[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 81 (Tuesday, May 11, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H2175-H2176]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT SUICIDE ACT
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 2862) to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services
to conduct a national suicide prevention media campaign, and for other
purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2862
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Campaign to Prevent Suicide
Act''.
SEC. 2. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE.
Section 520E-3(b)(2) of the Public Health Service Act (42
U.S.C. 290bb-36c(b)(2)) is amended by inserting after
``suicide prevention hotline'' the following: ``, under the
universal telephone number designated under Section 251(e)(4)
of the Communications Act of 1934,''.
SEC. 3. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION MEDIA CAMPAIGN.
(a) National Suicide Prevention Media Campaign.--
(1) In general.--Not later than the date that is three
years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Secretary of Health and Human Services (referred to in this
section as the ``Secretary''), in consultation with the
Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use
(referred to in this section as the ``Assistant Secretary'')
and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (referred to in this section as the ``Director''),
shall conduct a national suicide prevention media campaign
(referred to in this section as the ``national media
campaign''), in accordance with the requirements of this
section, for purposes of--
(A) preventing suicide in the United States;
(B) educating families, friends, and communities on how to
address suicide and suicidal thoughts, including when to
encourage individuals with suicidal risk to seek help; and
(C) increasing awareness of suicide prevention resources of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(including the suicide prevention hotline maintained under
section 520E-3 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
290bb-36c)), any suicide prevention mobile application of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Substance
Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, and other
support resources determined appropriate by the Secretary.
(2) Additional consultation.--In addition to consulting
with the Assistant Secretary and the Director under this
section, the Secretary shall consult with, as appropriate,
State, local, Tribal, and territorial health departments,
primary health care providers, hospitals with emergency
departments, mental and behavioral health services providers,
crisis response services providers, first responders, suicide
prevention and mental health professionals, patient advocacy
groups, survivors of suicide attempts, and representatives of
television and social media platforms in planning the
national media campaign to be conducted under paragraph (1).
(b) Target Audiences.--
(1) Tailoring advertisements and other communications.--In
conducting the national media campaign under subsection
(a)(1), the Secretary may tailor culturally competent
advertisements and other communications of the campaign
across all available media for a target audience (such as a
particular geographic location or demographic) across the
lifespan.
(2) Targeting certain local areas.--The Secretary shall, to
the maximum extent practicable, use amounts made available
under subsection (f) for media that targets certain local
areas or populations at disproportionate risk for suicide.
(c) Use of Funds.--
(1) Required uses.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary shall, if reasonably
feasible with the funds made available under subsection (f),
carry out the following, with respect to the national media
campaign:
(i) Testing and evaluation of advertising.
(ii) Evaluation of the effectiveness of the national media
campaign.
(iii) Operational and management expenses.
(iv) The creation of an educational toolkit for television
and social media platforms to use in discussing suicide and
raising awareness about how to prevent suicide.
(B) Specific requirements.--
(i) Testing and evaluation of advertising.--In testing and
evaluating advertising under subparagraph (A)(i), the
Secretary shall test all advertisements after use in the
national media campaign to evaluate the extent to which such
advertisements have been effective in carrying out the
purposes of the national media campaign.
(ii) Evaluation of effectiveness of national media
campaign.--In evaluating the effectiveness of the national
media campaign under subparagraph (A)(ii), the Secretary
shall take into account--
(I) the number of unique calls that are made to the suicide
prevention hotline maintained under section 520E-3 of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb-36c) and assess
whether there are any State and regional variations with
respect to the capacity to answer such calls;
(II) the number of unique encounters with suicide
prevention and support resources of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration and assess engagement with
such suicide prevention and support resources;
(III) whether the national media campaign has contributed
to increased awareness that suicidal individuals should be
engaged, rather than ignored; and
(IV) such other measures of evaluation as the Secretary
determines are appropriate.
(2) Optional uses.--The Secretary may use amounts made
available under subsection (f) for the following, with
respect to the national media campaign:
(A) Partnerships with professional and civic groups,
community-based organizations, including faith-based
organizations, and Government or Tribal organizations that
the Secretary determines have experience in suicide
prevention, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
(B) Entertainment industry outreach, interactive outreach,
media projects and activities, public information, news media
outreach, outreach through television programs, and corporate
sponsorship and participation.
(d) Prohibitions.--None of the amounts made available under
subsection (f) may be obligated or expended for any of the
following:
(1) To supplant current suicide prevention campaigns.
(2) For partisan political purposes, or to express advocacy
in support of or to defeat any clearly identified candidate,
clearly identified ballot initiative, or clearly identified
legislative or regulatory proposal.
(e) Report to Congress.--Not later than 18 months after
implementation of the national media campaign has begun, the
Secretary, in coordination with the Assistant Secretary and
the Director, shall, with respect to the first year of the
national media campaign, submit to Congress a report that
describes--
(1) the strategy of the national media campaign and whether
specific objectives of such campaign were accomplished,
including whether such campaign impacted the number of calls
made to lifeline crisis centers and the capacity of such
centers to manage such calls;
[[Page H2176]]
(2) steps taken to ensure that the national media campaign
operates in an effective and efficient manner consistent with
the overall strategy and focus of the national media
campaign;
(3) plans to purchase advertising time and space;
(4) policies and practices implemented to ensure that
Federal funds are used responsibly to purchase advertising
time and space and eliminate the potential for waste, fraud,
and abuse; and
(5) all contracts entered into with a corporation, a
partnership, or an individual working on behalf of the
national media campaign.
(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--For purposes of
carrying out this section, there is authorized to be
appropriated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022
through 2026.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Pallone) and the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey.
General Leave
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on H.R. 2862.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New Jersey?
There was no objection.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2862, the Campaign to
Prevent Suicide Act.
Suicide, Madam Speaker, continues to be one of the leading causes of
death in the United States. Last year alone, we lost more than 44,000
people to suicide deaths, placing a heavy toll on the families and
friends of victims, as well as on our communities.
To help prevent suicides, we have created a lifeline that people can
call when they are in crisis to get the help they need. This suicide
prevention hotline has been available since 2004 through funding we
have provided to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, and the call-in line has taken millions of calls since
its inception.
Unfortunately, the call-in line was started as a 10-digit number that
is hard to remember, and this could potentially be preventing essential
access to support for those in crisis. In 2018, the National Suicide
Hotline Improvement Act was passed with the goal of launching a new 3-
digit number similar to 911 that is easy to remember during a time of
crisis.
The Federal Communications Commission is now finalizing the process
to launch this new 3-digit call-in line, 988, next year. Now we need to
ensure people are aware of the new 3-digit number through a marketing
of 988.
H.R. 2862 provides this essential next step in communicating the new
lifeline number to the public, and will also evaluate the effectiveness
of the marketing to better understand how best to reach communities in
need.
Madam Speaker, suicide deaths are a preventible tragedy, and this
call-in line has the potential to help people in crisis and to save
lives, but we need to educate people about this important resource.
Madam Speaker, I want to commend the lead sponsors of this
legislation, Representatives Beyer and Kinzinger, and their staff, for
their tireless work on this bill.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2862, the Campaign to
Prevent Suicide Act, introduced by Representatives Beyer and Kinzinger.
This bill directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to
conduct a national suicide prevention education campaign, this includes
promotion of the new 988 number for the National Suicide Prevention
Lifeline.
The bill also helps educate Americans on ways to engage people
showing signs of suicidal behavior, in order to provide them with the
support they need. The bill is desperately needed as we work as a
nation to emerge from an unprecedented health and economic crisis.
Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to come together here today and
advance this legislation.
Again, this is important in terms of having the 988 number, people
can reach out and have intervention. We know intervention and
prevention and recognition is key to preventing people from committing
suicide.
Madam Speaker, I appreciate my friends, Mr. Beyer and Mr. Kinzinger,
for bringing this forward. I urge its passage.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, as my colleague from Kentucky explained,
this is a very important piece of legislation to make people aware of
this 988 number to prevent suicide.
Madam Speaker, I would urge my colleagues on a bipartisan basis to
support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2862, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mrs. GREENE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and
nays.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 3(s) of House Resolution
8, the yeas and nays are ordered.
Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this motion
are postponed.
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