[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 10, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 94. Ms. STABENOW (for herself, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Durbin,
Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Franken, Mr. Carper, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Peters, Mr.
Brown, and Mr. Udall) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
her to the concurrent resolution S. Con. Res. 3, setting forth the
congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year
2017 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal
years 2018 through 2026; which was ordered to lie on the table; as
follows:
At the end of title IV, add the following:
SEC. 4__. POINT OF ORDER AGAINST REDUCING OR ELIMINATING
ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH CARE.
(a) Point of Order.--It shall not be in order in the Senate
to consider any bill, joint resolution, motion, amendment,
amendment between the Houses, or conference report that the
Director of the Congressional Budget Office determines would
reduce access to mental health care and services or reduce
the number of individuals with mental illness enrolled in
insurance coverage, relative to the Congressional Budget
Office's March 2016 updated baseline, by means such as--
(1) eliminating or reducing Federal financial assistance
currently available to States under section 1905(y)(1) or
1905(z)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d(y)(1),
1396d(z)(2)) or otherwise eliminating or reducing mental
health protections established by the Affordable Care Act,
including the addition of mental health services to the list
of services covered under section 1937(b)(5) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396u-7(b)(5)); or
(2) reducing the affordability of coverage established by
the Affordable Care Act's consumer protections, including--
(A) the expansion of mental health parity and addiction
equity law to individual health insurance coverage;
(B) the prohibition on discriminating against enrollees
with pre-existing conditions such as mental illness;
(C) coverage of preventive services like depression
screenings without cost-sharing; and
(D) the establishment of mental health services as an
essential health benefit.
(b) Waiver and Appeal.--Subsection (a) may be waived or
suspended in the Senate only by an affirmative vote of three-
fifths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn. An affirmative
vote of three-fifths of the Members of the Senate, duly
chosen and sworn, shall be required to sustain an appeal of
the ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised under
subsection (a).
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