[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 264-265]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     GUN CONTROL AND MENTAL ILLNESS

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, the main reason I come to the floor 
today is to talk about the President's most recent Executive action, 
this time implementing gun control measures that won't actually solve 
any of the problems they purport to fix and that purposely go around 
Congress and ignore the will of the American people. To my mind, this 
is one of the most aggravating things about Washington, DC, and about 
how business is done here. People make symbolic acts claiming that we 
have to ``do something'' but don't actually focus on a solution that 
actually helps make the problem better.
  None of the President's proposals actually would reduce any of the 
horrific incidents of gun violence we have seen, and that is a shame 
because there are bipartisan proposals that have been made that 
actually would help. But it is only when the President works with the 
Congress, as the Constitution requires, before a bill can become law. 
In his eagerness to go it alone, of course, the President has forsaken 
the constitutional process and bypassed the electorate in trying to 
make new policy.
  He presumably is doing this as a hallmark of his tenure, and it will 
somehow be a legacy of his time as President. But the fact of the 
matter is Executive action signed by this President will not survive 
his own Presidency unless it is actually made into law, and then, of 
course, it would require another act of Congress to overcome it. That 
is something this President doesn't seem to recognize. When he gets 
frustrated with the pace at which Congress takes up legislation--for 
example, the immigration issue--he decides to unilaterally issue an 
Executive action--which does what? Well, he offers Executive actions as 
a solution to a problem. But, in fact, what it does is it buys a 
lawsuit and it gets caught up in litigation, which is going to take 
years to resolve and ultimately doesn't provide any relief to the very 
people the President claims to want to help.
  So as a result of the President's impatience and his eagerness to go 
it alone, he is actually forsaking the constitutional process that 
builds consensus and actually creates durable policies that will 
survive this President's own administration.
  This isn't just an isolated event, as I mentioned a moment ago. 
According to one media report, the Obama administration aims to push 
almost 4,000 new regulations during his last year as President. But 
with his announcement last week, President Obama made clear he has 
little interest in working with Congress. That is actually his job--to 
work with Congress, to work with us to try to find consensus and to 
build durable solutions to the problems that confront our Nation. It 
also demonstrates his lack of regard for fundamental constitutional 
rights as spelled out in the Constitution itself. Of course, I am 
talking about the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
  I found his rhetoric particularly perplexing. First, he blamed the 
Congress for inaction. He said: ``Congress still needs to act.'' Well, 
actually, if what he was doing was going to solve the problem, why 
would Congress still need to act? So to me it is an admission that he 
knows that this is mere symbolism and it doesn't actually solve the 
problem that he says exists.
  So he said Congress still needs to act on gun control measures, and 
he claimed that this legislative body--the Congress--is simply not 
being responsive to the will of the American people. He even said that 
he feels compelled to act without consulting Congress because America 
doesn't ``have a Congress that is in line with the majority of 
Americans.''
  In other words, the President said the people of this country are 
demanding more symbolic gun control laws, not less.
  But that is not what the polling shows, the best indicator of what 
people are actually thinking--other than what the Presiding Officer 
hears from her constituents in Iowa and I hear from my constituents in 
Texas. Those are the best ways to know what people are thinking. In a 
poll done by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News this fall, more than 
half of the respondents said that the President's party's position on 
gun control was ``outside the mainstream.'' Only 38 percent said that 
it was ``within the mainstream.''
  It is also critical to point out that, as many media reports have 
indicated, the President's measures would not have stopped any of the 
mass violence incidents that have tragically struck American 
communities over the last few years.
  So my response to the President is this: If he is actually serious 
about trying to solve problems rather than just issue symbolic 
proclamations, he needs to roll up his sleeves and he needs to work 
with us to move legislation forward that focuses on the commonsense 
thread found in many of these mass incidents, and that has to do with 
the mental health issue. This is the 800-pound gorilla in the room that 
the President doesn't want to talk about.
  The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Grassley, has 
made it quite clear that this is the one issue where we could actually 
find consensus and help provide assistance to families and communities 
to help people from becoming a danger to themselves as well as the 
communities in which they live.
  We know from the facts of the cases that many times the mental health 
of the shooter has played a role in many of these tragedies, and it 
must be addressed. Many Americans, of course, agree. I think, for 
example, of Adam Lanza, who was the shooter at Sandy Hook in 
Connecticut. He was so mentally ill that he was a recluse in his own 
home, and the only thing his mother found she could engage him in was 
going out to a shooting range. Yet he basically stole his mother's own 
weapons, killed her, and then tragically went to Sandy Hook Elementary 
School and killed a number of innocent children. If he and she had been 
able to get some additional help--gotten him to a doctor and gotten him 
on medications that could have helped him from this increasing mental 
illness--then perhaps things would have turned out differently. That is 
speculation on all our parts, but perhaps treating the mental illness 
will actually reduce the likelihood that people will succumb to an 
impulse to do harm to themselves and to their communities.
  According to a poll released just last week, more than 70 percent of 
Americans said they believe that better access to mental health 
treatment and screening would reduce these incidents of violence. I am 
part of that 70 percent. I firmly believe that time and again we are 
confronted with mental illness crises that go untreated and turn into 
tragic headlines. We can't responsibly stand by any longer and

[[Page 265]]

watch this pattern repeat itself. That is why last year I introduced a 
piece of legislation that was my effort to try to begin this 
conversation and this discussion here in the Senate.
  There are other ideas. The chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, 
and Pensions Committee, Senator Alexander, and the ranking member, 
Senator Murray, are working on some mental health reform legislation. 
Congressman Tim Murphy in the House has worked on a comprehensive bill, 
and in the Senate Dr. Bill Cassidy is working on that legislation. My 
legislation, hopefully, will help contribute to the conversation and 
help us build that consensus that is so important.
  The legislation I have introduced would improve treatment and 
preventive screenings and crisis response for individuals with mental 
illness. It would also strengthen the existing background check system, 
something the President says he wants to do. However, the fact of the 
matter is that many States, such as the State of Virginia in the case 
of the Virginia Tech shooter just a short time ago, don't even upload 
existing mental health adjudications into the background check system, 
which would have precluded the purchase of a firearm by somebody with 
that sort of record. So the National Instant Criminal Background Check 
System isn't even a comprehensive system when it comes to identifying 
people who under current law should not be able to purchase a firearm.
  This legislation I have offered is a step forward that will help 
those with mental illness get the support they need while also 
equipping our Nation's law enforcement officers to help keep our 
communities safe. It has been endorsed by a diverse group of 
organizations, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the 
National Association of Police Organizations, and the National 
Association of Social Workers.
  I think the thing that has perhaps offended some of our Democratic 
colleagues is that we have actually been able to build a consensus, 
where none other has existed on this topic, by getting organizations 
such as the ones I mentioned, along with the National Rifle 
Association, to endorse the legislation I have introduced.
  The fact of the matter is this legislation was aided by solutions 
borrowed from what is happening in Texas and particularly Bexar County 
and San Antonio, where I once served as a district judge.
  I firmly believe that the best way we can legislate here is to learn 
what works at the local and State level and then to scale them up here 
at the national level, rather than to do what the President seems to 
prefer, which is a national experiment and a one-size-fits-all approach 
in a country that is simply too diverse on issues that are so complex 
that we can't really solve them with the wave of a magic wand or on a 
national basis. So let's look at what works locally and in our States 
and then bring those experiences here and scale them up for the benefit 
of the rest of the country.
  The fact of the matter is that Bexar County's and San Antonio's 
mental health program is now touted as the national standard for how to 
think strategically about those suffering from mental illness in the 
criminal justice system. Sheriff Pamerleau of Bexar County told me that 
a substantial portion of the jail population in San Antonio is people 
suffering from mental illness. Many times they go untreated and, thus, 
they try to self-medicate with drugs or alcohol, just making their 
condition that much worse. But the underlying cause of their problem is 
never being treated, which is the underlying mental illness.
  I have heard the same story in Houston and Austin and other places. I 
have asked our law enforcement professionals--we simply are seeing more 
and more people with mental illnesses showing up in emergency rooms or 
living homeless on the street or ending up in our jails without their 
problems adequately being addressed. My legislation does try to take a 
crack at that. It may not be perfect. I know other people will have 
other ideas, but at least it is a constructive suggestion and will 
hopefully begin a conversation that we need to have and the President 
says he wants to have but so far has neglected to engage in.
  Congress has a role to play because we represent the American people 
and we represent the States where we are elected to serve. It is our 
responsibility to try to bring about successful reforms that we have 
seen work at the local and State levels. I am hopeful the Senate 
Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing soon. I understand we may well 
begin by the end of this month, and it is not a minute too soon.
  We need a President who is willing to get to work and do his job and 
not just to make speeches or issue Executive orders and say: Well, 
look, I have done my part, and the rest is up to everybody else. We 
need a President who is willing to work with us and alongside of us to 
tackle these important issues and hopefully help protect the 
individuals who are suffering from mental illness, to give families 
more choices when dealing with a mentally ill loved one, and also 
hopefully to avoid these incidents of mass violence. What we don't need 
is purporting to govern by Executive edict, which is what the President 
seems to like and prefer.
  I hope the President understands that Members on both sides of the 
aisle in both Chambers are ready, willing, and able in good faith to 
work to reform our mental health system and in doing so help prevent 
some of the tragedies that are occurring in our communities. What we 
don't need to do is to restrict the constitutional rights of law-
abiding citizens, which will in no way make our communities safer but 
will infringe upon those constitutional rights in the Bill of Rights of 
the U.S. Constitution.
  Many of the bills proposed, including mine, go much further than what 
the President announced last week in dealing with mental illness. There 
is a lot of work that needs to be done, and we need a President who 
will work with us. If he is willing to abandon this go-it-alone 
attitude and commit to working with the elected representatives of the 
American people, I think we have the opportunity to accomplish a lot 
for our country.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PETERS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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