[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12499-12500]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Murphy) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, The Denver 
Post Editorial Board published a piece supporting the Helping Families 
in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 2646. Their endorsement joins 72 
other papers, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, 
and the National Review.
  I thank my colleagues from Colorado, Representative Mike Coffman and 
Scott Tipton, who were both cosponsors of H.R. 2646. Their State, 
unfortunately, is all too familiar with the realities of mental illness 
and the tragedies that come along when there is no treatment for those 
who suffer from it.
  In Colorado, every 8 hours, one person dies by suicide. Their suicide 
rate is one of the highest in the country. Sadly, Colorado has also 
witnessed more mentally troubled mass killers than most, including 
James Holmes, who, in 2012, took 12 innocent lives at a movie theater 
in Aurora; and Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who murdered 12 of their 
fellow students, one teacher, and went on to take their own lives at 
Columbine High School in 1999.
  Mental health and the tragedies that occur before treatment are not 
restricted to one State, however. The Denver Post recognizes this when 
they report that ``more than 11 million adults suffer from a mental 
illness, and almost half of them do not seek treatment or cannot find 
it.''
  Mr. Speaker, since the facts make it clear that major mental health 
reform is needed for our entire Nation, reform must be a priority for 
all elected Members of Congress on both sides of the Capitol, for we 
represent the entire Nation.
  The House heard the American people when we passed H.R. 2646 in July 
with overwhelming, near unanimous bipartisan support. If the Senate 
won't listen to the House, or me, maybe they should listen to The 
Denver Post Editorial Board. They write:
  ``One of the best attempts to improve America's mental health crisis 
in decades will stall if the U.S. Senate does not get its act together 
before it goes on another month-long break. Freshly back from vacation, 
senators should pass . . . Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act 
. . . the bill sailed

[[Page 12500]]

through the House with overwhelming bipartisan support . . . its 
prospects in the Senate are murky . . . Congress is tantalizingly close 
to accomplishing something that will address the nation's deplorable 
treatment of the mentally ill. It should not fall victim to the 
hyperpartisan gun debate.''
  Mr. Speaker, if the Senate won't listen to The Denver Post, The Wall 
Street Journal, or The Washington Post, will they listen to the voice 
of the American people?
  We have the daily addition of 118 lives lost to suicide. Since 
September 1, it has been 1,400. Since the House passed the bill, over 
8,000 people have died of suicide. There is also the daily addition of 
959 families who join thousands mourning individuals with mental 
illness who have lost their life in one form or another. Since we 
passed the bill, the total lives lost is 65,212.
  More lives will be lost if we do not fix this broken mental health 
system that is so desperately in need of repair. It is time that the 
Senate listen to the voices of the millions who are crying out for 
help. And for today's new total of 959 more lives, tomorrow is too 
late.
  Millions of Americans are pleading with the Senate: do not go home at 
the end of this month without passing a bill that the House can also 
pass and get signed into law. The Helping Families in Mental Health 
Crisis Act is just that law. We need the Senate to vote this week, not 
another day. Where there is help, there is hope.

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