The Bazelon Mental Health Policy Reporter
Volume III : Issue 5 : July
9, 2004
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What's in this issue?
Feature Article: House Subcommittee Supports Mental Health Transformation
Newsbytes
House Supports Mental Health Transformation
Members of the U.S. House subcommittee with jurisdiction over mental
health funding signaled their support for federal spending on mental
health by rejecting proposed cuts and adding millions of new federal
dollars to support desperately needed transformation of the nation’s
public mental health system.
Yesterday, the House Appropriations
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related
Agencies approved important
funding increases for mental health spending and rejected some proposed
cuts.
Subcommittee members rejected cuts the President had proposed in his
February budget to the jail diversion grants program ($7 million) and
the seniors mental health program ($5 million). The protection and advocacy
systems for people with mental disorders, which were to be level-funded
under the President's budget, received a $1.4-million budget increase.
Consistent with the President’s proposed budget, lawmakers approved
increases for the children’s mental health program and the grant
program to assist individuals who are homeless or at risk of being homeless
(PATH)—$3.6 million and $5.5 million, respectively. The Subcommittee
also approved the President’s $1.4 million increase for the mental
health block grant, the largest federal program supporting community-based
mental health services.
The Subcommittee approved $20 million for the State Incentive Transformation
Grants (SIGs)—critical new federal dollars to begin realizing the
vision of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. However, the President
had requested $44 million for the grants, so $24 million would still
be needed to fund the grants at that level without taking money from
other mental health priorities.
Under the President’s proposed budget, 14 states could receive
grants in fiscal year 2005. In anticipation, some states have already
formed commissions tasked with developing plans to restructure their
crumbling public mental health systems into efficient, effective and "seamless" service-delivery
systems for adults and children with mental health needs.
While the grants won’t fully address the dire need to reform disintegrating
state mental health systems, even limited funding of the SIGs is a vital
first step toward realizing the Commission’s important vision of
a transformed public mental health system.
In a time of tight budgets and competing priorities, mental health programs
dodged cuts. Ultimately, however, efforts to sustain them and to increase
funding for the SIGs up to the President’s request will require
support from the full House and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.
Advocates need to urge lawmakers to support the House Subcommittee’s
recommendations on funding and encourage them to make available new money
to help states address serious failings in the public mental health system.
Take Action Now
1. Make the Call
Urgent action is needed to support
the Commission’s vision for
transformation of the public mental health system. Call the Capitol Switchboard
at 202-224-3121 to be connected to your lawmakers. Urge them to:
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Support the Commission’s vision by fully funding the State Incentive
Grants for Transformation proposed in the President’s budget;
and
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Provide needed increases in existing community-based service grants
available through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration.
The Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee will play a key role
in deciding funding. It is especially important for you to contact your
Senators if they are listed below.
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Departments of Labor, Health
and Human Services and Education:
- Alren Specter (R-PA)-Chair
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Judd Gregg (R-NH)
- Larry Craig (R-ID)
- Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
- Ted Stevens (R-AK)
- Richard Shelby (R-AL)
- Mike DeWine (R-OH)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)-Ranking Member
- Ernest Hollings (D-SC)
- Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
- Harry Reid (D-NV)
- Herbert Kohl (D-WI)
- Patty Murray (D-WA)
- Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
If your Senators are not on the committee, ask them to contact a committee
member to express support for increased public mental health spending.
2. Send E-Mail
Send
a message to your Member of Congress
Newsbytes
Congressional Report Highlights Juvenile Injustice Against
Children with Mental Health Needs
On any given night, 2,000 children awaiting access to scarce community
mental health services languish in facilities unequipped to handle their
needs, according to a new Congressional report released Wednesday. Findings
from the report—commissioned by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Senator
Susan Collins (R-ME)—were unveiled at a hearing in the U.S. Senate’s
Governmental Affairs Committee. Inappropriate warehousing of children
with mental health needs in juvenile detention centers costs U.S. taxpayers
nearly $100 million dollars each year, according to the report. Advocates
testified that the practice is a wasteful and counterproductive public-policy
failure that exposes children to toxic environments, where their mental
health often deteriorates and they are at increased risk of suicide and
victimization by other detainees.
Suicide Prevention Bill Passes Senate
The Senate yesterday unanimously approved the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial
Act (S.2634, H.R.4799), a suicide prevention bill sponsored by Senator
Gordon Smith (R-OR), who lost his own son to suicide last year. Each
year, more than 4,000 young people take their own lives, making suicide
the third leading cause of death among Americans aged 10 to 24. The bill
would provide $80 million to help states develop suicide prevention strategies
and fund mental health services on college campuses. Advocates are encouraged
to contact their Representatives to urge passage of this important bill
in the House.
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