To direct the Commandant of the Coast Guard to update the policy of the Coast Guard regarding the use of medication to treat drug overdose, and for other purposes.

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Bill ID: 119/hr/2351
Last Updated: September 7, 2026

Sponsored by

Rep. McDowell, Addison [R-NC-6]

ID: M001240

Follow the money

The bill

To direct the Commandant of the Coast Guard to update the policy of the Coast Guard regarding the use of medication to treat drug overdose, and for other purposes.

HR. 2351, 119th Congress — read as touching Pharmaceuticals.

The sponsor

Rep. McDowell, Addison [R-NC-6]

Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.

The money

$72,735 raised

20 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.

The alignment

55% match to Project 2025

This bill's text tracks the "Department of Homeland Security" section, p. 189-191 of the Mandate for Leadership.

Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law

Track this bill's progress through the legislative process

Latest Action

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

June 9, 2025

Introduced

Committee Review

Floor Action

Passed House

Senate Review

📍 Current Status

Next: Both chambers must agree on the same version of the bill.

🎉

Passed Congress

🖊️

Presidential Action

⚖️

Became Law

📚 How does a bill become a law?

1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.

2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.

3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.

4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.

5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.

6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.

7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!

Bill Summary

Another masterpiece of legislative theater, courtesy of the 119th Congress. Let's dissect this farce and uncover the real motivations behind HR 2351.

**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The bill claims to update the Coast Guard's policy on using medication to treat drug overdoses, specifically naloxone for opioid overdoses. How noble. But don't be fooled – this is just a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.

**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:**

* The Commandant of the Coast Guard must update the policy within a year (because urgency is key when it comes to bureaucratic red tape). * Naloxone or similar medication must be available at all Coast Guard installations and operational environments (a token gesture, considering the scope of the opioid crisis). * The Coast Guard must participate in a tracking system for substance abuse (because data collection is always a great way to pretend you're doing something meaningful).

**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:**

* The Coast Guard (forced to implement this half-hearted policy) * Pharmaceutical companies (who will likely see increased sales of naloxone and other medications) * Lobbyists (who probably wrote this bill in the first place)

**Potential Impact & Implications:** This bill is a classic case of "legislative placebo effect." It creates the illusion of action while doing little to address the root causes of substance abuse. The real impact will be:

* Increased profits for pharmaceutical companies * A minor, temporary reduction in opioid-related deaths (before the problem inevitably worsens) * More bureaucratic red tape and paperwork for the Coast Guard

In short, HR 2351 is a cynical attempt to appear proactive while doing nothing meaningful to combat the opioid crisis. It's a symptom of a deeper disease: politicians' addiction to empty gestures and their willingness to prioritize corporate interests over human lives.

Diagnosis: Legislative Theater-itis – a chronic condition characterized by grandstanding, bureaucratic inefficiency, and a complete disregard for the well-being of citizens. Treatment: a healthy dose of skepticism, followed by a strong prescription of actual policy changes that address the root causes of social problems.

Related Topics

Public Health & Pandemic Response
Generated using Llama 3.1 70B (Dr. Haus personality)

💰 Campaign Finance Network

Rep. McDowell, Addison [R-NC-6]

Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle

Total Contributions
$72,735
17 donors
PACs
$0
Organizations
$0
Committees
$0
Individuals
$72,735

No PAC contributions found

No organization contributions found

No committee contributions found

1
FLOW, MEGHAN
2 transactions
$13,200
2
KING, SEBASTIAN
2 transactions
$6,735
3
JOHNSON, BRIAN
2 transactions
$6,600
4
BROWN, THOMAS
1 transaction
$3,300
5
TOWNSEND, JOHN
1 transaction
$3,300
6
BRAUER, CAMILLA
1 transaction
$3,300
7
BRAUER, STEPHEN
1 transaction
$3,300
8
SHAHEEN, LAWRENCE
1 transaction
$3,300
9
CANNON, CRAIG
1 transaction
$3,300
10
CANNON, KATHLEEN E
1 transaction
$3,300
11
COBLE, DAVID
1 transaction
$3,300
12
CRAIG, MARK R
1 transaction
$3,300
13
DUNBAR, CHRISTOPHER
1 transaction
$3,300
14
FETZER, TOM
1 transaction
$3,300
15
KOTIS, MARTY
1 transaction
$3,300
16
POWERS, SHREITA
1 transaction
$3,300
17
RABON, SUZANNE M
1 transaction
$3,300

Cosponsors & Their Campaign Finance

This bill has 2 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.

Rep. Goldman, Craig [R-TX-12]

ID: G000601

Top Contributors

22

1
ALLEN BOONE HUMPHRIES ROBINSON LLP
OrganizationHOUSTON, TX
$3,300
Dec 21, 2023
2
THE CHICKASAW NATION
OrganizationADA, OK
$3,300
May 23, 2024
3
BENDA, ROBERT D.
WESTWOOD CONTRACTORS INC. • CEO
IndividualFORT WORTH, TX
$6,600
Nov 9, 2023
4
BENDA, ROBERT D.
WESTWOOD CONTRACTORS INC. • CEO
IndividualFORT WORTH, TX
$6,600
Nov 9, 2023
5
CAMPBELL, CODY
DOUBLE EAGLE ENERGY • FOUNDER AND CO-CEO
IndividualFORT WORTH, TX
$6,600
Dec 31, 2023
6
CAMPBELL, CODY
DOUBLE EAGLE ENERGY • FOUNDER AND CO-CEO
IndividualFORT WORTH, TX
$6,600
Dec 31, 2023
7
HOLM, NELSON
RENEGADE SWISH • PARTNER
IndividualFORT WORTH, TX
$6,600
Nov 13, 2023
8
HOLM, NELSON
RENEGADE SWISH • PARTNER
IndividualFORT WORTH, TX
$6,600
Nov 13, 2023
9
KLEINHEINZ, BURKE
WELLTOWER • INVESTMENTS
IndividualDALLAS, TX
$6,600
Dec 21, 2023
10
KLEINHEINZ, BURKE
WELLTOWER • INVESTMENTS
IndividualDALLAS, TX
$6,600
Dec 21, 2023

Rep. Gillen, Laura [D-NY-4]

ID: G000602

Top Contributors

24

1
RALLYE MOTORS
OrganizationROSLYN, NY
$6,000
Jul 18, 2023
2
RALLYE MOTORS
OrganizationROSLYN, NY
$6,000
Jun 5, 2023
3
FEDERATED INDIANS OF GRATON RANCHERIA
OrganizationROHNERT PARK, CA
$1,000
Aug 1, 2024
4
STONE, JAMES M
PLYMOUTH ROCK COMPANY, INC. • EXECUTIVE
IndividualBOSTON, MA
$5,000
Oct 16, 2024
5
FAIVUS, HARRY E
SELF-EMPLOYED • OPHTHALMOLOGIST
IndividualNEW YORK, NY
$5,000
Nov 1, 2024
6
STONE, JAMES M
PLYMOUTH ROCK COMPANY, INC. • EXECUTIVE
IndividualBOSTON, MA
$5,000
Oct 16, 2024
7
HELFER, RICKI
N/A • NOT EMPLOYED
IndividualWASHINGTON, DC
$4,000
Sep 10, 2024
8
ANDEER, KYLE
APPLE INC • ATTORNEY
IndividualSAN FRANCISCO, CA
$3,300
Mar 27, 2024
9
BINDER, CHARLES
SELF-EMPLOYED • ATTORNEY
IndividualNEW YORK, NY
$3,300
Mar 21, 2024
10
BURNSTEIN, CLIFFORD
Q PRIME • MANAGER
IndividualNEW YORK, NY
$3,300
Mar 28, 2024

Donor Network - Rep. McDowell, Addison [R-NC-6]

PACs
Organizations
Individuals
Politicians

Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.

Loading...

Showing 35 nodes and 40 connections

Total contributions: $40

Top Donors - Rep. McDowell, Addison [R-NC-6]

Showing top 17 donors by contribution amount

17 Individuals

Industry Impact

Which industries are materially affected by specific provisions in this bill. 2 helped.

  • +Pharmaceuticalsconfidence 0.90

    Section 2(a) directs the Coast Guard to update policy regarding use of medication to treat drug overdoses, including naloxone or similar medication, which would increase demand for such pharmaceuticals.

  • +Medical Devicesconfidence 0.80

    Section 2(b) requires naloxone or similar medication to be available on Coast Guard installations and operational environments, implying procurement and distribution of medical delivery devices (e.g., auto-injectors, nasal spray devices).

Who funds the sponsor on these industries

For each industry this bill affects, here's what the sponsor (Rep. McDowell, Addison [R-NC-6])received from donors associated with that industry during the 2022–present cycles. Donations are not proof of intent — they are a record of who funds the people writing the law.

Industries this bill HELPS

  • from 3 contributions
    • RHYNE, CURTIS$780
    • MIZELL, MATTHEW$260

Project 2025 Policy Matches

This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document.AI-enhanced analysis provides detailed alignment ratings.

Department of Homeland Security

Weak
Vector: 62%
Pages: 189-191AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"Both the bill and the Project 2025 section concern the Coast Guard, but they address unrelated issues: the bill focuses on opioid overdose response and naloxone access, while Project 2025 emphasizes mission scaling, shipbuilding, Pacific prioritization, and personnel policies. The overlap is limited to general Coast Guard operations and personnel welfare."

Key themes:Coast Guardpersonnel readinessoperational policy

— 156 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise New Policies The Coast Guard’s mission set should be scaled down to match congressio- nal budgeting in the long term, with any increased funding going to acquisitions based on an updated Fleet Mix Analysis. The current shipbuilding plan is insuf- ficient based on USCG analysis, and the necessary numbers of planned Offshore Patrol Cutters and National Security Cutters are not supported by congressional budgets. The Coast Guard should be required to submit to Congress a long-range shipbuilding plan modeled on the Navy’s 30-Year Shipbuilding Plan. Ideally this should become part of the Navy plan in a new comprehensive naval long-range shipbuilding plan to ensure better coherency in the services’ requirements. Outside of home waters, and following the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, the Coast Guard should prioritize limited resources to the nation’s expansive Pacific waters to counter growing Chinese influence and encroachment. Expansion of facilities in American Samoa and basing of cutters there is one clear step in this direction and should be accelerated; looking to free association states (Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands) for enhanced and persistent presence, assuming adequate congressional funding, is another such step. The Secretary of the Navy should convene a naval board to review and reset requirements for Coast Guard wartime mission support. To inform and validate these updated requirements, the Chief of Naval Operations and the Coast Guard Commandant should execute dedicated annual joint wartime drills focused on USCG’s wartime missions in the Pacific (the money for these activities should be allocated from DOD). An interagency maritime coordination office focused on developing and overseeing comprehensive efforts to advance the nation’s mari- time interests and increase its military and commercial competitiveness should be established. Given the USCG’s history of underfunded missions, if the Coast Guard is to con- tinue to maintain the Arctic mission, money to do so adequately will be required over and above current funding levels. Consideration should be given to shifting the Arctic mission to the Navy. Either way, the Arctic mission should be closely coordinated with our Canadian, Danish, and other allies. Personnel USCG is facing recruitment challenges similar to those faced by the military services. The Administration should stop the messaging on wokeness and diversity and focus instead on attracting the best talent for USCG. Simultaneously, consis- tent with the Department of Defense, USCG should also make a serious effort to re-vet any promotions and hiring that occurred on the Biden Administration’s watch while also re-onboarding any USCG personnel who were dismissed from service for refusing to take the COVID-19 “vaccine,” with time in service credited

Department of Homeland Security

Minimal
Vector: 64%
Pages: 189-191AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"HR 2351 focuses on opioid overdose response and naloxone access for Coast Guard personnel, while the Project 2025 DHS section addresses mission scaling, shipbuilding, Pacific prioritization, Arctic considerations, and personnel recruitment reforms; there is no substantive overlap in objectives or themes."

Key themes:Coast Guardpersonnel

— 156 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise New Policies The Coast Guard’s mission set should be scaled down to match congressio- nal budgeting in the long term, with any increased funding going to acquisitions based on an updated Fleet Mix Analysis. The current shipbuilding plan is insuf- ficient based on USCG analysis, and the necessary numbers of planned Offshore Patrol Cutters and National Security Cutters are not supported by congressional budgets. The Coast Guard should be required to submit to Congress a long-range shipbuilding plan modeled on the Navy’s 30-Year Shipbuilding Plan. Ideally this should become part of the Navy plan in a new comprehensive naval long-range shipbuilding plan to ensure better coherency in the services’ requirements. Outside of home waters, and following the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, the Coast Guard should prioritize limited resources to the nation’s expansive Pacific waters to counter growing Chinese influence and encroachment. Expansion of facilities in American Samoa and basing of cutters there is one clear step in this direction and should be accelerated; looking to free association states (Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands) for enhanced and persistent presence, assuming adequate congressional funding, is another such step. The Secretary of the Navy should convene a naval board to review and reset requirements for Coast Guard wartime mission support. To inform and validate these updated requirements, the Chief of Naval Operations and the Coast Guard Commandant should execute dedicated annual joint wartime drills focused on USCG’s wartime missions in the Pacific (the money for these activities should be allocated from DOD). An interagency maritime coordination office focused on developing and overseeing comprehensive efforts to advance the nation’s mari- time interests and increase its military and commercial competitiveness should be established. Given the USCG’s history of underfunded missions, if the Coast Guard is to con- tinue to maintain the Arctic mission, money to do so adequately will be required over and above current funding levels. Consideration should be given to shifting the Arctic mission to the Navy. Either way, the Arctic mission should be closely coordinated with our Canadian, Danish, and other allies. Personnel USCG is facing recruitment challenges similar to those faced by the military services. The Administration should stop the messaging on wokeness and diversity and focus instead on attracting the best talent for USCG. Simultaneously, consis- tent with the Department of Defense, USCG should also make a serious effort to re-vet any promotions and hiring that occurred on the Biden Administration’s watch while also re-onboarding any USCG personnel who were dismissed from service for refusing to take the COVID-19 “vaccine,” with time in service credited — 157 — Department of Homeland Security to such returnees. These two steps could be foundational for any improvements in the recruiting process. U.S. SECRET SERVICE (USSS) Needed Reforms The U.S. Secret Service must be the world’s best protective agency. Currently, the agency is distracted by its dual mission of protection and financial investigations. The result has been a long series of high-profile embarrassments and security fail- ures, perhaps most notably its allowing of then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to be inside the Democratic National Committee office on January 6, 2021, while a pipe bomb was outside. Despite the great size and scope of the January 6 inves- tigation, this high-profile incident of danger to a protectee remains unresolved. The failures of the USSS protective mission are too numerous to list here. A December 2015 bipartisan report from the House Oversight Committee listed dozens of such incidents as well as needed recommendations for reform.14 This chapter adopts those findings and recommendations in whole, especially the finding that USSS’s dual-mission structure detracts from the agency’s protective capabilities. At the time of that report, USSS agents spent only one-third of their work hours on protection-related activities as opposed to investigative activities. USSS was established initially to investigate counterfeit currency, but its mission has evolved over the decades to prioritize electronic financial crimes. For example, as this chap- ter was being written, all 15 of the USSS’s most wanted individuals were wanted for financial crimes, many of them international in nature. Notably, the last head of the agency left not for a protection-related job, but to be the Chief Security Officer of social media company SnapChat. This is a pattern that has developed over the years, with agents seeking to burnish their online financial crimes credentials to secure corporate security jobs. Coupled with some of the lowest morale in the federal government, the agency has completely lost sight of the primacy of its protective mission. New Policies USSS should transfer to the Department of Justice and Department of the Treasury all investigations that are not related to its protective function. It should begin the logistical operation of closing all field offices throughout the country and internationally to the extent they are not taken over by Treasury or Justice. USSS agents stationed outside of Washington, D.C., should be transferred to work in Immigration and Customs Enforcement field offices where they would continue to be the “boots on the ground” to follow up on threat reports throughout the country and liaise with local law enforcement for visits by protectees.

Department of Health and Human Services

Minimal
Vector: 63%
Pages: 527-529AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"HR 2351 focuses on expanding naloxone access and overdose response within the Coast Guard, while the Project 2025 HHS section concerns restoring OCR authority over RFRA vaccine accommodations and rolling back sexual orientation/gender identity nondiscrimination rules. The two policies address unrelated topics with no substantive overlap."

Key themes:healthcaresubstance abuse

— 495 — Department of Health and Human Services l HHS should restore OCR authority to review requests for and render opinions on the application of RFRA to requests for religious accommodation of people, families, and doctors who cannot in good conscience take or administer vaccines, including those made or tested with aborted fetal cell lines. l HHS should restore Section 1557, Section 504, and other OCR regulations and fix guidance documents. In 2020, the Trump Administration’s OCR published regulations under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act that restored the agency’s enforcement of that law to the limits of its statutory text, deferred to the ACA’s widespread use of a binary biological conception of sex discrimination, and specified that the regulation must comply with the religious exemption and abortion neutrality clauses in Title IX from which it is derived as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and other laws. Courts blocked core provisions of that rule from going into effect. In 2022, the Biden Administration proposed to reinstate a rule contradicting the scope of the statute and imposing nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It is expected that this rule will be finalized in 2023 even though several courts have issued rulings against the interpretation on which it is based. l OCR should return its enforcement of sex discrimination to the statutory framework of Section 1557 and Title IX. Specifically, it should: 1. Remove all guidance issued under the Biden Administration concerning sexual orientation and gender identity under Section 1557, particularly the May 2021 announcement of enforcement82 and March 2022 statement threatening states that protect minors from genital mutilation.83 2. Issue a general statement of policy specifying that it will not enforce any prohibition on sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in the Section 1557 regulation and that it will prioritize compliance with the First Amendment, RFRA, and federal conscience laws in any case implicating those claims. DOJ should commit to defending these actions aggressively against inevitable court challenges, including under cases such as Heckler v. Chaney.84 — 496 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise 3. Issue a proposed rule to restore the Trump regulations under Section 1557, explicitly interpreting the law not to include sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination based on the textual approach to male and female biology taken by Congress in the ACA, the need to recognize biological distinctions as part of the sound practice of health care, and the need to ensure protections of medical judgment and conscience. DOJ should agree to defend this rule to the Supreme Court if necessary. 4. Issue a general statement of policy announcing that it plans to enforce Section 1557 discrimination bans by refocusing on serious cases of race, sex, and disability discrimination. In particular, OCR should highlight its 2019 investigation and voluntary resolution agreement with Michigan State University based on the sexual abuse of gymnasts by Larry Nassar. OCR should also coordinate with the Department of Education on a public education and civil rights enforcement campaign to ensure that female college athletes who become pregnant are no longer pressured to obtain abortions; pursue race discrimination claims against entities that adopt or impose racially discriminatory policies such as those based on critical race theory; and announce its intention to enforce disability rights laws to protect children born prematurely, children with disabilities, and children born alive after abortions. 5. Issue and finalize the Trump-era draft disability rights regulations concerning crisis standards of care and use of Quality of Life Adjusted Years (QALYs), and reissue and finalize a disability regulation (withdrawn by the Biden Administration) that prohibited discriminatory application of assisted suicide and denial of life-saving treatments for disabled newborns. l OCR should withdraw its pharmacy abortion mandate guidance. OCR should withdraw its “Obligations Under Federal Civil Rights Laws to Ensure Access to Comprehensive Reproductive Health Care Services” guidance for retail pharmacies,85 which purports to address nondiscrimination obligations of pharmacies under federal civil rights laws and in fact orders them to stock and dispense first-trimester abortion drugs. The guidance invents this so-called requirement and fails to acknowledge that pharmacies and pharmacists have the right not to participate in abortions, including pill-induced abortions, if doing so would violate their sincere moral or religious objections. Moreover, no federal civil rights laws preempt state pro-life statutes.

Showing 3 of 5 policy matches

About These Correlations

Policy matches are calculated using a hybrid approach: initial candidates are found using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text, then an AI model (Llama 3.1 70B) provides detailed alignment ratings and analysis. Ratings range from 1 (minimal alignment) to 5 (very strong alignment). This analysis does not imply direct causation or intent.

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