[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 188 (Monday, December 5, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6952-S6953]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             House Calendar

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, throughout this Congress, I have been 
more than a little puzzled about the House's refusal to advance 
commonsense bills that pass the Senate with unanimous support. I know 
my Senate colleagues have shared their concerns as we have watched 
bipartisan bills sit in House purgatory with no explanation as to what 
the reasons for the holdup are.
  We are talking about bills that help prevent child sexual abuse, 
support disaster relief, cut redtape, and increase payments to the 
child support program. These are hardly controversial matters. All 100 
Members of the Senate supported these bipartisan bills and countless 
others, but they are still collecting dust on the House calendar.
  With the end of the 117th Congress less than a month away, it looks 
like the logjam may finally begin to break. Last week, the House 
finally passed the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration 
Reauthorization Act that I authored with Senator Klobuchar. This bill 
will continue critical grants for mental health courts, crisis 
intervention teams, and other programs to promote public safety, 
improve mental health outcomes, and reduce recidivism. The bill passed 
the Senate unanimously in June, and while I am disappointed that it 
took so long for the House to act, I am glad it finally did with 
overwhelming bipartisan support.
  Last week, the House also passed legislation to rename the post 
office in Arlington, TX, not exactly a monumental piece of legislation. 
But the important part of it was that it honored our friend and former 
colleague Congressman Ron Wright. This legislation passed the Senate 
with unanimous support back in May, and over the last 6 months, it has 
gotten caught up in partisan jockeying in the House. I am glad the 
House finally advanced this bill so that we can honor the incredible 
life and legacy of Congressman Wright.
  As I said, the logjam looks like it is beginning to break, but we 
still have a way to go.
  Despite advancing these two overwhelmingly bipartisan bills, the 
House still refuses to pass another incredible bill, the Residential 
Substance Use Disorder Treatment Act. Senator Whitehouse and I 
introduced this bipartisan bill to help incarcerated individuals 
struggling with drug abuse.
  There is a well-established link between drug abuse and crime. And in 
order for individuals who have been incarcerated to have the best shot 
at leading healthy and productive lives, they need to break the cycle 
of addiction.
  The Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Program--or RSAT, as it is 
sometimes called--provides incarcerated individuals with access to 
treatment for substance use disorders. The treatment is coupled with 
programs to prepare these men and women for reentry and to provide 
community-based treatment once they are released.
  Our bill updates the program and expands access to treatment in jails 
and prisons around the country so that we can reduce recidivism and 
build safer, healthier communities. More than two dozen organizations 
have endorsed this bill, including law enforcement, criminal justice, 
and behavioral health groups.
  As I indicated, it passed the Senate with unanimous support last 
year, but for some unknown reason, the House has refused to take it up 
so far. I can only hope that this will change in the waning days of the 
117th Congress.
  As bad as it is to block any of these commonsense, bipartisan bills, 
one of the most confounding is a bill to improve the way police respond 
to an individual experiencing a mental health crisis. This has been a 
major issue, something we have led on here in the Congress.
  Why the House refuses to act now is beyond me, but the American 
people have witnessed one disturbing incident after another in which a 
seemingly benign encounter with police turned deadly. These have 
included everything from routine traffic stops to encounters with 
individuals experiencing a severe mental health meltdown.
  We all agree that deadly force should be a last resort. 
Unfortunately, police officers don't always have the training and the 
resources they need to defuse potentially dangerous situations. That is 
why this training and these grants are so important, to deescalate the 
confrontation.
  As we all know, our communities ask a lot of our law enforcement 
officers. In addition to fighting crimes, they are often the first to 
respond to domestic disputes, drug overdoses, and, yes, mental health 
crises. They are expected to function as peace officers, social 
workers, mental health professionals, and crisis response experts of 
all stripes.
  We have tried to lessen the burden on police through bills like the 
Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Reauthorization Act, but those 
bills alone are not enough. Law enforcement has asked Congress for more 
support to improve deescalation training, and we need to deliver.
  That is exactly why I worked with Senator Whitehouse, the Democratic

[[Page S6953]]

Senator from Rhode Island, to update and reintroduce the Law 
Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act. This legislation will ensure 
that all of our officers have the skills they need to defuse a 
potentially dangerous situation that could endanger them or perhaps the 
individual experiencing the crisis.
  Again, use of force should come into play only when absolutely 
necessary, and this legislation will provide law enforcement with the 
ready knowledge of what alternatives exist. It will help train police 
in deescalation tactics, the most effective and safest ways to interact 
with people experiencing mental health or suicide crises, and how to 
work as part of a crisis intervention team.
  Law enforcement has specifically requested this training, and I am 
not willing to second-guess them when they say these are important 
techniques to keep their officers and the general public safe. They are 
certainly not ``soft-on-crime'' policies.
  This bill has a list of endorsements that is as long as it is 
diverse. Law enforcement groups, including the Fraternal Order of 
Police, the National Association of Police Organizations, and the 
National Sheriffs' Association have all endorsed this bill. So did the 
Major County Sheriffs of America, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, 
and the National Criminal Justice Association.
  This legislation also has the support of major mental health groups, 
including the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the American 
Psychological Association, and the Meadows Health Policy Institute.
  It received the endorsement of folks on the conservative end of the 
spectrum, such as the American Conservative Union, the Faith and 
Freedom Coalition, and Right on Crime.
  It has the support of faith-based groups, including Prison 
Fellowship, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the Catholic 
Prison Ministry Coalition.
  It has also received the support of the National Association of 
Counties, which represents local leaders throughout the country.
  Despite this long list of advocates and stakeholders who support this 
bill and the fact that the Senate passed it unanimously, the House, for 
some unknown reason, blocked it this last week. While it received 
majority support, it failed to clear the two-thirds threshold necessary 
under the House suspension calendar.
  Many of the people who voted against this bill are the same ones who 
supported deescalation training grants multiple times in previous 
years. They are even on record promoting their support in the media.
  As recently as 2 months ago, grants for deescalation training were 
uncontroversial. It is tough to understand what has changed and why 
anyone would vote against this bill now.
  It provides the funding and the training that law enforcement 
desperately needs and that will help make encounters between law 
enforcement and people experiencing a mental health crisis much safer 
for all concerned. It will help build public confidence and trust in 
our law enforcement agencies, and, like I said, it has the support of a 
full range of stakeholders.
  There is no ideological or political reason why people would not 
support this bill, as Members of the Senate and Members of the Congress 
across the political spectrum have seen the wisdom of passing this 
legislation. But I must say that anyone who considers themselves ``pro-
police'' or pro-law enforcement should be pro this legislation.
  I am disappointed, as I said, that the House blocked this bill from 
heading to the President's desk last week, and I am hopeful that 
Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer will schedule another vote at a simple 
majority threshold soon.
  I look forward to that second vote because, as we know, House 
Republicans have been very clear about their support for America's 
police officers.
  Earlier this year, they rolled out their ``Commitment to America'' 
framework, which included a commitment to build a nation that is safe. 
Part of that commitment is to ``oppose all efforts to defund the 
police.'' I stand by that commitment 100 percent, and no one who 
supports the Commitment to America should waiver in their support of 
law enforcement, including this particular piece of legislation.
  In order for every American to not only be safe but to feel safe, we 
need to enact long overdue reforms to ensure police are more 
responsibly serving our communities, and that is that they have the 
training and tools they need in order to do their dangerous and 
difficult job.
  The Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act will go a long way to 
give those officers the funding and training that they have requested 
and that they need in order to do their jobs better.
  Just as House Republicans have promised, we must give America's brave 
law enforcement officers the resources they need in order to protect 
and serve our communities.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.