Improving Mental Health Access for Students Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I am going to talk for a few minutes about mental health for our kids. I think many Americans have known and, unfortunately, some Americans have loved some of our fellow citizens who suffer with depression and anxiety and thoughts of suicide. It is a particular problem for our young people. CDC reports that one in four young Americans have actually considered suicide, and, in fact, the second leading cause of death for young people is suicide.
I am sure there are a lot of reasons for this. I think it is harder to be a young person today. Many of our kids see things that those of us who are older didn't have to deal with until we were adults--drugs, of course; alcohol; also, social media. You can still find kindness in America, but unfortunately you have to go offline to do it.
Some of our young people--many of our young people--just need someone to talk to. Some of them, when their anxiety and their depression is acute, need medical treatment, and this bill will simply provide a mechanism for our young people to receive it.
The bill, as I said, is called the Improving Mental Health Access for Students Act. It would provide that schools--our universities--be required to print phone numbers for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the Crisis Text Line, and a campus mental health center or program on the student ID cards.
This bill would not require our schools to tear up current ID cards. It would be phased in. And if a school doesn't use an ID card, they don't have to start using an ID card. My bill would simply require that the schools put the information on their website.
This bill passed unanimously by UC in our last Congress, but, unfortunately, the House ran out of time to take it up.
Toward that end, Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I am going to ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1585, introduced earlier today.
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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I know of no further debate on the bill.
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Mr. KENNEDY.
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