Cornyn Reiterates Call on President to Work with Congress to Address Mental Health Care Reform

Following the President's executive action restricting Second Amendment rights, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) again urged President Obama to work with Congress to pass legislation reforming our mental health and criminal justice systems.

Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn's remarks are below, and video of his speech can be found here.

"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."

"But the fact of the matter is the executive actions signed by this President will not survive his own presidency."

"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."

"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."

"I firmly believe that, time and time 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 watch this pattern repeat itself, which is why last year I introduced a piece of legislation which was my effort to try to begin this conversation and this discussion here in the Senate."

"The legislation I've 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."

"This legislation was aided by solutions borrowed from what's happening in Texas, and particularly Bexar County, San Antonio, where I once served as a district judge. I firmly believe that the best way we could legislate here is to learn what works at the local and state level and then to scale them up here at the national level."

"And so I'm hopeful that the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing soon. I understand we may well by the end of this month, and it's not a minute too soon."

"But we also need a President who's willing to get to work and do his job and not just to make speeches or issue executive orders."

"We need a President who is willing to work with us and alongside of us to tackle these important issues and, ultimately, 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 help hopefully avoid these incidents of mass violence."

"If he's willing to abandon this sort of go-it-alone attitude and commits to working with the elected representatives of the American people, I think we have the opportunity to accomplish a lot for our country."

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