Mental Health Matters Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. DeSAULNIER. 7780, the Mental Health Matters Act.
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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the mental health crisis among American students, educators, and families.
In 2021, 44 percent of students experienced persistent feelings of hopelessness; almost 20 percent seriously considered suicide; and 9 percent of American kids attempted suicide.
Regrettably, 80 percent of youth in need of mental health services do not have the access to heal in their communities. As a result, educators have been forced to play an outsized role in supporting and responding to students' mental health needs, leading to increased depression and trauma among educators, their students, their families, and the community. However, our schools do not have the specialized staff necessary to respond to the increased prevalence and complexity of students' mental health needs.
According to a 2019 ACLU study, no State met the student-to-social worker ratio of one social worker for every 250 students, as recommended by the National Association of Social Workers. Not one State.
On top of that, the national ratio of school psychologists per students during the 2020-2022 school years was one psychologist per every 1,162 students--more than double the ratio recommended by the National Association of School Psychologists. Clearly, this is unacceptable.
The rise in mental health challenges is not isolated to students and educators. Nearly half of the United States workforce now suffers from mental health issues since the COVID-19 pandemic started. Yet, many workers are denied the mental health and substance use disorder benefits they are legally entitled to receive under their employer- sponsored health plan.
In a recent report to Congress, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury found widespread violations of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act by group health plans. Unfortunately, some of these plans are failing to maintain parity between behavioral health benefits and physical health benefits as required by statute.
The report recommended that Congress enhance the Secretary of Labor's capacity to enforce the parity law, including providing authority to impose civil monetary penalties for violations.
Notably, the same recommendations were made by former President Trump's Commission on Combating the Opioid Crisis, which was led by then-New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie.
In response to these violations and the national mental health crisis, I introduced the Mental Health Matters Act, which includes proposals championed by several committee members.
This legislation helps Head Start agencies implement evidence-based interventions to improve the behavioral health of children and staff in Head Start programs.
It improves trauma-informed services in schools by developing innovative initiatives to link schools and local educational agencies with local trauma-informed support and mental health systems.
It requires colleges and universities to accept existing documentation of disability and provide reasonable accommodations so disabled students can achieve success in higher education.
It also provides the Department of Labor with enhanced authority to ensure that private, employer-sponsored group health plans and insurers comply with the mental health parity and related laws.
The bill ensures workers who are wrongfully denied health or retirement benefits under their job-based plans have meaningful access to the courts.
And finally, this legislation directs the Department of Education to award grants to build a pipeline of school-based mental health service providers and increase the number of mental health professionals serving in elementary and secondary schools in high-need areas.
Mr. Chairman, simply put, the Mental Health Matters Act delivers the resources students, educators, and families need to improve their well- being.
Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chair, I do want to say that it is always delightful, truthfully, to see my friend and our differences of opinion. I see Mr. Allen will speak as well, my wonderful colleague and ranking member of the subcommittee.
Just as a former small business owner, the term ``voluntary'' is, in my view, accurate in the sense that it is an employer's choice to provide health insurance, but the parity is required by statute once having done that. So, it is a question of terminology, perhaps.
As I have said, even just shortly ago, I am ready to work with my friend to work on enforcement mechanisms that are efficient because I think we all agree there is a problem here in this country about mental health and kids and how we enforce the best possible enforcement for employers. The vast majority of employers do the right thing, but how to make sure that people who don't do the right thing, and thereby get an advantage if we don't enforce the laws against law-abiding employers, I really think that we can work something out.
This is the best mechanism I see right at the moment, however imperfect. I look forward to continuing the conversation.
Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici), who is the chair of the Civil Rights and Human Services Subcommittee of the Education and Labor Committee.
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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney), who is a member of the Education and Labor Committee.
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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Connecticut.
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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from California for his enormous leadership, and I thank the sponsors of this legislation for their hard work.
It is always baffling to me, as I have spoken on the floor of the House and served in this Congress, how colleagues can look a crisis in the face and run head-on as a locomotive, smashing the solution, speaking ill about those who need and are suffering, and that is what we are hearing today.
I am very glad to rise in support of the Mental Health Matters Act, H.R. 7780, and I hope some of my friends on the other side of the aisle will recognize that we are the problem-solvers. We are not the bomb- throwers. We are not supposed to be looking at every solution, and because it comes from somebody of a different party, we want to fight them for it.
I know what happened during the pandemic. I was out in the community doing testing and vaccinations. I talked to parents about online learning, those who didn't have access to broadband, and I knew what it did to the children.
Why? Because children view schools and their daily activities as their work. Adults go to work; children go to school. It builds their confidence, their sense of esteem, their friendships, lifelong friendships. That was all undone because of the pandemic.
Do you know what else we did? We saved lives. If we had continued in- school learning, we would have lost thousands of children and their families.
We must repair what was broken, not because we broke it but because there was a pandemic. So, this legislation provides grants to build a pipeline of school-based mental health service providers, more nurses in the school. It directs the Department of Education to award grants to State agencies to develop more school-based mental health providers. It requires institutions of higher learning to let incoming students with existing documentation have access to disability resources and creates a grant program I am most excited about, increasing student access to treatment of evidence-based trauma. They experienced trauma.
Add to that trauma the families in Uvalde that I visited on Monday who are still crying with the pain of the loss of their children.
It is clearly a bill that we should accept, and it is a bill that I support enthusiastically, Mr. Chair, the Mental Health Matters Act, H.R. 7780.
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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Hayes), a distinguished member of the Education and Labor Committee.
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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark).
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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Chair, could I ask how much time we have remaining?
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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Chair, I love my good friend's closing. That was artful and poetic, but I respectfully disagree. I look forward to continuing the conversation, particularly around enforcement and the definition of parity.
To me, as a former employer, I thought parity was clear, but if we need more clarity for some employers, I am happy to have that discussion.
Mr. Chair, as lawmakers, we have a duty to support Americans' health and well-being. The Mental Health Matters Act will help us deliver on that goal by ensuring students, educators, and families receive the support they need to lead healthier and happier lives, and provide America with future generations of healthy and happy providers.
I thank the gentleman from Virginia, Chairman Scott; the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Chu); the gentlewoman from Massachusetts, Assistant Speaker Clark; the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Hayes); the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici); the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney); and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Norcross) for their leadership on this legislation.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chair, for nearly 3 years, frontline and essential workers have experienced traumatic stress while navigating different and difficult barriers and new challenges in the workplace.
Studies have shown that nearly two-thirds of adults, 63 percent, believe their lives have been irreversibly changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many reported worsening mental health, traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, and other negative health outcomes.
For those who experience loss or workplace violence and harassment, traumatic stress can make a demanding workload, longer shifts, repeated staff shortages, and administrative challenges difficult to manage.
That is why Representative Mrvan introduced H.R. 8887, the Prioritizing Workplace Mental Health and Resilience Act.
Throughout my career in public office, I have worked to ensure that resources are available for those impacted by PTSD, anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions.
The pandemic was particularly challenging for many members of organized labor in the manufacturing and construction industries, who continued to show up to work every day during that challenging time, and this provision would aim to give them the support they deserve.
As Mr. Mrvan's designee, I am offering the text of his Prioritizing Workplace Mental Health and Resilience Act as an amendment to H.R. 7780 today.
This amendment will ensure affected workers, who made it possible for our Nation to recover from various challenges posed by COVID-19 in the public health emergency, are afforded the adequate support services during their times of need.
The amendment will establish a research program to identify and apply comprehensive approaches to support frontline and essential workers exposed to and affected by workplace stressors that contribute to adverse mental health outcomes.
If adopted, this amendment will require NIOSH, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, to coordinate with other research programs within the Institute to develop comprehensive, evidence-based approaches to support mental health and behavioral health; inform NIOSH on best practices and recommendations for organizational-level workplace interventions; support the Institute's mission to prevent worker injury or illness and reduce the risk of such mental health outcomes among frontline, essential, and other affected workers.
I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
In closing, I will just say it is vital that we address the adverse mental health outcomes that stem from work environments and provide resources to workers living with PTSD, anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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