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Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act of 2022

Floor Speech

By: Tom Emmer
By: Tom Emmer
Date: June 22, 2022
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. EMMER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member, soon to be chair, for yielding.

I rise in support of H.R. 7666, the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act.

After years of lockdowns and social isolation, the mental health of our Nation's citizens, and especially our youth, is at an all-time low. But H.R. 7666 begins to return us to a better path, so I thank the chairman and ranking member for all their hard work to make this a reality.

I am especially pleased that portions of two bills that I had the pleasure of working on with my colleague from Maryland were included in this legislation. One such provision would amend the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy to allow incarcerated juveniles who have been detained pending trial to continue to receive Medicaid coverage. Pretrial detainees are, by definition, presumed innocent. As a matter of due process, we should not be denying critical health benefits to anyone who has not been convicted of a crime.

From a practical standpoint, reforms to the Medicaid Inmates Exclusion Policy will help our local law enforcement better manage the shockingly high percentage of inmates who suffer from mental illness.

H.R. 7666 also includes language to create a behavioral health coordinating office, another issue that I have had the pleasure of working on. Many Federal programs to address the mental health crisis currently lack clear, unified direction and coordination, which is a recipe for redundancy and waste.

The reforms in today's bill will bring all the major agencies into the room, including the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Director of National Drug Control Policy to develop a unified approach to addressing topics ranging from substance abuse care to delivery of better telehealth.

There is always more work to be done to improve the mental health of our Nation, but H.R. 7666 is an important step, and one we need now more than ever.

Madam Speaker, I once again urge my colleagues to support this critical legislation.

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