Improving the Health of Americans

Floor Speech

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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, my friend from the great State of Oklahoma. I am privileged to have visited not only his State, but his district, and met the fabulous and wonderful people there, and they are lucky to have him representing them here.

You talk about that statistic, and I am here to talk specifically about mental illness, but this opioid epidemic has touched every single community. You don't have to live in the city. You don't have to live in underprivileged areas. I know very good friends that it has wracked their families, and it has wracked our communities.

Certainly, one of the great things about the 21st Century Cures Act is the help that is on the way. It is probably not going to be enough, but we need to do everything we can, at least in making these first steps in wrapping our minds and our hands around this problem and getting to a solution.

So I am thankful that the gentleman has taken the time to hold this Special Order, to bring that, as well as the other issues, up, and I appreciate that.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk a little bit about the mental health situation in our country, and I think the gentleman has alluded to much of it in his conversation.

Mr. Speaker, more than 11 million Americans suffer from severe schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression, yet millions-- literally millions--are going without any treatment whatsoever. And families, these families are struggling to care for these people.

You have a broken arm or some physical malady, you can see that and you can get to a cure in many, many cases. But these mental illnesses vex us, where your loved one is fine one moment and the next moment is not, and you don't know when that is going to happen or the gravity of the situation, how bad it might be at any given moment. These are our loved ones. These are our family members and our neighbors.

The Federal Government's approach to mental health has been a chaotic patchwork of antiquated programs and ineffective policies spread across numerous bureaucratic agencies that simply don't get to the issue at hand, and I think we can all see that.

Sadly, many patients end up in the criminal justice system or are on the street because services are unavailable. I know that in the State that I reside in, the great State of Pennsylvania, years back, we closed our State hospitals where much of the care was given to these people, and they just ended up out on the street or back with their families, which often are cases that their families just don't know what to do. They don't know how to handle it. They can't handle it.

Then these folks end up in the penal system, which is no place for people that justifiably are sick. They have an issue. They are sick.

They are not criminals, but they are sick.

In the worst case scenarios, some individuals commit acts of violence. And every one of us has heard the stories and seen the film footage on the news of these acts of violence that can be directly attributable to mental illness.

Now, we should be able to feel safe in our homes, all of us, in our communities, and our hearts just break every single time a senseless act of violence occurs and we see that. And certainly, for parents, these tragedies, they hit especially close to home.

We need to remember that the beneficiaries of mental health treatment aren't only those directly treated for mental illness, but also our broader community when we see those things, those images on TV, because mental health treatment is a preventive measure to reducing acts of violence. It is a preventive measure. It actually stops those things from ever occurring if we get to it.

Now, I was an enthusiastic supporter and cosponsor of my colleague Congressman Tim Murphy's Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.

He literally worked on it for years, and I watched him struggle through that. And that bill was actually included in the 21st Century Cures Act, which passed this very House last night.

This legislation coordinates programs across different agencies, those disparate agencies that don't seem to work with one another, where information is siloed. It coordinates that, those programs, and promotes effective evidence-based programs, evidence-based so we can get to solutions.

Just like most other things with the Federal Government, by removing Federal barriers to care, advancing early intervention programs, adding alternatives to institutionalization, and improving the transition from one level of care to another, we directly address our Nation's broken mental health care system, finally. Finally, a step in the right direction.

So, once again, I applaud and thank the gentleman from Oklahoma for allowing me this time and bringing this issue to the floor; and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to send this bill directly to the President's desk, absolutely, as soon as possible. We can't wait for another tragedy to occur where we are all watching on television the footage of something that could have been prevented and avoided.

Mr. MULLIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania for also being extremely passionate about moving in the right direction with mental health. It is something that we continue to look over.

As I stated when we first started tonight, we had an overwhelming amount of bipartisan support on passing the 21st Century Cures Act. We could see that the hard work that the staff over in the Energy and Commerce Committee, on both sides, the Republican staff and the Democratic staff, worked together to come up with a bipartisan bill to make sure that we are putting our families first, that we are putting our constituents first.

We are setting aside the partisanship that often finds its way inside our conversations. We set it aside and actually were very proactive on a very important piece of legislation.

I would like to thank Chairman Murphy, with his passion on mental health, and our outgoing chairman, Mr. Fred Upton, who has dedicated his years of service to the betterment of our constituents and his passion for fighting this and seeing this through. I would like to thank him for his dedication. The gentleman will be missed as our chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I see no other speakers at this time. I yield back the balance of my time.

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