personnel because the DEA faces data analysis backlogs, hampering the DEA’s ability to prosecute major drug crimes, identify new and emerging trends, and respond to drug threats in a timely manner,” the delegation wrote.
• The Trump hiring freeze was to expire Oct. 15 but the president extended it indefinitely.