Care for the Mentally Ill

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Murphy for this time and for bringing this issue to the floor of the House. I thank my friend, Mr. McDermott, from Washington, for his views.

Congressman Murphy's bill opens a bipartisan conversation on how best to address the challenges that have been facing mental health services and our citizens in this country for decades.

President John Kennedy implemented a groundbreaking, community-based treatment model for individuals with mental health illnesses. However, in the decades following his service, the Federal Government has missed opportunity after opportunity to effectively address the needs of Americans with mental illness. Over the years, we have seen our prisons, our hospitals, and our homeless shelters bear the brunt of providing services for our Nation's mentally ill.

One-third of the homeless are mentally ill, some 200,000. Sixteen percent of incarcerated Americans, some 300,000, have mental illness. And mental disorders are some of the most costly health conditions we face in our country.

As noted, many of our incidents of mass violence have mental illness as a factor. Now most States still rely on the standard of imminent danger for commitment of mentally ill individuals. This is, in part, a result of past Supreme Court decisions, most importantly, in 1975, O'Connor v. Donaldson, which has been used consciously many times to oppose involuntary commitment and argue that committing individuals who are not imminently dangerous to themselves or others is unconstitutional.

Congressman Murphy's bill, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, holds our Federal agencies accountable and requires that our States follow evidence-based practices that have proven to reduce hospitalization, homelessness, and violence.

This bill also provides alternatives to institutionalization for Americans with severe mental illness; and for those that need to be institutionalized, it requires States to include need-for-treatment commitment standards in their civil commitment laws in order to remain eligible for certain Federal block grant programs. This will help clarify commitment standards for our States and will ensure that we no longer wait until it is too late to potentially commit dangerous individuals and those who need help.

It is important that we seize this opportunity for future generations of Americans, and I commend my colleague for his leadership on this important issue.

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