National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009

Floor Speech

NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009 -- (Senate - September 10, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

MENTAL HEALTH PARITY

Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I often try to come to this Chamber and offer remarks without reading a text, but this text that I have prepared is of such a personal nature and so difficult to give that I think I am going to try to read it.

I also want to note for the record that in this hyperpolitical season, sometimes we forget that we are just Americans.

Senator Kennedy somehow knew I was going to give this speech, and I was just called to the Republican cloakroom to take a call from our colleague who struggles with a terrible illness. He wished me well in this speech because we share a common bond when it comes to human loss and the passion for the issue of mental health. I also want to report, Mr. President, that he sounded great, and I am confident he will be back.

Mr. President, 5 years ago this week--it was actually 5 years ago on Monday--my wife Sharon and I received the worst news that any parent can receive when a police officer showed up at our door to inform us that our 21-year-old son Garrett had taken his life. That day and the days and weeks that followed were the most painful imaginable. But instrumental to Sharon and me being able to persevere through those weeks was the love and support we received from my colleagues here in the Senate.

To note just a few, Senators Wyden, Reid, Stevens, Bennett, DeWine, and Chambliss traveled all the way to Pendleton, OR, a little town in northeastern Oregon, for Garrett's service. When I returned to this Chamber weeks later, Senators Kennedy and Biden, who had experienced the loss of family members in their lives, were just two of many who reached out to me with compassion and wise counsel. Senators Leahy and Santorum lit candles for us in their Catholic parishes, Senator Lieberman remembered us in his synagogue, and many protestant colleagues included us in their prayer circles. Sharon and I were reminded again and again that human heartache has no political affiliation.

Sharon and I were also blessed to receive the support and understanding of the people of Oregon. We were overwhelmed with cards, letters, and kind words, many from individuals who had lost a loved one battling depression or who had lost a loved one to suicide. Indeed, as a result of the publicity surrounding Garrett's death, Sharon and I had become the focus of an immense fraternity of sorrow. I had never been aware of or imagined the size of this silent and shapeless society, but the avalanche of letters confirmed what my studies later taught me: There are 30,000 suicides and as many as 600,000 attempts at suicide in America every year. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in the United States for those ages 15 to 24. It is the second leading cause of death among college students, with more than 1,000 taking their lives each year.

I began to wonder what I, as a Senator, could do about this epidemic which had claimed the life of my son. Six months after Garrett's death, our then-colleague Mike DeWine provided me with an answer. He told me that the epidemic of youth suicides had been weighing on his mind as well and that he had coauthored two pieces of legislation he hoped might make a positive difference. The first bill, authored with Senator Dodd, increased screening for children to detect those predisposed to depression and suicide. The second, written with Senator Reed of Rhode Island, provided funding necessary to improve suicide prevention programs on college campuses.

I reviewed the two bills and felt more and more that I had found my cause: to bring suicide's brutal toll and mental health subordinate status out of our society's shadows. I believed that the shame and the stigma our society feels about mental health must stop and a national conversation needed to begin. I believed that if Government policy and insurance priorities did not change, then more lives would be tragically lost, more families would be shattered, more of our citizens would wander our streets and needlessly fill our jails, and higher costs would be borne by taxpayers or be shifted to overburdened private policyholders. In short, our society would be diminished and too many of our fellow citizens would continue to suffer needlessly.

Senators DeWine, Dodd, and Reed graciously offered to let me take the lead in advancing the legislation through Congress. Because of their support, the support of countless others in the House and Senate, and the support of the President of the United States, George W. Bush, we were able to make a difference and for the first time put the Federal Government on the front lines in the battle against youth suicide.

This week marks another anniversary, Mr. President. It was on September 9, 2004, on what would have been Garrett's 23rd birthday, that final passage was achieved on what my colleagues' named the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act. So I rise today during what is also National Suicide Prevention Week to reflect on what has been accomplished these past 4 years thanks to the provisions of the Garrett Lee Smith Act and to remind my colleagues of the work that still must be done.

Since its enactment into law, the Garrett Lee Smith Act has provided funding for youth suicide prevention programs in 31 States, 7 Native American tribes or tribal organizations, and 55 colleges and universities. Incredibly, more than 150,000 people across our Nation have been trained in youth suicide prevention activities under the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act. This includes more than 40,000 college students who can now look for the warning signs of depression in peers, more than 11,000 parents and foster parents who can spot the warning signs in their children, 9,000 teachers who can better identify the needs of their students, and 1,300 primary care providers who can better serve the mental health needs along with the physical needs of our children and youth they seek to heal. We also know that 13,000 youth have been screened for mental illness through the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act grants. Of these youth, more than 2,800 were found to be at risk of suicide and 95 percent were referred for mental health services. Amazingly, of these children, 90 percent received care.

In my home State of Oregon alone, more than 900 people have been trained in suicide prevention activities. They have been taught these new skills in a way that will allow them to share what they have learned to train others. This ``train the trainer'' type of program has created a sustainable program which will continue to grow the number of caring people in our communities who have the know-how to spot mental illness and suicide risks in our children and youth.

Mr. President, much has been accomplished in the battle against youth suicide, but there is still much more that needs to be done, and I would like to provide a roadmap of five actions this Congress can and should take before adjournment.

First, Congress needs to reauthorize the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act. Last May, I joined with Senators Dodd and Reed in introducing just such a reauthorization proposal. Our bill would provide some important updates to the program, including allowing States and tribes to get more than one grant so that many States can expand on the work they started with the initial youth suicide prevention grants they received. Our bill would also allow for increasing funding levels and allow for the current youth suicide resource centers to serve those of other ages.

Second, mental health parity has passed both the House and the Senate and is awaiting final passage. I urge the conference committee to get this to final passage. This final version has been included in the tax extenders package drafted by Senator Baucus that is awaiting consideration. I am very hopeful that through this package, mental health parity will soon be completed. Placing mental health on parity with physical health will send a very important message to our family members and friends with mental illness. It says to them: We support you, we love you, and we are working to ensure that you get the help you need.

Third, mental health parity must also be provided to children under SCHIP. Low-income children suffer at higher rates of mental illness. We must ensure that the State Children's Health Insurance Program better supports their needs. We know that the earlier we can identify and help children with any mental health issues, the better chance they will have in obtaining a long-term recovery and learning the ability to manage their illness.

Fourth, along with many colleagues, I have long been concerned with the mental health needs of our older veterans as well as those who are returning from our current conflicts. I held a field hearing in Oregon last year on the issues that our aging veterans face and convened two roundtables on the issue with veterans, mental health professionals, and local officials. Senator Kohl and I also held an Aging Committee hearing in the fall of last year that looked at veterans' mental health issues. I was honored that Senator Bob Dole was able to testify at this important hearing.

In response to the findings I gathered from these hearings and discussions, I introduced in July of this year, along with my colleague and friend Senator Wyden, the Healing Our Nation's Heroes Act of 2008. This bill would improve the oversight of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense as it relates to the mental health services they provide to our service men and women and veterans. It would also work to increase the number of their mental health professionals and train them to better understand the unique issues of our men and women who have seen combat.

Finally, I have worked to introduce a package of bills with Senator Reed of Rhode Island that would support and enhance our community mental health centers. These centers are the safety net of our local mental health systems and work to ensure care to so many low-income individuals. These bills would help to better integrate the physical and mental health at these centers. This package would also help to provide funding for infrastructure expansion and improvements that are so desperately needed as local centers struggle under low funding and increased community needs. Currently, the reauthorization is pending in the HELP Committee.

Mr. President, I know we are in the midst of a partisan season. Two of our colleagues are campaigning for the Presidency of the United States, and one is campaigning for the Vice Presidency. In my State of Oregon, my colleague, Mr. Schumer of New York, is spending millions upon millions of dollars running very partisan and negative ads in the hopes of defeating me, and that is certainly his right. I know Mr. Schumer has put pressure on many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle these past few months not to continue any bipartisan work with me. But just as passage of the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act was not a partisan issue, taking action on the five items I have just listed is also not partisan. Mental illness does not differentiate between Republican and Democrat. It is an American issue. It is a human issue. And as Americans, we have a duty to act.

Perhaps the best counsel I received in the days and weeks following Garrett's death came from Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, who served with such distinction as the Chaplain of the Senate. Lloyd had recently lost his beloved wife Mary Jane and called me from Los Angeles to commiserate. His message to me was that ``gratitude'' is a miraculous antidote for grief, and that, whenever I was feeling overwhelmed by bewilderment and remorse, I should remember to be grateful that the Lord gave us Garret for 22 years less a day. It sounded simple enough--gratitude as an antidote for grief--so I tried it, I tried it again, and I discovered that it works.

I stand here today, 5 years after losing my son, with profound gratitude in my heart: gratitude for the countless Oregonians who continue to let Sharon and me know that we are in their thoughts and prayers; gratitude for my colleagues here in this Chamber, without respect of party, who helped me persevere and recover; gratitude for public servants such as Mike DeWine and Chris Dodd and Jack Reed and many others--and I must mention Orrin Hatch, who has been an incredible brother to me. They allowed me to turn my grief into action through the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act. I express gratitude for President Bush signing this act. He did it on a misty day, on an October morning in 2004, just before election day. I express gratitude for those who are on the front lines of the battle against suicide, and countless mental health professionals who are implementing the programs authorized by the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, who are often overwhelmed by the demand and underfunded by resources.

And above all, I express gratitude that a remarkable boy graced Sharon's and my life for so many years, and that his memory lives on through the good works implemented by legislation that bears his name on the statutes of the United States of America.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source