Mental Health Matters Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chair, H.R. 7780, the Mental Health Matters Act, will provide federal funding to help students and school staff in my district, the Northern Mariana Islands, access mental health care and hire more school based mental health service providers.

The COVID-19 pandemic seriously impacted students' social and emotional development. In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported over 44 percent of students felt sadness or hopelessness, almost 20 percent had suicidal thoughts, and 9 percent attempted suicide. However, the student mental health crisis preceded the pandemic. In 2016, CDC found roughly 1in 6 children in America aged 2-8 years were diagnosed with mental, behavioral, or developmental disorders. The House Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee I chair has heard from schools nationwide on the worsening state of our children's mental health. The House now has an opportunity to pass the Mental Health Matters Act that I cosponsored to provide the resources necessary to help schools provide lifesaving care to our students in need.

H.R. 7780 will set aside $25 million to school districts in the Marianas and other insular areas for the recruitment and retention of school-based mental health service providers. The Marianas Public School System serves a high percentage of students that come from families with incomes below the poverty line. Students, regardless of income, should have access to the health care they need. H.R. 7780 expands students' access to mental health care and ensures our schools have the resources to provide the care they need.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7780.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of the Mental Health Matters Act requiring certain federal actions to increase access to mental and behavioral health care.

H.R. 7780 creates various grants to support the behavioral needs of students and youth, invest in the school-based behavioral health workforce, and ensure access to mental health and substance use disorder benefits.

This includes increasing the number of mental health professionals serving in high need public schools and increasing students' access to evidence-based trauma support.

For institutions of higher education, they will be required to increase transparency around the accommodations process and allow students with existing documentation of a disability to access disability accommodations.

The capacity of the Department of Labor will be strengthened to ensure that private, employer-sponsored group health plans provide mental health and substance use disorder benefits.

H.R. 7780 will also plan to hold employee-sponsors accountable when they are improperly denied mental health and substance use disorder benefits.

The Coronavirus pandemic and opioid epidemic have only exacerbated our nation's mental health needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with mental health challenges related to the morbidity and mortality caused by the disease and the impact of stay-at-home orders.

Adults reporting symptoms of anxiety disorder and depressive disorder increased considerably in the United States during April through June of 2020, compared with the same period in 2019.

Children are also not being spared from the mental health impacts from COVID-19.

In a study of about 1,500 teenagers, 7 out of 10 kids reported that they were struggling with their mental health in some way.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration hotline for people in emotional distress registered more than a 1,000 percent increase in April 2020 compared with the same time last year.

These life changing events have left our children, students, workers, and families grappling with traumas caused by factors outside of their control.

Too many Americans make the perilous choice of self-medicating when they feel that they've run out of other options. We cannot protect our Nation's health or help communities recover if we do not strengthen our mental health care system.

Mental illness has long received too little attention from policy makers and public health advocates who too often reflect upon and stress the importance of physical health insurance, taking little note of the importance of mental health coverage.

Therefore, Congress must take the lead in reforming mental health care options as our current system abandoned too many Americans in their time of personal crisis.

As a frequent cosponsor of mental health legislation and Legislator of the Year for the National Mental Health Association, I am proud to support the Mental Health Matters Act.

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