House to Senate: Finish the job

Murphy, Johnson lead 211 Members in bipartisan effort urging Senate to pass H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act

For Immediate Release: September 23, 2016
Contact: Carly Atchison 202.225.2301

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA) and Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) led a bipartisan effort urging the U.S. Senate to take action on the most transformational crisis mental health reform bill in half a century: H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. The House came together in July to pass Congressman Murphy’s bill by near unanimous vote, 422-2. Since it was introduced, the bill has been endorsed by more than 40 professional organizations and 77 editorial boards and news publications.

The letter, signed by 211 members of Congress, expressed the need for urgency to pass H.R. 2646 before the Senate returns to their home districts for a long work period break. The letter notes that while 10 million Americans suffer from a serious mental illness, nearly 40% receive no treatment due to a critical shortage of qualified providers, a dearth of crisis psychiatric beds, failed mental health parity implementation, and most importantly the absence of strong federal leadership. 

Click here or on the image above to read the letter.

“Fixing our nation’s mental health system must take priority over scheduling or any partisan divide,” writes Congressman Murphy. “Every day more than 900 lives are lost in our nation due – directly or indirectly – to mental health. That translates to over 70,000 preventable deaths since the House passed H.R. 2646 in July... At a time when thousands of lives are on the line, delays and politics cannot overrule compassion and common sense.”

“Each day that we do not act, more individuals with serious mental illness suffer and die as a result of their conditions," adds Congresswoman Johnson, the lead cosigner of the letter. "Passing mental health reforms in the House of Representatives is not enough, we must make real change for our patients, families, and communities that need it the most by passing those reforms in the Senate and allowing the President to sign them into law. This is urgent and we cannot let it be affected by partisan divide.”

Read the letter here. A list of all cosigners is below:

1. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson
2. Rep. Tom Reed
3. Rep. Carlos Curbelo
4. Rep. Chris Gibson
5. Rep. Marcy Kaptur
6. Rep. Frank C. Guinta
7. Rep. Doug LaMalfa
8. Rep. Scott Tipton
9. Rep. David Joyce
10. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler
11. Rep. Brad Ashford
12. Rep. Joe Pitts
13. Rep. Edward R. Royce
14. Rep. Marsha Blackburn
15. Rep. Tom Emmer
16. Rep. Jim McDermott
17. Rep. Earl Blumenauer
18. Rep. Vern Buchanan
19. Rep. Jeff Denham
20. Rep. Corrine Brown
21. Rep. Brenda L. Lawrence
22. Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez
23. Rep. Ryan Zinke
24. Rep. Duncan Hunter
25. Rep. Rodney Davis
26. Rep. Ken Calvert
27. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
28. Rep. Elise Stefanik
29. Rep. Bill Johnson
30. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick
31. Rep. Peter J. Roskam
32. Rep. Susan W. Brooks
33. Rep. Renee Ellmers
34. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema
35. Rep. Filemon Vela
36. Rep. David Rouzer
37. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis
38. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici
39. Rep. Cresent Hardy
40. Rep. Mike Conaway
41. Rep. Reid Ribble
42. Rep. Richard Hanna
43. Rep. Dennis Ross
44. Rep. Bill Posey
45. Rep. Brad Wenstrup
46. Rep. Mike Coffman
47. Rep. Phil Roe
48. Rep. Steve Pearce
49. Rep. Steve Stivers
50. Rep. Sam Farr
51. Rep. Lloyd Doggett
52. Rep. Chris Collins
53. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart
54. Rep. Dan Benishek
55. Rep. Peter King
56. Rep. Bobby L. Rush
57. Rep. Robert J. Dold
58. Rep. Keith Rothfus
59. Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson
60. Rep. Scott Rigell
61. Rep. Robert A. Brady
62. Rep. Larry Bucshon M.D.
63. Rep. Darin LaHood
64. Rep. Patrick Meehan
65. Rep. Bill Shuster
66. Rep. John L. Mica 
67. Rep. Lou Barletta
68. Rep. Thomas Marino
69. Rep. Chris Van Hollen
70. Rep. John Katko
71. Rep. Brett Guthrie
72. Rep. Billy Long
73. Rep. Richard M. Nolan
74. Rep. Adam Kinzinger
75. Rep. Andy Barr
76. Rep. Steve Knight
77. Rep. Kevin Cramer
78. Rep. David Schweikert
79. Rep. Walter B. Jones
80. Rep. Robert Hurt
81. Rep. William R. Keating
82. Rep. Trent Franks
83. Rep. Charles W. Boustany, Jr., M.D.
84. Rep. Ted Lieu
85. Rep. Diane Black
86. Rep. Dan Donovan
87. Rep. Richard Hudson
88. Rep. David N. Cicilline
89. Rep. Thomas J. Rooney
90. Rep. Derek Kilmer
91. Rep. Curt Clawson
92. Rep. David W Jolly
93. Rep. Dina Titus
94. Rep. Ami Bera
95. Rep. Lynn Jenkins
96. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster
97. Rep. Charles Dent
98. Rep. Brett Guthrie
99. Rep. Mike Simpson
100. Rep. Evan Jenkins
101. Rep. Frank Lucas
102. Rep. Pete Olson
103. Rep. Jackie Walorski
104. Rep. Martha McSally
105. Rep. Mark Meadows
106. Rep. Gwen Graham
107. Rep. Ron DeSantis
108. Rep. Ralph Abraham
109. Rep. Sean Duffy
110. Rep. Greg Harper
111. Rep. Tom MacArthur
112. Rep. Kurt Schrader
113. Rep. Mark Walker
114. Rep. Gregory Meeks
115. Rep. Mike Kelly
116. Rep. Mark Amodei
117. Rep. Kay Granger
118. Rep. John Carter
119. Rep. Andy Harris
120. Rep. Jason Smith
121. Rep. Bruce Westerman
122. Rep. Tim Walberg
123. Rep. Devin Nunes
124. Rep. Mac Thornberry
125. Rep. Darrell Issa
126. Rep. Mike Bost
127. Rep. Joe Wilson
128. Rep. Ryan Castello
129. Rep. Barbara Comstock
130. Rep. David McKinley
131. Rep. Michael Burgess
132. Rep. Tom Rice
133. Rep. Randy Neugebauer
134. Rep. Rob Woodall
135. Rep. Bob Gibbs
136. Rep. Joe Barton
137. Rep. Tom Graves
138. Rep. Donald Donovan
139. Rep. Tom Price
140. Rep. Erik Paulsen
141. Rep. Ann Wagner
142. Rep. Kristi Noem
143. Rep. Sam Graves
144. Rep. Tom McClintock
145. Rep. Dave Reichert
146. Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo
147. Rep. Bill Huizenga
148. Rep. Gregory Meeks
149. Rep. Debbie Dingell
150. Rep. David Young
151. Rep. Ted Yoho
152. Rep. John Conyers
153. Rep. Morgan Griffith
154. Rep. Mike Bishop
155. Rep. Madeleine Bordallo
156. Rep. Peter DeFazio
157. Rep. Raul Ruiz
158. Rep. Scott Garrett
159. Rep. Steve Cohen
160. Rep. Leonard Lance
161. Rep. John Garamendi
162. Rep. Bill Flores
163. Rep. John J. Duncan
164. Rep. Earl L. ‘Buddy’ Carter
165. Rep. Adam Smith
166. Rep. Mark Meadows
167. Rep. Eric Swalwell
168. Rep. Donald Norcross
169. Rep. French Hill
170. Rep. Richard Neal
171. Rep. Bill Pascrell
172. Rep. John Larson
173. Rep. Pete Visclosky
174. Rep. Scott Peters
175. Rep. Tim Ryan
176. Rep. Terri Sewell
177. Rep. Elijah Cummings
178. Rep. Frederica Wilson
179. Rep. Hank Johnson
180. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
181. Rep. Gerry Connolly
182. Rep. Barbara Lee
183. Rep. Chris Smith
184. Rep. Kevin Yoder
185. Rep. Steve Womack
186. Rep. Brian Higgs
187. Rep. Henry Cuellar
188. Rep. Bruce Poliquin
189. Rep. Roger Williams
190. Rep. Gary Palmer
191. Rep. Tom Cole
192. Rep. Greg Walden
193. Rep. Markwayne Mullin
194. Rep. Bob Goodlatte
195. Rep. Michael R. Turner
196. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa
197. Rep. Sanford Bishop
198. Rep. Karen Bass
199. Rep. Marcia Fudge
200. Rep. Alcee Hastings
201. Rep. Julia Brownley
202. Rep. James Clyburn
203. Rep. Rob Bishop
204. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry
205. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver
206. Rep. Robin Kelly
207. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger
208. Rep. Mike Quigley
209. Rep. Cedric Richmond
210. Rep. Mia Love
211. Rep. Bradley Byrne

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