Tim Murphy

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden).

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), the majority leader of the House of Representatives.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Brooks), who has been a real champion of this bill.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Pitts), the chairman of the Health Subcommittee of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess).

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. I have about 10 more speakers who would like to speak.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Benishek).

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gibson).

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus), my friend and colleague.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen).

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 45 seconds to the gentlewoman from Virginia (Mrs. Comstock).

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record this list of over 50 professional organizations in support of this bill and also a list of 65-plus editorials in support of this bill. Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Editorial Board Endorsements (H.R. 2646) 2015-2016 Editorial Endorsements 1. The Florida Times Union, Congress begins to tackle mental illness (April 21, 2015). 2. Observer-Reporter, Reforms to mental-health system neede, (July 21, 2015). 3. The Sacramento Bee, Perhaps Congress will address mental health care (August 1, 2015). 4. The National Review, Congress is Waking Up To Mental health, (August 4, 2015). 5. Reading Record Searchlight, Perhaps Congress will address mental health care (August 9, 2015). 6. U.S. News and World Report, America Wakes Up to Mental Health (August 11, 2015). 7. The Florida Times-Union, Florida's inept system for mental health leads to tragedies (August 20, 2015). 8. The Washington Times, Stopping the shooters (August 27, 2015). 9. KDKA-News, KDKA Urges Congress To Pass Murphy's Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (August 31, 2015). 10. The Connecticut Post, Congress can finally make a difference for mental-health reform (September 17, 2015). 11. The Winona Daily News, Congress can finally make a difference for mental-health reform (September 17, 2015). 12. Dubuque Telegraph Herald, Congress can finally make a difference for mental-health reform (September 17, 2015). 13. Boulder Daily Camera, Congress can finally make a difference for mental-health reform (September 17, 2015). 14. The Rome News-Tribune, Congress can finally make a difference for mental-health reform (September 17, 2015). 15. Carlsbad Current Argus, Congress can finally make a difference for mental-health reform (September 17, 2015). 16. Cecil Whig, Congress can finally make a difference for mental-health reform (September 17, 2015). 17. The Seattle Times, Congress can finally make a difference for mental-health reform (September 17, 2015). 18. Vero Beach Press Journal, Another View: Mental health reform effort deserves support (September 22, 2015). 19. Alamogordo Daily News, Mental health reform effort deserves support (September 25, 2015). 20. Grand Rapids Business Journal, Behavioral Health Care: We Can Do Better Than This (October 2, 2015). 21. The Roanoke Times, Our view: Murphy's (would-be) law (October 7, 2015). 22. The Dallas Morning News, Congress can rewrite mental illness stories by doing this (October 21, 2015). 23. The San Francisco Chronicle, Crime, punishment and mental health (October 22, 2015). 24. The National Review, Editorial: The Week (October 26, 2015). 25. North Dallas Gazette, Dealing with Mental Illness in a Dysfunctional Society (October 28, 2015). 26. The Daily Courier, Seeking to help people before they pull the trigger (October 29, 2015). 27. The Sacramento Bee, We've come to accept the unacceptable (October 30, 2015). 28. The Washington Post, Movement on mental-health care (November 1, 2015). 29. The National Review, Editorial: The Week (November 2, 2015). 30. Kane County Chronicle, Another view: Movement on Mental Health Care (November 2, 2015). 31. Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Others say: Movement on mental-health care (November 3, 2015). 32. Grand Forks Herald, OUR OPINION: Support US. House's mental health care reform (November 4, 2015). 33. The Oklahoman, A review of state, federal mental health laws is justified (November 9, 2015). 34. Sarasota Herald Tribune, Bill targets mental health crisis (November 22, 2015). 35. The Wall Street Journal, The Next Mad Gunman (November 29, 2015). 36. The Tampa Bay Tribune, Confront Our Mental Health Crisis (December 1, 2015). 37. PennLive, Full U.S. house should get a vote on Rep. Tim Murphy's mental health bill (December 14, 2015). 38. The Scranton Times-Tribune, Retool mental health system (December 16, 2015). 39. The Citizens Voice, Improve access to mental health care (December 16, 2015). 40. New York Daily News, Sane law promises mental health treatment for the dangerously insane (January 28, 2016). 41. Washington Post, A glimmer of hope for reforming mental health care in America (June 25, 2016). 2013-2014 Editorial Endorsements 42. The Express-Times, Don't give up on background checks, mental health reform (December 15, 2013). 43. Washington Observer-Reporter, Murphy's bill a step toward mental health reform (December 21, 2013). 44. The Wall Street Journal, A Mental Health Overhaul (December 25, 2013). 45. Houston Chronicle, Dealing with it (January 15, 2014). 46. The Wall Street Journal, The Definition of Insanity (March 31, 2014). 47. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Worthy of Support: Murphy's Mental Health Bill Faces the Critics (April 6, 2014). 48. The Toledo Blade, Worth of support (April 9, 2014). 49. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Better Care for the Mentally Ill is Crucial for Our Society (April 13, 2014). 50. The Washington Post Mental health care in the U.S. needs a check-up (April 16, 2014). 51. The Orange County Register, A Mental Health Fix That Merits A Chance (April 21, 2014). 52. Mansfield News Journal, How Congress can solve our mental-health crisis (May 19, 2014). 53. The Sacramento Bee, Efforts underway to prevent all- too-often tragic results of untreated severe mental illness (May 20, 2014). 54. The Fresno Bee, Orange County sets example with passage of Laura's Law (May 21, 2014). 55. The Seattle Times, Mental-health reform to consider in light of Santa Barbara shootings (May 28, 2014). 56. Cecil Whig, Rampage spurring new approaches (June 2, 2014). 57. The Arizona Republic, Reforms shouldn't protect `Big Mental Health' (June 6, 2014). 58. National Review, Don't Go Wobbly on Mental Illness (June 9, 2014). 59. The Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Casts Vote for Compassion for People with Severe Mental Illness (July 9, 2014). 60. San Mateo Journal, A vote for compassion (July 10, 2014). 61. Ocala Star Banner, Mental health issue (August 18, 2014). 62. Bradenton Herald, Bill in Congress a solid overhaul of America's broken mental health system (August 21, 2014). 63. Raleigh News & Observer, Pennsylvania Congressman has Ideas to Address Mental Health Care (August 28, 2014). 64. The Fayetteville Observer, Mental health-care Overhaul Bill Worth Attention (August 29, 2014). 65. The Tampa Tribune, Nation needs to treat mental illness as a crisis (December 21, 2014). Organizations Adventist Health Care, American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Emergency Medicine, American Academy of Forensic Sciences, American Foundation For Suicide Prevention, American College of Emergency Physicians, American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc., American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, Behavioral Health IT Coalition, California Psychiatric Association, Center for Substance Abuse Research. College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists, Developmental Disabilities Area Board 10 Los Angeles, Federal Law Enforcement Association of America, International Bipolar Foundation, Mental Health America, Mental Health Association of Essex County, NJ. Mental Illness FACTS, Mental Illness Policy Organization, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems, NAMI Harlem, NAMI Kentucky. NAMI Los Angeles County, NAMI New York State, NAMI Ohio, NAMI San Francisco, NAMI West Side Los Angeles, National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems, National Council for Behavioral Health, National Sheriffs' Association, No Health Without Mental Health, Pennsylvania Medical Society, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services. Saint Paulus Lutheran Church (San Francisco), Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Alliance of America, Sheppard Pratt Hospital, Society of Hospital Medicine, Sunovian, Treatment Advocacy Cater, Treatment Before Tragedy, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychiatry, Washington Psychiatric Society, New York State Association of Chiefs of Police.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 45 seconds to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Mimi Walters).

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. LaHood.)

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time I have remaining?

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I want to add my thanks also to the ranking member, Mr. Pallone, for his steadfast work in this and to his staff. I have learned a lot from them. We have had a lot of conversations and hopefully we have learned from each other. Particularly, I want to thank Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas. Her persistence and her role as a psychiatric nurse has been invaluable in this whole process. In addition, other Members on the other side of the aisle, Mr. Gene Green of Texas and Ms. DeGette, Marcy Kaptur and Jim McDermott, who have been incredible allies in this process, and, of course, the chairman of the full committee, Mr. Upton. The staff I want to thank are Gary Andres, Karen Christian, Sam Spector, Paul Edattel, Adrianna Simonelli; my staff, Susan Mosychuk, Scott Dziengelski; my former staff, Brad Grantz; and also Michelle Rosenberg from the committee, for their help. Publicly, I want to also thank those families who spoke up. Many families came out of their pain--Senator Creigh Deeds, Cathy Costello of Oklahoma, Anthony Hernandez of California and Jennifer Hoff of California, Liza Long from up in Idaho, and Doris Fuller from nearby-- all talking about the suffering of their families. Thousands of other families spoke up, but there are still millions who suffer silently in the shadows trying to deal with mental illness and a Federal Government that has failed them, States that have underfunded it. I appreciate the comments from my colleagues. Indeed, if we do not fund some of these things we are authorizing here, it is a far cry from what we need to do. But this bill comes a long way in reforming a system. I ask my colleagues also now, this is one of those moments to put aside any political differences. In the 40 years that I have worked as a psychologist, I have never once asked any of my patients what party they belonged to. We were there to help them. This is our opportunity to speak up for those who have no voice, as I said at the onset, the last, the lost, the least, and the lonely. They depend on us. I know that Members from both sides of the aisle have told me many times of the stories that they have suffered themselves of their own families and friends. But now let me take a moment to set aside my title as Congressman or as doctor but to talk as a family member. I think I was in college at the time when I heard a soft voice call in my house just saying ``help.'' It was my father. I went into the bathroom where he was. He had cut the arteries in his arms and he was bleeding out. I called an ambulance and asked them to come get help for him. He eventually recovered and made peace. But it was that soft voice calling for help that I responded to. It is decades later and he is long gone. But it is that soft voice that millions of Americans are also calling out for help. We have a chance here with this bill to make a huge difference. Unlike any other bills we may pass in Congress, this is one where I think Members can really go back and say: Today I voted to save lives. Let's have treatment before tragedy, because where there is help, there is hope. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Citizen Airman Chief Master Sergeant Brian L. Zator upon the occasion of his retirement after 32 years of honorable service to our great Nation in the United States Air Force and Air Force Reserve. Chief Zator was born on April 8, 1966 in Morgantown, West Virginia. He graduated from Saint Francis High School in Morgantown in 1984 and entered the Air Force in July that year. Upon graduation of Administration Management Specialist Course, he was assigned to the 62nd Air Base Group and then to the 446th Airlift Wing, McChord AFB, Washington, from 1984 to 1989, as an Administrative Specialist. In June 1989, he transitioned from the Air Force to the Air Force Reserve, joining the 911th Civil Engineer Squadron, Detachment Number 1, Morgantown, West Virginia as the Non-Commissioned Officer in charge (NCOIC), Management Assistant, of the Orderly Room. Then, in August 1991, he became an Air Reserve Technician, a dual hatted Citizen Airman, serving the Air Force Reserve Command as a Civil Servant during the week and again serving the Air Force Reserve Command as a member of the uniformed service during the weekends and whenever the nation called upon him with the 911th Airlift Wing, Civil Engineer Squadron, Pittsburgh International Airport, Air Reserve Station, Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. In 1995, he was promoted to the grade of Master Sergeant, taking on an active leadership role within the 911th Airlift Wing and within the Air Force Reserve Command. In 1997, he was selected as the winner of the Air Force Reserve Command Outstanding Civil Engineering Air Reserve Technician of the year award. That same year he was a member of the Air Force Reserve Command Outstanding Civil Engineering Squadron of the Year. In 1998, he alone was selected from thousands of his peers within the state, as the winner of the Air Force Association Outstanding Reservist Award for Pennsylvania. In October 1999, he transitioned careers, both civilian and military, into the Financial Management career field. From October 1999 through October 2006, he was the Financial Management Superintendent as an Air Reserve Technician with the 911th Airlift Wing. In 2000, he again was promoted, this time to the grade of Senior Master Sergeant. Chief Zator was clearly being recognized by leadership within the Air Force Reserve Command for his abilities to assume additional responsibility and to lead within the 911th Airlift Wing. In 2001, he was again individually selected from thousands of his peers within the state as the winner of the Air Force Association Outstanding Reservist Award for Pennsylvania. In 2003, he was selected as the winner of the Air Force Reserve Command Financial Services Civilian of the Year award, and in 2004 he was selected as the winner of the 911th Airlift Wing Senior Noncommissioned Officer of the Year award. In 2005, he deployed to the 496th Air Base Group, Moron Air Base, Spain as a Deployed Paying Agent. That same year, and again in 2006, he was selected as the winner of the Air Force Reserve Command Financial Management Enlisted Superintendent of the Year award and the winner of the 2006, 911th Airlift Wing Civilian of the Year award. In 2006, he was promoted to the highest enlisted rank within the Air Force, Chief Master Sergeant. As a Chief Master Sergeant, one assumes responsibilities for all enlisted troops and serves as a guide and mentor for junior personnel, officer and enlisted, alike. In November 2006 through January 2013, he served as the Chief of Financial Management for the 911th Airlift Wing. During that time, in 2007 and again in 2008, he was selected as the winner of the Air Force Reserve Command Comptroller Organization of the Year award, and in 2009, he was selected as the winner of the Air Force Reserve Command James E. Short Award for Outstanding Mentorship and Career Development. Then, in 2011, he was selected as the winner of the Air Force Reserve Command Financial Management Enlisted Superintendent of the Year and the winner of the 2011 Defense Finance and Accounting Service- Limestone's Partnership for Success Award. From January 2013 through September 2016, in Chief Zator's final military role within the Air Force Reserve, he was hand selected to be the Command Chief of the 911th Airlift Wing, Pittsburgh International Airport, Air Reserve Station, Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. During this time, Chief Zator served as the Wing Commanders' senior enlisted advisor on matters concerning troop welfare, effective utilization, and progress of the enlisted members of the 911th Airlift Wing. As an example of the work Chief Zator did on behalf of the 911th Airlift Wing, he went about forging partnerships with local educational institutions resulting in college level courses being taught at the 911th Airlift Wing. His vision came to fruition in January 2014, when the 911th Airlift Wing partnered with Robert Morris University and started teaching eight week General Education courses. These courses were part of the initiative to meet the forthcoming requirements for enlisted military personnel to have a Community College of the Air Force Associates Degree for consideration for promotion to Senior Master Sergeant and Chief Master Sergeant. Since this partnership, the 911th Airlift Wing has presented over 150 Community College of the Air Force Associate degrees to its members. The 911th Airlift Wing has gone from not being ranked in the top 25 percent of Community College of the Air Force Associates Degree graduates to being ranked Number 8 in 2014 to being ranked Number 2 in 2015 within the Air Force Reserve. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the United States Congress and a grateful Nation, I extend our deepest appreciation to Chief Master Sergeant Brian Zator for his many years of dedicated service. There is no question that the Air Force, Department of Defense, and the United States benefitted greatly from Chief Zator's visionary leadership, planning, and foresight, and we wish him and his wife, Lorie, and his son Nicolas, the very best.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, on roll call no. 141, had I been present, I would have voted Yes.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, this is the tale of two cities--not the tale about the cities, but about two examples of America's great embarrassment and failure to treat a brain disease called mental illness, especially serious mental illness. It is also a tale of Congress' repeated failure to address this. Despite the cries of millions of Americans to do something about it, what we here in Washington tend to do when we hear of another tragedy that has occurred somewhere in the Nation, the tragedies we know by the names of Sandy Hook Elementary School, or Columbine, or Aurora, Colorado, or Tucson, or Santa Barbara, what Washington tends to do is we have a moment of silence. But the people want and Members of Congress want moments of action, not moments of silence. Let me elaborate on this tale. In this building, the U.S. Capitol, back in the 1990s, two police officers were killed when Russell Weston came into the Capitol seeking a red crystal and ended up shooting these police officers. Under his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, he was pushed, with his delusions and hallucinations, to take action. It ended up in tragedy. There was also recently, over the break, another man, Larry Russell Dawson, who has been seen around this Capitol and has once, allegedly, disrupted proceedings in this Chamber and, allegedly, also suffers from some level of mental illness. When he was entering the Capitol Visitor Center, a pistol was seen going through the x-ray. When he grabbed that pistol, police officers shot and wounded him. First of all, it is amazing to me that people did not die. We know that the entrance to the Capitol Visitor Center is a highly secure environment with many, many Capitol Police officers. These brave men and women who put themselves between danger and Members of Congress and the public showed tremendous restraint and judgment at that moment. I might add that, many times, when a mentally ill person has a conflict, a violent conflict with a police officer, where they may be reaching into their jacket or may be pointing a pistol or approaching a police officer with a knife, it is estimated between a quarter and a half of those mentally ill people involved in a police encounter end up dead. That is a few hundred each year. Though that is the tale in Washington, D.C., why are we dealing with mental illness as a violent threat instead of in treatment? We deal with it because, in this Nation, sadly, when someone with mental illness has reached that level or they become violent, we call the police. The rules are, which we will look at tonight: prevent people from getting treatment; we do not have enough providers; we don't have enough places to put people, so we call the police. Now, I should start off by saying the mentally ill are no more likely to be violent than the non-mentally ill; except when you look at those with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar, and other illnesses such as that, they are 16 times more likely to engage in an act of violence than someone who is in treatment. Again, a person who is seriously mentally ill and not in treatment is 16 times more likely to engage in an act of violence than someone who is in treatment. On the West Coast, in Seattle, another tragedy was brewing. A man named Cody Miller climbed a tree, a giant sequoia tree in downtown Seattle, and it created something of a furor. First, I want to read parts of an article that appeared in The New York Times on March 29 that describe this to show you how out of touch we are as a society when dealing with mental illness. It said: ``For more than 24 hours last week, Cody Lee Miller perched in a giant sequoia in downtown Seattle, pelting people and cars with pine cones and tearing off branches.'' Investigators were investigating how much it would cost, using some ``complicated formula that goes far beyond the value of natural beauty,'' the article said. ``A Seattle tree expert . . . said Mr. Miller caused $7,800 in damage, according to court documents released this week. Investigators took into account the tree's age, its potential life span and how much of its lush foliage was denuded. ``The formula, created by professional foresters, goes like this. The trunk is 34 inches in diameter at breast height, an investigator's report said. The tree has a `95 percent species rating,' a `100 percent condition rating' and a 100 `percent location rating' . . . The sequoia's pre-damage value was put at $51,700. But after Mr. Miller's arboreal escapade, the tree lost 15 percent of its value, the documents show, and is now worth only $43,900 . . .`The damage to the tree was extensive,' the report said. ``Mr. Miller was charged on Monday with first-degree malicious mischief and third-degree assault. He was also ordered to stay away from the tree by observing `no unwanted contact' ''--I repeat, ``by observing `no unwanted contact' '' with the tree. Now, the story goes on to describe trees and sequoias, but not until the very end of the article it mentions Mr. Miller's mother, Lisa Gossett. She said that she had not talked to her son for some 5 years. She saw it on the news and she barely recognized him. See, what was happening is Lisa Gossett and her daughter sat in their Alaska home watching this clip of the man perched in the tree. With their hearts broken, with tears streaming down their faces, Lisa and her daughter soon came to realize they were watching their son and their brother become the latest Internet mockery of a mentally ill person. You see, when Cody Lee Miller climbed this 80-foot tree and sat there for 25 hours, he was sporting a bushy beard and ragged clothes, and most Americans were amused by this and they called it #manintree. It was an international viral story overnight. But this was no joke; this was no prank. This was the culmination of untreated mental illness that, once again, our society turned into a joke. And we wonder why there is a stigma, when newspapers like The New York Times write a mocking story like that towards a man who has a disease. Would they have written an article like that if it was about someone with cancer or diabetes or AIDS or any other disease? My guess is no. But somehow, in our society, it is okay to mock a person who is suffering from schizophrenia. When he was younger, he was clean-cut and rambunctious, loving and happy. Those are the words his friends used to describe him. At a young age, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; however, other than excess energy, like any child, he didn't sport any behavioral issues. But then, 6 years ago, his mother began to notice an unusual shift in her son's behavior as he grew increasingly paranoid. Let me note here that serious mental illness, about 50 percent of the time, emerges by age 14, and 75 percent of the time by age 24. It is very, very difficult to predict; although, we have now indicated some 108 genetic markers of schizophrenia and bipolar illness. Still, the issue is many parents have a loving and caring child, then something changes. His behavior changed when Lisa would find knives stored under her son's pillow. And when confronting Cody about her discovery, he would simply respond: It is just to keep us safe. As time passed on, Cody's mental instability progressed. He refused to enter certain stores downtown. When making an exception, Cody would cover his face with a hood, convinced people were constantly staring at him. Following this enhanced paranoia came the emergence of night terrors and constant crying and shouting for his mother during the night. Cody would shriek in fear of the ``evil presence'' surrounding him. This worrisome behavior continued to escalate as Cody spiraled out of control. He could be found walking down the street in high socks and clown glasses spreading deer bones on the road. He hit a man with a flat tire and began to have dreams of killing his grandmother, going so far as setting her wood shop on fire. At that point, his grandmother said she could no longer handle him and sent him out. He was caught in the revolving door of the United States' embarrassing and shamefully broken mental health system. He was constantly shuffled between homelessness and incarceration. Lisa pleaded for others to help her son and appealed to the Alaska's Governor's office, mental health evaluators, and probation office for assistance. But despite her efforts, Lisa's attempts to get her son proper treatment seemed hopeless due to the bureaucratic morass that is our mental health care system, which is not really a system at all. She was sidelined from helping her son due to the inefficient system and forced to sit by and watch as Cody eroded over time. We pretend in our own deluded state that all the seriously mentally ill are fully aware of their symptoms and welcome treatment. The fact is many don't. Forty percent of individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder don't even recognize that the delusions and hallucinations are not real. This is a medical condition called anosognosia. Anosognosia is also something you see in people with dementia or Alzheimer's or stroke. It is very real. The person is not aware of their own problem. But somehow we come up with this anthropomorphism which says, well, they can decide for themselves. They cannot decide for themselves when they don't even know who they are, that they exist, or what planet they are on. They see things differently. They hear things differently. They smell things differently. They encode information differently into their brain. They process it and recall it differently. So for us to say that they just don't want treatment is a fool's errand on our part. Can you imagine if we said that, again, to someone with cancer? ``You don't understand your disease.'' Diabetic? ``We are going to dismiss you.'' What if a person clutched his chest in a heart attack and laid unconscious in the street? Would we tell that person ``We are not going to help you until you wake up and tell us to treat you''? Worse yet, will we say to that person ``We are not going to treat you until you are an imminent danger of killing yourself or killing someone else''? No. But that is what we do with the mentally ill. The Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee that I chair had a couple-year study paving the way for my bill, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. With 187 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle, my bipartisan measure addresses the shortage of psychiatric beds, clarifies HIPAA privacy laws so families can be allowed to have some compassionate communication and be part of frontline care, and it helps patients get treatment well before their illness spirals into crisis. My legislation has been endorsed by dozens of publications and newspapers, including The Washington Post, The Seattle Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, and the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette. Each day I hear from countless families from across the country that we are experiencing a mental health crisis, and they are counting on our efforts to bring positive changes to the mental health system. We cannot let these families down. Lives are depending upon it. We cannot wish this away, and denial is not a treatment. But let me tell you what Americans have to say about this because, as we are dealing with this issue, Americans are wondering why Congress is not acting. Why is Congress being so passive? Why aren't we doing what we need to do? I want to tell you about a story that I posted on my Facebook page and this picture that I posted as well. This is Cody Lee Miller in court. Look at his hair. Look at his beard. This is a man that obviously has not been taking care of himself. He is in shackles on his ankles and his wrists, chained at his waist, and led by two police officers wearing their purple gloves so they are not at risk of infection while a judge sits in the background. This is a man who was diagnosed with schizophrenia being treated like a criminal. Now, I wrote on my post this: ``Friends, you really can't make this stuff up.'' A man who is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, #ManInTree, ``who desperately needs psychiatric care is brought in shackles before a judge because he has been charged with first-degree malicious mischief and third-degree assault. What was the outcome? The judge ordered him to stay away from the tree, but he first needs to make his $50,000 bail. ``Just look at this picture and tell me our mental health system isn't a mess. It is unbelievable. Recall that for 24 hours last week, Cody Lee Miller remained atop a giant sequoia tree in downtown Seattle. Since that time, there has been a greater outpouring of concern over the tree than the plight of this young man who is so clearly in the throes of a psychotic break.'' I make reference here to that article from The New York Times being far more concerned about the tree than a human being. I wrote further: ``He is ordered to have `no unwanted contact' with a sequoia, yet no concern about getting him into treatment. Such a sad indictment against an abusive system that would order no contact with a tree, yet remains silent on getting the mentally ill into care. ``Cody's mom talks about his downward spiral and has made it her mission to be a voice for families who desperately want to help their loved ones but are blocked by Federal and State laws that make it impossible to help mentally ill family members. Meanwhile, Congress is still stalling my Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 2646.'' This posting must have hit a nerve. Members of Congress follow Facebook pages and Twitter, and we have our social media. Many times when we post something we may hear from a few thousand people. As of a few minutes ago, this posting has led to 1.8 million hits on my Facebook. What is also compelling is, as sad as this story is about this man treated like a prisoner, like a common criminal, instead of getting treatment, are the heart-wrenching comments made by the families. I want to read some of them to you. These are people from around the world, really, who have commented on what is happening here. Holly Huntley Perron wrote: ``I agree with Cody's mom. The real culprits are the State and Federal laws that prevent loved ones being able to help family members in trouble.'' By that I reference laws which say that, unless you are in imminent danger of killing yourself or someone else, no one is going to force you into treatment or laws that say, if this person says that they don't want help, you can't make them get help, or if the person in the midst of a delusion says: Don't tell my mother or my father because they are a part of the CIA or they are a Martian and they are planting thoughts in my brain, the doctors cannot tell the family members when is the next appointment, what is the medication, what is the diagnosis, and how should they treat him. They may say to take him home when the family says: What should I do? We have heard of cases where the doctor says: We can't tell you because he doesn't want us to. But the family says: But I am taking him home. What should I do? We can't tell you. One family member has said to the doctors: Let's just have a supposition. Just pretend that there was a case where someone with schizophrenia is going to my house. What should I do? And they say: We are not going to tell you. These go on to happen where family members may be in court pleading in tears with the judge: Tell me where my son is. Tell me where my daughter is. Where is my father? My mother? My brother? My sister? Tell me so I can do something with them. A caseworker may be sitting in the courtroom knowing full well where the person is and knowing there are problems, but they say: I can't tell you. Because we believe their delusions are a reality, that they somehow have a right to be sick instead of a right to be well. James Sobczak wrote: ``My guess is that he will get some mental health services in jail. Evaluate him and see if they can petition him to a psychiatric hospital. This is a process.'' Here is the problem. When we take the mentally ill people into jail, 80 percent of them get no treatment. Eighty percent of people taken to jail get no treatment. And of those in jail, 40 to 60 percent of those in jail have some level of mental illness and many are severely mentally ill. What happens instead is a person is 10 times more likely to be in jail than in a hospital if they are mentally ill. Once there, they don't get treatment. They oftentimes are subjected to abuse by other prisoners. They may get in fights with prison guards and then charged with another crime. Because of all these problems, a person with mental illness tends to serve a sentence four times longer for the same crime than a person without mental illness. When you discharge them, they don't get treatment. So they get involved in this revolving door. But why? Why, in heaven's name, is jail the right place to send someone with a brain disease? Why is it that Congress doesn't wake up? Instead of passing so many silly bills all the time, we are willing to let people continue to die, by the way, at a rate of about 10 people an hour. Last year in the United States 41,000 deaths by suicide, 45,000-plus deaths by drug overdose, somewhere between 200 and 500 deaths of a mentally ill person confronting a police officer. Thousands--and we don't even know accurately how many--are people who are homeless and die. One person in Los Angeles died every day who was homeless. And about 200,000 of these homeless people are severely mentally ill people. But we have gotten ourselves accustomed to stepping over them, to ignoring them, and to treating them as an invisible class that doesn't exist and somehow saying that that is what they want to be when they are not even aware. We think it is comfortable for them to live in filth and squalor. If you add the numbers up, the total number of mentally ill who died last year in this country, it is probably well over 85,000, maybe 100,000, maybe 120,000. I might add that even that lowest number is far greater than the total United States' combat deaths in the entire Korean war and Vietnam war combined for the length of those wars. In 1 year in America, that is how many died, and what we do here is we throw them in jail or, quite frankly, many of them die in jail as well. Another comment. Jim Holden wrote: ``The `system' is the problem. We can't help these people because `personal choice' is championed over their health and well-being. People on the streets need to be a danger to themselves or others before we can offer much-needed help. As a social worker I have always found this frustrating.'' Another woman, Jilly Aliska White, writes: ``My brother-in-law was just arrested for doing something during a psychotic break from his textbook schizophrenia. My husband's mom thinks he is finally going to get the help he needs now that he is in the system. Yeah. Right. He is not going to be any better off. They don't give a rat's when they can just shuffle him through the corrections system. It breaks my heart to explain this to them but look at the track record of them `helping.' '' Deb Smith writes: Unfortunately, our jails and juvenile centers have become mental health facilities. While a person has mental health problems, they also may commit crimes for which they can be arrested and held. This is a very difficult and often a very dangerous situation for everyone involved. It is never as simple as get them treatment, nor is it as simple as just set them free if they commit a crime. The judge has to look at all sides, including the safety of both sides, but for the individual and the citizens in the community and what risk the person may have of further harm to himself or others if released. Cindy Irvin writes: ``There is still a shame and embarrassment about mental illness that totally we don't understand. And then you have the people who believe that mental illness is a myth. Until these attitudes change--probably by some respected celebrity having a psychotic break-- mental health care will stay in the shadows.'' Beverly Di Mele wrote: ``The problem is the mentally ill have rights, and if they choose not to seek treatment, they have that right. The treatment given to them prior to 1970s was forced and inhumane. They were locked up for decades, medicated, isolated, and restrained. This doesn't happen much anymore, thank God. They had procedures done on them like prefrontal lobotomies and were subjected to shock therapy. It was cruel and unusual treatment for humans that didn't happen to see the world as `normal' people did. How would you like to see this treatment forced on your parent, child, or loved one?'' I agree with most of that. We don't want those treatments again, except, when she writes ``This doesn't happen much anymore, thank God,'' she is wrong. We should never allow again to bring back our asylums with its horrendous treatment. But we have gone from a time of 550,000 psychiatric hospital beds in this country in the 1950s to less than 48,000 now. In the 1950s, the population of the United States was 150 million. Now it exceeds 316 million. There are about 10 million people with severe mental illness, and 40 percent of them--4 million or so--don't have any treatment. And what happens to them is they go to jail. When we closed these asylums, people didn't all of a sudden get better. Some got better because of medication. But we traded that psychiatric hospital bed for the prison cell. We traded that psychiatric hospital bed for the emergency room gurney when a person is given a five-point tie-down and sedation. We traded that psychiatric hospital bed for the streets and subway grates for the homeless, and we traded that psych bed for the county morgue where many of them die as paupers waiting to be claimed. Lori Welander writes: ``I suffer from major depression and had to do 10 days in jail. While there, they refused to give me my antidepressant medications. This seems to be the norm in my county's jail. It is pretty sad. This man needs people who care about humanity, not to be treated like this.'' Rhoda Robinson Brown writes: ``How about when our addicts beg the judges for treatment and get put into prison for years? Most think at least when they are in prison they won't be able to use drugs. Ask any addict that has been in county prison how easy it is to still get drugs. You will have people say they don't want their tax money paying for an addict's treatment. Don't they realize it costs more to keep them in prison for years? Our justice system is so broken.'' Indeed, a study done in Arkansas for their legislature found that it cost 20 times more to put a person with mental illness in jail than in an outpatient treatment--20 times more. Listen to this one. Sylvia Blanchard writes: As the mother of a bipolar son, my heart goes out to his family because there is no hurt that hurts as much as watching someone you love have this happen in their own life. My son passed away 3 years ago, and I still ache. I have a child who is in the same situation. He needs mental help, then he needs to get treatment to deal with issues in his life that he ignores and uses drugs to hide from it. In and out of jail almost each week. Nothing a parent can do when it's an adult child. So sad for our system. All States need to look at what Ohio Governor did with his State to turn mental health and drug abuse around. Heidi Meyer writes: This all stems from a bigger problem in that there are too few beds in mental health facilities for children. There is nowhere to get help for them when they're young and it just leads to messed up adults. This is a problem caused by the Federal Government. I told you that we have too few psychiatric beds. One of the biggest culprits of that is Medicaid. For people who are low-income between the ages of 22 and 64, if you have a psychiatric problem--I can't make this nonsense up, it is true--a person cannot go to a private psychiatric hospital with more than 16 beds. So where do they go? They put them in an emergency room, they put them in a general hospital psych bed, thinking they are going to save money. But here is what happens. If a person is in a psychiatric hospital bed, it costs about $500 a day. If they go to an emergency room, it could be $3,000 or $4,000 a day. If they go to a general hospital psych unit, it could be $1,000, $1,200, $1,400 a day. The State of Missouri actually did a study on this and found it saved 40 percent of Medicaid dollars by allowing people to go where the care is to a psychiatric hospital to understand that medications can work. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter) on this issue of medications to elaborate on this. Buddy Carter from the First District of Georgia, from Savannah, Georgia, knows well what medications can do when properly prescribed and properly followed to help treat someone.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments and his dedication to this issue. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer), who has been absolutely steadfast in his compassion and caring for this. Also, it shows a bipartisan nature of our legislation. He has been instrumental in helping me understand other aspects of this. We made a number of modifications to this bill and will continue to work on these issues together, so I thank my friend.