[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 20 (Thursday, February 1, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E243]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        IN HONOR OF LOUIS POSEN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 31, 2007

  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a 
distinguished and accomplished constituent: Louis Posen, who has 
dedicated the last 6 years of his life to two extremely important 
causes: achieving mental health parity and reducing the unacceptable 
rate of suicide that plagues this country.
  Each year, more than 30,000 people die from suicide. For our youth, 
it is the third leading cause of death. And these deaths can be 
prevented.
  Louis's story is remarkable in many ways. In 1993, he started his own 
record label, and called it Hopeless Records--not for lack of hope, but 
in honor of one of the first songs he produced.
  It is hard to imagine that this successful label began in his living 
room with only $1,000 of seed money which was contributed by his 
helpful brother.
  As Hopeless Records grew, Louis started a subsidiary label called Sub 
City. From this label grew the Take Action Tour, which uses the 
proceeds from concerts and record sales to support worthy charities.
  Since 2001, the Tour has joined with the National Hopeline Network, 
1-800-SUICIDE. So far, Louis and the Tour have raised over $1 million 
to help target the Hopeline and other mental health issues.
  Louis has also collected over 100,000 signatures in support of mental 
health parity. He has educated both the public and their elected 
representatives about this and other important mental health issues.
  As recently as 2000, the Federal budget had no funding for suicide 
prevention. Due in no small part to Louis's tireless work, Congress now 
provides at least modest support for programs to help prevent suicide.
  We are grateful to Louis and the Tour for helping to fund programs 
such as the National Suicide Hotline and the Youth America Hotline. 
These are extremely valuable resources for individuals in times of 
crisis.
  It is also a privilege today to recognize Reese Butler, founder of 
the Kristin Brooks Hope Center and the National Suicide Hotline.
  Together, Reese and Louis have created a public/private partnership 
that has helped tens of thousands of people and is a great example of 
how such a partnership can work.
  I strongly support legislation to provide mental health parity and 
additional funding for programs that will help reduce the unacceptably 
high number of suicides in this country. Again, I congratulate the Take 
Action Tour, Reese Butler and Louis Posen for their work on these 
critical Issues.

                          ____________________