Tim Murphy

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman for organizing this very important Special Order. Mr. Speaker, I will tell the stories of three servicemembers that I have known in my time in the Navy, in my work at Walter Reed Hospital: One is of a soldier who tried to kill himself. He put a gun to his head, pulled the trigger. The gun fired, but it didn't kill him. It left him partially blind and with a significant head injury. He struggles through life. He continues to live, but the things that caused him to do that have not left. The second is of a marine that I knew, the son of a friend, who died recently. I went to his funeral and saw him lying there, looking so peaceful. The third, a soldier, I was called upon by the family to go visit him because he had been in his room for months. He covered the windows with camouflage. Bottles and bottles of medication littered his room, holes were punched in the walls, and he felt abandoned. There was nothing more we could do for the soldier who had killed himself; there were some things we could do for the soldier who harmed himself; but there was a lot we could do for the soldier who hid himself. When soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coastguardsmen look down the road to suicide, there are multiple reasons. Very often it is because they have faced those unspeakable horrors of war. Perhaps they have had multiple deployments, strain within the family, the lost social relationships, divorce, job complications, which whittled and chipped away at their strength. Perhaps they lost that sense of belonging that they had with their platoon or their company, that friendship with those who faced battles with them that somehow helped prop them back up. In many cases, it is dealing with the traumatic brain injury, of the multiple blasts, explosions, the primary, secondary, or tertiary wounds that they had which affected their brain functioning and leaves them with symptoms oftentimes of psychological disorders. Sometimes that psychological disorder is that path to depression, that feeling of hopelessness, helplessness, and worthlessness that comes with clinical depression, when the person sometimes says: There is no treatment that can help me; I might as well give up. First let me say to veterans, Mr. Speaker, that there is treatment that can help. There is reason to hope. It is important that veterans seek out a therapist; and if that therapist doesn't seem like a good mix, seek another one. If that one doesn't seem like a good mix, seek another one. Keep going until you find the right person. It is important veterans understand their life is worth living. Yes, you are suffering in the moment, but you can't stop pursuing treatment. Don't seek the permanent solution to the temporary problem. There is always another way out besides suicide. Now, we make this more complicated for veterans, as we do with the rest of the community of people who are suffering from mental illness, by we simply don't have enough professionals out there to help. We have family members who don't see the signs of isolation and anger and drinking and drug abuse and irritability. But just because there is a healthcare provider out there, the family should not ever feel that they can't talk to that person. The healthcare provider, even without permission of the soldier, can listen; and it is important that family members contact someone even when that soldier says, ``I don't want to talk to anybody,'' because, very often, that is the disease speaking, that is the brain illness speaking. That is the part of the illness that says ``I either want to give up'' or ``I don't recognize I have a problem.'' Loved ones can call for help, but we need other things taking place here as well. We have to have families who can help that person get out of a crisis. We have to help the family understand they need to remove the means of a suicide--if it is a firearm, if it is weapons, if is drugs. But what we need to do and what my bill (H.R. 2646), the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, does is it changes the dynamics of what our country is doing, that has abusive policies and antifamily policies which actually prevent people from getting help. What we have to do is make sure we have more access to treatment. We need more psychiatrists and psychologists--it is as plain as that--by the thousands and tens of thousands. We do not have enough. So even when someone tries to seek help, it is difficult. We need more psychiatric hospital beds for those moments when a person needs a respite, someplace to go away from the crisis of everyday life. We don't have enough. We had 550,000 psychiatric hospital beds in the 1950s. We have less than 40,000 now. Part of that is because we have Medicaid rules out there and other rules that say, you know, we don't want hospital beds anymore. Look, I don't want to see people go back to the old asylums, but sometimes a person with that sense of helplessness and worthlessness needs a place to go to recover, to get better. We also have a VA system which has said: You are not going to continue some of these drugs. Your drug isn't on our formulary list. You are not going to take it anymore. I have other legislation in which says that, if a Department of Defense doctor prescribes a person medication and it is working, the VA should automatically, without question, carry that medication and provide ease of access for it. One of the reasons we even have the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans bill is because he couldn't get the medication that worked. It is our fault. We have met the enemy, and he is us, as one character famously said. The General Accounting Office also tells us we have a disorganized system, 112 Federal agencies--112--that are supposed to deal with mental illness. The GAO tells us they don't keep track of data. There is not accountability. They don't meet. Many of these agencies haven't even gotten together since 2009 to coordinate services. Twenty homeless programs, programs scattered throughout the Federal Government--we make it the most difficult for those who have the most difficulty. Sometimes what we do, though, is we reauthorize programs that work. But make no mistake, it is not enough. Anyone who thinks that Congress has been adequately addressing the needs of the mentally ill, the seriously mentally ill veterans, is naive. We are disillusioning ourselves into thinking that, because we did something, we did the right thing. So let me speak honestly: Congress' lack of comprehensive action and its snail pace in dealing with this shares the blame. We are not passive in this. We are active and codependent in this crisis that is inflicted upon Americans. When we are in this Chamber and we hear another tragic story of someone who has perhaps killed many people in the community and then killed themselves or they did suicide by cop, we have a moment of silence--and so we should--as we grieve over the loss of innocent life. But that moment of silence should not be accompanied with silent behavior. What we need are moments of action, and strong action at that. Not only do we have the soldier suicides, we had 41,000 suicides in this country in this last year; 43,000 drug overdose deaths; homicides by those with serious mental illness; people with mental illness who are the victims of crime and homicide. Then we have that slow-motion death of the homeless and the seriously mentally ill who, themselves, have come to so many other chronic illnesses that--do you know what? They are not even a statistic. We don't count them. If people want to help, if Members want to do something, here is an action plan: become cosponsors of the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 2646. Don't sit idly by. Don't say, ``Some other Member can do this; let it be someone else's problem.'' It is not. It is ours. As a nation, wouldn't we do better to act instead of grieve, to turn a blind eye and to hope that someone else takes care of it, or, worse yet, to be caught up in the politics, the partisan politics and the games that plague this Chamber that says: ``I am not going to let this party have a win or this party have a win''? In the meantime, people are dying, and we sit idly by. Mr. Speaker, suicide is a plague on our Nation, on our veterans. It is a plague on, as was said in Samuel 16, the last, the least, and the lonely. We must change this system that makes it difficult for those who have the most difficulty. We must remove abusive Federal policies that say that you can't see two doctors in the same day; you can't have more than 16 hospital beds; that say it is okay to have Federal programs and grants going out there for absurd concepts like making collages, making masks; telling people to get off their medication; a Web site to help people in Boston, when it is cold, deal with the anxiety of snow; a $425,000 Web site for 3-year-olds with sing-along songs; and a $22,000 painting which sits in the Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to give them awareness. The only thing I am aware of, Mr. Speaker, is that it is a waste of money--a waste of taxpayers' money--and a waste of lives. If this Congress gets its act together and admits it, and if our leadership says that we can run lots of bills--and we can run lots of bills real quick--and we can suspend the bills and bring bills to the floor in a moment's notice, I have had this bill sitting around 3 years. We revise it and revise it again. We have the support of multiple organizations across the country, whether they represent parents or consumers or professionals, and another day goes by; and every few seconds another person commits suicide or has a drug overdose death, and we go home at night and sleep snugly in our beds. It doesn't have to be this way if we have more providers and if we have a Federal Government in Congress that says that we must be guided by wisdom, compassion, and faith, that says we will not wait anymore and that we will take the collective voice of every Member of Congress to do that. A few hours ago, we had the Holy Father, Pope Francis, speak in this very Chamber. His words still echo in this community. But he called us to do things together, to be motivated by love, to be engaged in a dialogue and conversation, and that is a conversation we must be having about mental illness as well, to say that we can no longer put this off. I hope Members, if they really are concerned about veteran suicide-- as I believe we are--if they are really concerned about the problems of serious mental illness--as I know we are--if Members are tired of moments of silence in those times when we come together for a few minutes of compassion, we recognize that is not enough--and I know we are--then I hope every Member, every Democrat and Republican, talks to their leadership, talks to their committee members, talks to each other and says, ``Move this bill. Make something happen.'' By the way, Mr. Speaker, let me close with this. The story I told you has a good ending. The soldier that I visited in his home with the windows covered with camouflage, with medications scattered throughout the house, and with holes punched in the wall because of his anger, we did get him help. He got stabilized. He took those barriers off the windows. He let the bright light of the world shine in again, and he engaged with people again. He has hope again. That is a story that comes because people stepped forward and helped him. The people at hospitals and military hospitals can do that. Let's make sure that the others like him whom we have not discovered yet, who are still hiding in their rooms, we get to them before their lives are taken. This is what we should be doing as a nation. Failing to do this means we are culpable as this tragedy continues.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, over the last few years, I have met with thousands of families of those with mental illness. Their number one concern is how the current system shuts them out. Debbie and Chaz Mahoney lost their son Chuckie to suicide in 2002. Although Chuckie sought counseling from his college and showed signs of mental crisis, his parents knew nothing about his struggle. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, also known as FERPA, kept Chuckie's parents in the dark. The Mahoneys aren't alone. Each day, millions of families experience the same tragic frustration. Schools will be sure to remind you when the tuition check arrives, but because of FERPA, when it comes to your child's mental health, you only receive a call when it is too, too late. This Suicide Prevention Month, Congress can fix this problem. The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act allows doctors to provide limited, but crucial, information concerning individuals with a serious mental illness to known caregivers. To save their lives and protect their rights to treatment, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2646.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, this agreement with Iran will bring the world closer to war. Under this deal, Iran can make its centrifuges used to make nuclear weapons; Iran is trusted to inspect itself; The U.S. must come to the aid of Iran if there is sabotage against its weapons program, and in the meantime, Iran is buying anti-aircraft weapons and fighter jets from Russia to strengthen their military; Iran will have the sanctions lifted with no proof required that they are in compliance; The President himself admits this deal neither denies nor deters Iran from a nuclear bomb--only delays. Meanwhile, Iran continues to chant ``death to America'' and ``death to Israel,'' and it continues to imprison four Americans--the same Iran that supplies weapons and help to terrorists throughout the world. The Iran nuclear deal makes the Middle East and the world far more perilous and war inevitable. It is naive and dangerous to believe otherwise. The American people rightly oppose this deal, and I oppose this deal. For the sake of peace, Congress must oppose this deal.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I stand here today mourning Mayci Breaux and Jillian Johnson, buried yesterday by their families following the horrific killings in Louisiana. Yesterday we had a moment of silence to convey our respect and our prayers. But, as a House, we must break the silence because once again we have failed the American people with our broken mental health system. How many more people have to die before we take action? A person with severe mental illness is 15 times less likely to be violent when receiving proper treatment. Over the last 10 years, we have more suicides, more drug overdose deaths. We have replaced the hospital bed with a jail cell, the homeless shelter, and the cemetery. We cannot be silent anymore. The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 2646, provides treatment before tragedy through comprehensive reforms. Let not our offer of comfort be mere silence, but let it move us to comprehensive action. Otherwise, our passivity makes us partners to these tragedies. I urge our Nation to not be silent, but to speak up. I urge my colleagues to cosponsor H.R. 2646.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to remove the following Members as cosponsors of H.R. 2646: Representatives Joyce Beatty, Ron DeSantis, and Zoe Lofgren.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, in a terrible attack, over 200 people were killed across these United States. This headline should lead every TV news show, hit the front pages, and generate outrage from across the country, but it did not appear. This is not make-believe. The news is real, but no one reported it. We lose more than 80,000 people a year now to suicide and drug addiction overdose. That is over 200 people a day. Where is the news? Now, these are the sudden and tragic deaths. Then there are the slow- motion deaths which we can't even count, those who have a mental illness and ended up homeless, or have a co-occurring chronic illness, such as diabetes or heart disease, and face that slow-motion death sentence. In fact, people with serious mental illness tend to die 25 years earlier than their cohorts. And then there are the mentally ill who are victims of attacks. Last week, The Washington Post revealed how, in the first 6 months of this year, a person who was in mental health crisis was shot and killed every 36 hours by police. The vast majority were armed, but, in most cases, the police officers who shot them were not responding to reports of a crime. More often, they were called by relatives, neighbors, or other bystanders, worried that a mentally fragile person was behaving erratically. The crisis built, and it ended in death. Further, the mentally ill are more likely to be the victims of violence, robberies, beatings, rape, and other crimes. These individuals are also 10 times more likely to be in jail than in a hospital. If you are a minority, chances are your mental health treatment comes in a prison, not in a community health center. Have we become so numb we no longer notice? Are we so numb, we no longer care? Tragically, government tries to help, but, frankly, it is a mess. The chaotic patchwork of current government programs and Federal laws make it impossible for those with severe psychosis, schizophrenia, and serious mental illness, to get meaningful care. For example, when someone with serious mental illness is haunted by delirium and hallucinations and doesn't even know they are ill, they frequently stop taking their needed medication. They don't follow up on appointments and their health declines. Our Federal laws prevent a caregiver from getting their loved one to the next appointment or to follow up on their care. We need to provide treatment before tragedy and get these individuals help before their loved ones dial 911. The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 2646, provides millions of families the tools needed for effective care. H.R. 2646 empowers parents and caregivers to access care before the mental illness reaches the most severe stage. It fixes the shortage of inpatient beds, so patients in mental health crisis can get proper care, not be sent to a jail, not tied to an emergency room gurney, and not sent home. It helps reach underserved and rural populations. It expands the mental health workforce. It drives evidence-based care. It provides alternatives to institutionalization. It integrates primary and behavior care. It increases physician volunteerism, advances critical medical research, brings accountability to mental health and substance abuse parity, and it also provides crisis intervention grants for police officers and first responders. This training helps law enforcement officials recognize individuals who have a serious mental illness and learn how to properly intervene. My bill eliminates wasteful and ineffective programs and directs money where it is needed most. It restructures the Federal mental health system to focus on serious mental illness rather than behavioral wellness and feel-good fads that yield no meaningful results yet cost taxpayers millions each year. My bill elevates effective programs and helps communities adopt programs to stop the revolving door of mental health crisis, violence, incarceration, ER visits, and abandonment. This bipartisan legislation, now with more than 50 cosponsors, marks a new dawn for mental health in America. I urge my colleagues to join me in this effort by cosponsoring the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 2646. Let's no longer turn a blind eye and, instead, help those that need it the most. Whether on the fast road or the slow road, the 200-plus deaths per day, the 80,000 deaths per year and unknown number of victims is far, far too many. Compassion calls us to act--and act now. The cost of delay is deadly. For those families who are suffering, how can we look them in the eye and defend our delays to act?

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, as part of my 3-year investigation into the Nation's mental health system, I have been meeting with families and caregivers of those with mental illness. Their number one concern is the HIPAA privacy rule. Since its inception in 2002, the rule has generated nearly 70,000 complaints. Families are locked out from helping in treatment by Federal regulations that don't understand the complexity of treating a serious mental illness in someone who has other medical problems, like diabetes or lung disease or skin problems or other illnesses that require treatment. When you have those with the diminished capacity to follow through on their own care, should we just let them languish and suffer? Should we let their mental illness and poor medical care become what some consider to be a slow-motion suicide? If a family member has a head injury or a stroke or Alzheimer's illness, a doctor would not hesitate to explain the medical concerns to a family member. A doctor would do this because the doctor recognizes the brain illness can make the individual unable to clearly understand the severity of his illness. According to the current HIPAA laws, when a child is in severe psychosis, the doctor is unable to tell the parents anything. We must recognize that severe mental illness like schizophrenia, bipolar, and severe depression is brain disease--it is not an attitude. It is not something cured by pulling oneself up by the bootstraps no more than dementia is cured by a different outlook on life or by a motivational poster. We cannot continue to make care the most difficult for those who have the most difficulty in caring for themselves. This has to change. There is merit to those 70,000 complaints, and we must address them compassionately. The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 2646, allows the doctor or mental health professional to provide the diagnosis, treatment plans, appointment scheduling, and prescriptions for an individual with a serious mental illness to a known caregiver. This change would apply to those who can benefit from care yet who are unable to follow through on their own self-directed care. Put yourself in the shoes of a family member. Imagine yourself trying to help a parent or a sibling or a child, and a caseworker who doesn't even know your family member can't help you because he is bound from letting you--a loving and caring parent--help your son or daughter. The law puts you behind this heartless barrier where you have to passively watch your child wither away. But what parent would not run into a burning building or throw himself in front of a car to save his child? Yet, with our current HIPAA laws, you have to watch and suffer along with your child. We have to change this, and H.R. 2646 does make this important change. My legislation does not allow for the sharing of psychotherapy notes or of personal conversations between a therapist and a patient. It is limited to the information that is essential to caring for someone with a serious mental illness to make sure he stays in care. Let's make it easier. Let's make it more compassionate for those who need help the most. I urge my colleagues to please support H.R. 2646 and to sign on as cosponsors.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, on some of the issues my friend from Chicago just stated, I couldn't disagree more. Let me explain why, why we have problems with our prisons in America and homelessness. Nearly 10 million Americans have severe mental illness like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. Yet millions are going without treatment as families struggle to find care for loved ones. Over the last 30 years, we have shut down the old asylums and what we have seen is an increase in incarceration, suicide, homelessness, emergency room visits, unemployment, substance abuse, and substance abuse deaths. We have failed on all these metrics. Anyone who thinks we are being successful in helping those with severe mental illness is delusional. We have traded the old hospital bed for the prison cell, the emergency room gurney, the homeless shelter, and the cemetery. We have seen horrible and disturbing increases of the mentally ill being victims of crime, like sexual assault, robbery, and bullying. In fact, we lose 40,000 Americans to suicide each year, and there are another 1.3 million suicide attempts. These stories are haunting, and the numbers are staggering. Four million people with serious mental illness are not receiving treatment. There is a shortage of 1,000 psychiatric hospital beds nationwide, so there is often nowhere to go when there is a crisis. How cruel and tragic it was when Senator Creigh Deeds of Virginia took his son to a hospital to be told there were no psychiatric beds, and we know the tragic outcome of that story and the thousands of times it is repeated every year. We have one child psychiatrist for every 2,000 children with a mental health disorder. While we know that 50 percent of severe mental illness emerges by age 14 and 75 percent by age 24, we don't have a sufficient number of professionals to treat it, so it gets worse. We have Federal rules to protect privacy, which has frustrated countless numbers of doctors and family members, generating 70,000 official complaints. It was meant to improve patient care, but it acts as an impossible barrier to breach because loving family members can't connect with someone with serious mental illness. We have a mental health agency in this country that the Federal Government has that doesn't employ a single psychiatrist. This is what the American taxpayer buys for $130 billion a year. Is this success from the over 112 Federal programs and agencies meant to deal with mental illness? We have failed not because we don't know what to do when it comes to effectively identifying and treating mental illness, but it is because the Federal Government has stood in the way with poorly administered policies and antiquated attitudes. Our ability to treat serious mental illness is in the 21st century. We know more effective treatments for this brain illness. However, our beliefs about mental illness are still mired in the 19th century. As long as we think that mental illness is an attitude or a difference in perception or that hallucinations and delusions are bizarrely labeled as nonconsensus reality, we are wrong. Quite simply, we have created the most difficult system for those who have the most difficulty. Now is the time to change and turn this system from top to bottom. That is why I have reintroduced the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 2646. It reforms Federal programs, removes Federal barriers to care, and refocuses research that is updated and innovative legislation that will produce a new paradigm of treatment for those with serious mental health problems. This bill empowers parents and caregivers to access care before stage IV. It fixes shortages of inpatient beds, helps to reach underserved in rural populations, expands the mental health workforce, drives evidence-based care, provides alternatives to institutionalization. It integrates primary and behavioral care. It increases the mental health workforce in underserved areas by volunteerism. It increases minorities in the mental health workforce. It advances critical mental research and brings accountability to mental health and substance abuse parity in this Nation. If we want to get people treatment, not jail time, not abandonment; if we want to help the tens of millions of people affected by mental illness and the hundreds of millions of friends and relatives who are emotionally strained; if we want accountability, transparency, and more effective spending of Federal dollars to get care in the community where it is needed; if we want to stop victimization of the mentally ill; if we want to prevent the next Newtown, Tucson, Aurora, Isla Vista, Columbine, or Navy Yard, we have to do something comprehensive and research based, and we have to do it now. What we need is not only for Congress to act, but, during these next few weeks, we need to hear from every doctor and first responder and teacher and parent and patient and judge and consumer that we have to act thoroughly and thoughtfully and responsibly and now. On every concern, America needs to speak up and speak out. We need to start treating mental illness as we do other diseases like AIDS or cancer or diabetes, and this legislation, H.R. 2646, gives us the tools to do so. We need evidence-based care before crisis; we need treatment before tragedy. I ask my colleagues to support this bill, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, because treatment delayed is treatment denied, and this legislation marks a new dawn for mental health in America.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. I thank the Chairman, and I also thank Representative Grisham for this thoughtful amendment we are working on together, which will put $2 million towards crisis intervention training for State and local law enforcement and also work towards substance abuse treatment and mental health courts. In the 1950s, this country had 550,000 psychiatric hospital beds for the population of 150 million. Now, with a population twice that size, we only have 40,000 psychiatric hospital beds. So what happened? Some people got better. But sadly, what we ended up with is huge increases in homelessness and visits to emergency rooms. Last year in this country there were 40,000 suicides and 1 million suicide attempts. With this critical bed shortage we have many people who end up committing crimes. Of the 2.4 million incarcerated Americans, about half of them, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, are estimated to have a mental health condition. That is 64 percent in our county and local jails, 56 percent in State, and 45 percent of Federal prisoners. By comparison, there are only 35,000 patients with severe mental illness in State psychiatric hospitals. And, according to a report from April 2014, the number of mentally ill persons in prison is ten times higher than that in psychiatric hospitals. The largest jails in the country--Cook County in Illinois, Los Angeles, and New York--have 11,000 prisoners combined with serious mental illness. Now, that is over twice as large as the three largest State-run mental hospitals. Mentally ill inmates are twice as likely to be charged with rule violations when incarcerated and actually remain in prison four times longer than a non-mentally ill person with the same original crime. And what happens then? Solitary confinement, tasered. Then when they are discharged, they repeat the cycle in the revolving door. What we need to make sure we are doing is to deal with public safety, make sure there is restitution to the community for what has happened, but the key is to provide help for those with serious mental illness. It is not right for our country to continue to say things like, It is not illegal to be crazy. Our courts and systems that do not understand mental illness continue to say that, but to them I say it isn't just an issue of someone has a right to be mentally ill; they have a right to be well. What we need to do is to stop this revolving door of having someone who is hallucinating and delusional and waiting until he commits a crime or is a threat to public safety, instead of intervening earlier. We need mental health courts; we need ways a policeman can intervene early to help persons, and we need evidence-based initiatives to fix our broken mental health system in America. I know that, in our own court in Allegheny County, they saw a nearly 38 percent reduction in recidivism when they used mental health courts. This is compassion, and this is the right thing to do. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the distinguished chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Mr. Thornberry, for yielding. I am also grateful to Ranking Member Smith for the opportunity to discuss the issue of mental health treatment for our military servicemembers. I know we all care deeply about the health of our servicemembers. For those who have borne the battle, we share a commitment to come to their aid, whether their wounds are a visible amputation or the invisible problems of post-traumatic stress disorder. The statistics, as you know, are sobering: 22 vets die by suicide each day, and more than 600,000 vets are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Delivering proper treatment for mental health is really a matter of life and death. We can provide these warriors with treatment and medications they need, or we can continue to provide their families with folded flags and our condolences to their widows. But it is not enough to just provide a few limited medications, because people react differently to medication. Some medications can work well with one person or result in adverse side effects to another with the same diagnosis. Side effects may include drug-to-drug interactions, allergic reactions, excessive sedation, and weight gain, with increased risk of diabetes. That is why doctors must be able to choose the medication that fits for the soldier. But when DOD or the VA limits the choices, that puts soldiers at risk. The servicemember may stop taking the medication, withdraw from treatment, and may deteriorate. We should not add to their risk. I would ask the chairman and the ranking member to work with me to ensure that the full array of FDA-approved medications are accessible for our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who need these lifesaving drugs. They fought for our country overseas; they should not have to fight the Department of Defense and the VA over here. Chairman Thornberry, I seek a commitment that we do not allow accountants to choose which medications are available for the psychiatric conditions of our servicemen and -women. Let the physician working with the servicemember or veteran make those decisions.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Enhancing Veterans Access to Treatment Act, legislation that eliminates bureaucratic hurdles so veterans using the VA can continue to receive the same lifesaving mental health medication they access while on Active Duty. Currently, the VA requires a veteran to switch their medication when that drug is not included in the VA's drug formulary, regardless if the drug is working. Instead, the VA will put the veteran on different medication and requires them to fail first before they are switched back, or the vet must go through an appeals process to remain on the current medication. Instead, this bill simply says, if it works, keep it. This bill allows seamless continuity of medication and leaves any decision to change up to the doctor. It is not enough to just have the DOD and VA share a limited medication list, because when it comes to psychotropic medication, the doctor needs to have available the full spectrum of choices. With 22 veterans dying each day by suicide, these veterans don't have time to wait to get their medication for their depression or anxiety. I ask all Members to please join me in cosponsoring the Enhancing Veterans Access to Treatment Act so we can solve this problem.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, this morning, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy and I outlined a vision for real bipartisan mental health reform. Our legislation will have some differences but also many similarities. Both will fix the shortage of psychiatric beds; get more mental health workers, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers to help; integrate physical and mental health care; fix the rule which says severely mentally ill patients on Medicaid can't see two doctors on the same day; and better coordinate the staggering 112 Federal agencies that deal with severe mental illness. My bill, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, will also allow treatment before tragedy. During the trial of the former marine who killed Iraq war veteran Chris Kyle, the mother of the defendant begged VA doctors to keep her son in psychiatric treatment just days before he shot and killed the decorated sharpshooter. The reality is the system doesn't respond until after a crisis has occurred, because the only way to get treatment is if the individual is imminently homicidal or suicidal. We have to fix those problems. We must correct HIPAA so families can help their loved ones get well. We must act now before another 40,000 die by suicide, before thousands more end up in jail, homeless, or victims of crime, and before more families suffer. I invite Democrats and Republicans to join me as I reintroduce the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 64 had I been present, I would have voted aye. Stated against:

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, last week, the wind chill in Buffalo, New York, was 20 below zero. Dead of hypothermia was Ronald Hunter. He was 21 and had untreated schizophrenia. A third of the Nation's 750,000 homeless are so severely mentally ill that they cannot take care of themselves. They starve, they freeze, they live in their own squalor. Had Ronald had some other brain disease like Alzheimer's, he might very well be alive today, but because he had a mental illness, the system refused to help. Ronald's father told The Buffalo News: ``When he was living with us, I found him curled up in a ball in the corner of the bedroom,'' and I said, ``What is wrong, baby?'' He replied to his dad, ``I am hearing voices telling me to kill myself.'' Ronald's parents called Crisis Services, but as his stepmom said, ``Because he was 18, it was up to him if he wanted help.'' In other words, we let him die with his rights on. Don't you understand, America, that this is a brain disease; it is not a choice? I will soon be reintroducing the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, and I invite all Members to join me in rebuilding our broken mental health system, so that we have treatment before there is tragedy.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, sadly, each day we read sensationalized headlines that boggle the mind, but here is the rest of the story. In New York, headlines read a 30-year-old man has been charged with killing his father who founded a hedge fund because his allowance had been cut. The rest of the story? He had been in a mental health decline for years. A friend told the press, clearly their son had serious mental illness. There were stories about strange things that he had been doing in the past few years, really erratic behavior. Another newspaper reports the man was off his medication. In Florida, headlines read a 22-year-old man cut off his mother's head with an ax last week because of her nagging about daily chores. The rest of the story? This man had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had been involuntarily held under the State's civil commitment law but released. Despite his illness and past commitments, he was no longer in treatment because Florida, like most States, requires a person to be imminently homicidal or suicidal for treatment. In Pennsylvania a former marine killed his ex-wife and five of her family members last month because of ``family issues.'' The rest of the story? The marine had been evaluated and cleared of having suicidal or homicidal tendencies by a Department of Veterans Affairs psychiatrist just days before, a decision we now see was wrong. Each week there are half a dozen new reports that demand more than a sensationalized headline because the rest of the story tells the real story. Severe mental illness is a brain disease; it is not an attitude or a lifestyle choice. Psychosis, schizophrenia, and other serious mental illnesses involve disruption in typical brain functioning which translates into a very specific set of disturbing behaviors. This is not a condemnation of the mentally ill nor a criticism of those who have severe brain disorders. Hallucinations, voices, visions, and paranoia lead to actions that aren't grounded in reasoned choices. For those who don't have a brain disease it is hard to understand, and it is unnerving to think about, but when we understand that behaviors are symptomatic of what is occurring in the brain, we can address them without judgment, just like other medical diseases and other lifesaving treatments. The distorted reasoning why an individual acts out in a violent manner or takes the lives of innocent victims on a mass scale are complex and not as simple as a response to a mother's nagging. Sadly, in all cases I mentioned today, the families knew there was something wrong with their mentally ill loved one but they were ignored and frustrated or turned away by a broken system of State and Federal laws that create walls and barriers instead of access to care. Parents know there is a problem, and even when they have the resources to get a child help, the family efforts are thwarted by this broken system, and they are not getting effective, evidence-based treatment. And communities rarely have the appropriate programs, resources, and doctors to deal with the most severe cases. In the face of this growing crisis, we must approach serious mental illness as a medical emergency that engages a community and medical response to help people and families trapped in this system that is misguided, in denial, and disconnected. We can change this tragic pattern, and that is why I will be reintroducing the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. My legislation makes sure the most severely mentally ill have access to treatment. It fixes the shortage of psychiatric beds. It clarifies and simplifies HIPAA privacy laws. It reforms Federal programs to focus on programs that research shows work, not feel-good fads. It helps patients who aren't able to understand their need for treatment get meaningful care. We know that, for example, 50 percent of people with schizophrenia suffer from something called anosognosia--they are not even aware that they have problems--and this leads to noncompliance with treatment and helps to explain why 40 percent of Americans with serious mental illness don't get any treatment. Anosognosia occurs most frequently when schizophrenia or a bipolar disorder affects portions of the frontal lobe, resulting in impaired executive function. The patients are neurologically unable to comprehend that their delusions or hallucinations are not real. This is different than denial; this is a change in the wiring of the brain. We need to understand and respect that. The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act also ensures there is accountability for how public health dollars are being spent. We owe it to the 10 million Americans with a serious mental illness and the 5 million who are not with treatment to take meaningful action to fix the chaotic patchwork of programs and laws that make it impossible to get meaningful medical care until it is too late to do anything beyond mourning. Each day, I receive countless letters and telephone calls from parents across the country who must courageously battle a broken system when trying to help a loved one in mental health crisis. I admire their courage, their compassion, and their passion. Let their struggles be our motivation to take action of our own now. As I said, I will soon be reintroducing my Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, and I welcome all Members interested in joining me in this quest to work together as we reintroduce this to make sure we get treatment before tragedy.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, on roll call no. 564 had I been present, I would have voted YEA.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I wish to extend my thanks to Alejandro Joshua Barlock of Unity Township, Pennsylvania for his service to the Greater Latrobe community by planning and installing a new veterans memorial at Barnes Place, a senior living community. Alec is a student at Greater Latrobe High School and a member of Boy Scout Troop 327 in Youngstown, Pennsylvania. Alec had noticed that his grandfather Eugene Jones, 89, a World War II veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, could no longer travel from Barnes Place to local Veterans Day ceremonies. Thus, Alec decided for an Eagle Scout project to build a memorial for his grandfather and all of the Barnes Place veteran residents. He spent nearly nine months planning his project and approximately twenty hours constructing the memorial with the help of his family and fellow scouts. The memorial is now open for use of the entire community for special patriotic ceremonies. By building this memorial to honor our veterans, Alec has answered the call of the Scout Oath to show ``duty to country.'' Mr. Speaker, I again congratulate Alejandro Barlock on a job well done, and I ask that all Members join me in thanking him for an Eagle Scout project that remembers the sacrifice of America's service men and women.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to recognize a true American treasure and one of my constituents who still spends his summer months in his native Youngstown, Pennsylvania, Arnold Palmer. Today, Arnold celebrates his 85th birthday, and he continues to serve as an inspiration to me and the millions who make up ``Arnie's Army.'' Arnold rose from humble beginnings and has achieved remarkable things in his life. Taught the game of golf at the age of 3 by his father, Deacon, who was the golf pro at Latrobe Country Club, Arnold made a name for himself in the amateur ranks. His promising collegiate career was cut short when he enlisted in the Coast Guard in honor of a friend who died. After he fulfilled his military service, Arnold returned to Wake Forest and won the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1954. Arnold's achievements on the golf course are nothing short of legendary: seven-time major champion; 1960 and 1962 PGA Player of the Year; and 92 overall professional victories. Perhaps Arnold's most enduring legacy, however, lies in his decades of philanthropic work. Over the years, he has raised millions of dollars for the Latrobe-area hospital for charitable care. He helped to build a 30,000-square-foot cancer center and sponsored construction of a nature preserve for all of Westmoreland County to enjoy. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to call Arnold Palmer a son of western Pennsylvania, as well as my friend, and I ask that all Members wish him a very happy birthday.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 480, had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, ``cowardly,'' ``a heathen,'' ``selfish''--those are the words some used to describe Robin Williams' suicide. These underscore that there is a great deal of ignorance and misunderstanding about suicide. Myths surrounding suicide are pervasive and persistent. Given that September is National Suicide Prevention Month, we have an opportunity to dispel these common misconceptions, such as ``suicide is not that common.'' This year, 9.3 million adults will have serious thoughts of suicide, 2.7 million will make suicide plans, 1.3 million will attempt suicide, and nearly 40,000 will die by suicide. One suicide occurs every 16 minutes, and one veteran commits suicide every hour. More will die by suicide this year than in car accidents. Here is another misconception: ``Those who die by suicide should just have sucked it up.'' But the vast majority of individuals who have died by suicide had a diagnosable mental illness. Mental illness is a contributing factor in 90 percent of suicides, and the risk of suicide increases more than 50 percent in individuals experiencing depression. Consider this mistaken belief: ``Suicide is well planned and a thoughtful act.'' Twenty-five percent of people who attempt suicide do so within 5 minutes of their initial decision, and 75 percent do so within the first hour. Although there is a lot we know about suicide, these myths continue to perpetuate because we don't understand enough why certain populations are at higher risk and what is happening in the brain at the time of suicide. A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in the last decade, here is what happened with suicide rates: The rate for those 35 to 64 years of age increased 28 percent; for women, it increased 31 percent; for white Americans, it increased 40 percent; for American Indian and Alaska Natives, it increased 65 percent; and the use of suffocation or hanging increased 81 percent. And despite a continued focus on youth suicide, it remains either the second- or third-leading cause of death for those between the ages 10 and 25. Rates have also increased dramatically among elderly White men. The report goes on to note that ``additional research is needed to understand the cause of the increase and why the extent of the increase varies.'' Suicide is a public health crisis demanding a policy response that, to date, has been tepid at best. The impulsive nature and correlation with mental illness requires us to treat suicide as a mental health crisis. To this end, I have introduced the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 3717, which authorizes research at the National Institute of Mental Health to enhance our understanding of suicide and advance evidence-based approaches to prevention that are not solely centered around raising awareness. Families of those with serious mental illness already are aware that there is a problem. Unfortunately, a small percentage of those with serious mental illness are not aware they have a problem, but everybody is also painfully aware they cannot get help when someone is in mental health crisis. We can save lives and help families in mental health crisis, but only if we, as a Nation, have the courage to confront mental illness head on rather than just use phony, feel-good measures. My legislation also reauthorizes the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, which is the largest youth suicide prevention and early intervention program in the country. However, this program does not address the full scope of suicide, which can affect individuals of any age. Thus, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, which I chair, will continue its investigation into our Nation's broken mental health system by looking at proven strategies to reduce the staggering number of suicides. It begins with fixing our broken mental health system and providing hope and evidence-based treatment to individuals and families in crisis. I call upon Members to cosponsor that bill. Mr. Speaker, we need to tell Americans that if someone you know needs help, they should call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. They can also find more online at www.afsp.org, the Web site of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It is clear that this is a national crisis. If we saw any other disease in this country that had numbers as high as these--1 million attempts and 40,000 deaths--we would call upon Americans, the National Institutes of Health, and others to take action. Certainly, we would call upon Congress to take action. This is demanding our action, for every day more and more take their lives from this serious public health problem. Let us address this. Let us no longer ignore it. So many more lives are at stake.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act reforms our broken and harmful mental health system. Here are some reasons why we need it. For some who are experiencing the most serious mental illnesses, like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, they don't think their hallucinations are real; they know they are real. Their illness affects their brains in such a way that they are certain, beyond all doubt, their delusions are real. It is not an attitude or denial. It is a very real brain condition. With that understanding, we are left with a series of questions: Do these individuals have a right to be sick, or do they have a right to treatment? Do they have a right to live as victims on the streets, or do they have a right to get better? Do they have a right to be disabled and unemployed, or do they have a right to recover and get back to work? I believe these individuals and their families have the right to heal and lead healthy lives. But they are sometimes blinded by a symptom called anosognosia, a neurological condition of the frontal lobe which renders the individual incapable of understanding that they are ill. Every single day, millions of families struggle to help a loved one with serious mental illness who won't seek treatment. Many knew that Aaron Alexis, James Holmes, Jared Loughner, Adam Lanza, and Elliot Rodgers needed help. Their families tried, but the individual's illness caused them to believe nothing was wrong, and they fought against the help. These families watch their brother, their son, or their parent spiral downward in a system that, by design, only responds after crisis, not before or during. The loved one is more likely to end up in prison or living on the streets, where they suffer violence and victimization, or cycle in and out of the emergency room or commit suicide. In a recent New York Times article about Rikers Island prison, they report that over an 11-month period last year, 129 inmates suffered injuries so serious that doctors at the jail's clinics were unable to treat them; 77 percent of those inmates had been previously diagnosed with mental illness. Rikers now has as many people with mental illness as all 24 psychiatric hospitals in New York State combined, and they make up nearly 40 percent of the jail population, up from about 20 percent 8 years ago. Inmates with mental illnesses commit two-thirds of the infractions in the jail, and they commit an overwhelming majority of assaults on jail staff members. Yet, by law, they cannot be medicated involuntarily at the jail, and hospitals often refuse to accept them unless they harm themselves or others. Is that humane? Shouldn't we have acted before they committed a crime to compel them to get help? According to the article, correctional facilities now hold 95 percent of all institutionalized people with mental illness. That is wrong. Yet with all we know about mental illness and the treatments to help those experiencing it, there are still organizations, federally funded with taxpayer dollars, that believe individuals who are too sick to seek treatment will be better off left alone than in inpatient or outpatient treatment. It is insensitive. It is callous. It is misguided. It is unethical. It is immoral. And Congress should not stand by as these organizations continue their abusive malpractice against the mentally ill. The misguided ones are more comfortable allowing the mentally ill to live under bridges or behind dumpsters than getting the emergency help that they need in a psychiatric hospital or an outpatient clinic because they cling to their fears of the old asylums, as if medical science and the understanding of the brain has not advanced over the last 60 years. We would never deny treatment to a stroke victim or a senior with Alzheimer's disease simply because he or she is unable to ask for care. Yet, in cases of serious brain disorders, like schizophrenia, this cruel conundrum prevents us from acting even when we know we must because the laws say we can't. We must change those misguided and harmful laws. The system is the most difficult for those who have the greatest difficulty. Why are some more comfortable with prison or homelessness or unemployment, poverty, and a 25-year shorter life span? I tell my colleagues: Do not turn a blind eye to those that need our help. The mentally ill can and will get better if Congress takes the right action. Tomorrow, Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas and I will hold a briefing at 3 p.m. on the rights of the seriously mentally ill to get treatment. I hope my colleagues will attend and understand that we have to take mental illness out of the shadows by passing the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 3717, because where there is no help, there is no hope.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, this week, the largest ever study of schizophrenia reported that the condition is tied to more than 100 genes. This discovery shows more evidence that schizophrenia is a clinical condition just like other medical conditions. Severe schizophrenia, therefore, must be treated with a medical approach, using evidence- based therapies that work. We know 50 percent of persons with schizophrenia suffer from a neurological impairment that makes them incapable of understanding that they are ill. This lack of awareness, termed ``anosognosia,'' is the leading cause of noncompliance with psychiatric treatment. This neurological problem helps to explain why 40 percent of Americans with a serious mental illness do not receive treatment, and it explains how our system fails to help those most in need. Anosognosia occurs most frequently when schizophrenia or a bipolar disorder affects portions of the frontal lobe, resulting in impaired executive function. The patients are neurologically unable to comprehend that their delusions or hallucinations are not real. This is different than denial; this is a change in the wiring of the brain. These individuals don't recognize they are ill. When they don't meet the 200-year-old definition of being in imminent danger to harm themselves or others, their friends and families are powerless to help them. Uninformed observers wrongly believe that, because the patients can look at them and talk to them, they must be fully functional and aware, but they are not. Much like if they had Alzheimer's disease or were in a coma, these individuals with schizophrenia can't voluntarily request treatment on their own. We would never deny care to a stroke victim or to a senior with Alzheimer's simply because he or she couldn't articulate her need for treatment. Yet, in cases of serious brain disorders, we allow millions to suffer because of the chaotic patchwork of State and Federal laws that says we can't even act when we know we must. Further, when a patient is discharged from a hospital with anything from a minor cut to a heart transplant, there must be a written treatment plan, and that plan is readily shared with family members who will assist with followup, but not so with serious mental illness. Again, we would not do this to someone with Alzheimer's. We would not say, ``I can't treat your grandmother until she is well enough to tell me to treat her, but I can't tell you about her treatment until she gives you permission.'' These mentally ill men and women who are in need of medical attention end up sitting in jails, sleeping behind dumpsters, or being sedated and chained to hospital gurneys in emergency rooms. They cycle in and out of prison, the ER, and shelters. That is a lifestyle we have relegated 3.6 million Americans to. We deny people the right to treatment. We deny them the right to get better. How cruel is that? As a result, 1 million Americans last year attempted suicide, and 40,000 people died from suicide. There are 300,000 homeless, 500,000 in jail, and 700,000 in other prisons. The mentally ill are also more likely to be robbed, physically assaulted, raped, and sexually assaulted. So, while several States and counties have taken bold action to help those who have been cast aside by our current system, the Federal Government sits, oblivious to the problem, and, in some cases, actually creates barriers to treatment for those who need help the most. Serious mental illness is more detrimental to your long-term health than being a heavy smoker, and it increases your risk for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. It reduces your life span by some 25 years. There is also a financial toll. A study conducted by Duke University determined that assisted outpatient treatment saves taxpayers $50,000 per patient. It also increases medication compliance and decreases incarceration, hospitalization, and homelessness. The problem is that four States still prohibit the use of this medical model, and most county health systems haven't implemented it; and studies have shown that each time individuals with mental illnesses experience a break from reality, their brains actually suffer from permanent injury. All of this is happening at a time when we know more about the brain than we ever have. We tell families that Federal laws prohibit you from knowing why your loved one is in a mental health crisis, and doctors tell the family, ``Your son is only a little dangerous right now, but please bring him back when he becomes truly violent, and then he can be treated.'' How absurd. Can you imagine if we told someone with diabetes, ``Your blood sugar is too low, but we are going to wait until you are in a diabetic shock before we give you insulin''? The doctor would be fired, and the hospital would be sued. We would ensure that it never happens again. Yet, for families in a mental health crisis, this scenario plays out every single day, and not a word is spoken about it. The reason is that people don't understand the neurological basis of mental illness. What we need to do is have a Congress that is able to confront its own denial and change the laws that need to be changed. We can fix the mental health system but not if Congress does not act. We must pass H.R. 3717, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, because ignoring this problem will not make it go away, and where there is no help, there is no hope at all.

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, earlier today, the House observed a moment of silence to remember the loss of two heroes who gave their lives to protect others. The deaths of Detective John Gibson and Officer Jacob Chestnut are heartbreaking. An additional tragedy, however, is that this House has not taken action to prevent such incidents from happening again. The man who took the lives of the two police officers had paranoid schizophrenia and had previously been committed to a psychiatric hospital after threatening to kill the President, a hospital technician, and his neighbors. His paranoid delusions told him to attack the Capitol. Weston cycled in and out of emergency rooms as he refused medication and followup treatment. We know that the perpetrator had a brain disease, but our broken mental health system prevents others like Weston from being treated. The sad truth of this situation is it won't be long before we read in the headlines of another preventable tragedy. The memories of Detective Gibson and Officer Chestnut deserve our respect, their families our gratitude, but all families deserve our action. We must pass H.R. 3717, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, because where there is no help there is no hope.