[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 134 (Wednesday, September 7, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H5108]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1215
                        SUICIDE PREVENTION MONTH

  (Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, as September is National 
Suicide Prevention Month, I am proud to join my colleague, Earl 
Blumenauer of Oregon, in introducing a resolution to address this 
silent epidemic which took the lives of near 43,000 Americans last 
year.
  Last month, the CDC reported the suicide rate has increased across 
nearly all age groups. And over the past decade, while mortality rates 
decreased for homicide, AIDS, heart disease, stroke, auto accidents, 
and cancer, the overall suicide rate increased again for the 11th time 
in 14 years.
  Last July, the House passed H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental 
Health Crisis Act, by a near-unanimous vote of 422-2. This month alone, 
826 Americans have died by suicide, and about 7,434 have died since we 
passed this bill.
  We fervently hope the Senate does not delay in passing this bill. 
Lives hang in the balance. Every 12 minutes a person dies of suicide. 
Every 13 minutes a family mourns a lost life who will never go home 
again. The Senate needs to pass this bill before they go home again 
themselves.
  Where there is help, there is hope.

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