REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie stands next to White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) as U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) signs H.J.Res. 41, providing for congressional disapproval of a rule submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to "Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers." at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., February 14, 2017.
President Donald Trump met with Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor and former Trump campaign surrogate, at the White House on Tuesday afternoon.
Trump and Christie, who were joined by Christie's wife, Mary Pat, discussed how to best combat drug use over the lunch meeting, reports The North Jersey Record. Christie has made New Jersey's opioid crisis a top priority for the remaining months of his term as governor.
Christie has made New Jersey's opioid crisis a top priority for the remaining months of his term as governor.
Christie told CNN on Sunday that while he supports repealing and replacing Obamacare, he wants Trump and congressional Republicans to ensure that those covered by the Medicaid expansion aren't hurt.
"I'm really hopeful that we're going to be able to be a participant in that conversation," Christie said on CNN, adding that "five times" as many people are now getting treatment for drug abuse since Obama's Medicaid expansion took effect.
Without the Medicaid expansion, many drug users and addicts would fall into a "treatment gap," or be forced to wait months or even years to get into a publicly-funded rehabilitation program, reports Business Insider's Harrison Jacobs.
Christie - who had the lowest approval rating of any governor in the past twenty years - was the head of the Trump transition team before being replaced by Mike Pence, the vice president.
The White House meeting between Christie and Trump stoked speculation that Christie may be tapped as the new director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Christie's term as New Jersey governor ends in January 2018.