Expanding Student Access to Mental Health Services Act

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I thank my good friend from California for yielding time.

Mr. Chairman, H.R. 7780, the Mental Health Matters Act, is a package of bills our country would be better off without. For example, Title VI of the bill, the Strengthening Behavioral Health Benefits Act, contains dangerous policy which would threaten access to critical workplace benefits.

How would this legislation drive employers to drop benefits? H.R. 7780 allows the Department of Labor, DOL, to levy civil monetary penalties against plans and employers for ambiguous mental health parity violations.

Employers who offer mental health benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, ERISA, do so voluntarily. They should not be penalized for violating standards that are unclear and vague. Republicans and

Democrats alike support mental health parity, which is why Congress has passed multiple laws to ensure employers are able to meet mental health parity requirements.

Yet, despite receiving explicit direction from Congress outlining what DOL must provide to plans, the Department has yet to issue guidance. Employers and plans have been asking the Department for years to comply with the law and provide examples which illustrate compliance and noncompliance, recommendations to advance compliance, and clarifying information on how plans may demonstrate compliance.

However, instead of helping plans comply, DOL has blamed them for not being able to read the minds of Washington bureaucrats. Providing DOL with the authority to levy civil monetary penalties against plans and increase their risk of litigation will only force plans to drop mental health coverage.

This legislation would also increase DOL's budget for mental health parity enforcement by an additional $275 million over 10 years, a sure sign DOL wants to double down on its aggression toward employers. This money would be better spent on compliance assistance instead of targeting employers based on ambiguous standards.

Additionally, Title VII, the Employee and Retiree Access to Justice Act, gets rid of arbitration clauses, class action waivers, and discretionary clauses in employee benefit plans. This opens the door to increased litigation against plan sponsors which could drastically increase the cost of administering these plans.

Democrats are treating ERISA arbitration like a treacherous backroom deal, but, in reality, arbitration settles disputes more quickly and more often in favor of claimants than litigation. The only people who benefit from months and years in litigation are trial lawyers.

This bill also contains provisions regarding the youth mental health crisis. There is bipartisan agreement that addressing the mental health of youth matters. However, we can't ignore the fact that Democrats exacerbated the youth mental health situation by prolonging school shutdowns.

At the behest of teachers unions, Democrat politicians from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to school district administrators kept classrooms shuttered, despite knowing that schools were not major vectors of spread and that children were suffering from this forced isolation. The results have been catastrophic.

In 2021, more than one-third of high school students reported they experienced poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to one study, from February to March 2021, the number of ER visits by young girls for suspected suicide attempts was up by more than 50 percent compared to 2019.

School closures fail students, which is why we should be spending our time addressing the massive learning loss students suffered because of these shutdowns. This is a problem that cannot be neglected, especially if we want to see these young people have as bright a future as possible.

Lastly, H.R. 7780 includes the Respond, Innovate, Succeed, and Empower Act, or RISE Act, the intent of which Republicans support.

While I agree that students with disabilities shouldn't have to jump through hoops to obtain accommodations at school, this legislation will have unintended consequences as currently drafted.

For example, this legislation forces colleges and universities to accept outdated documentation from students who are claiming disability status but who do not, in fact, have a disability. This legislation should have been debated with stakeholders before being rushed to the House floor, but, as usual, Democrats took a shortcut.

I encourage my colleagues to work across the aisle and utilize the deliberative process to form more commonsense and targeted legislation if they actually want to address our country's mental health situation.

H.R. 7780 is a bill that tries to do too much and none of it well.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen).

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia.

Mr. Chair, our colleagues keep saying the goal is compliance. Well, if the goal is compliance, then it is up to the Department to define the standard. Employers do not know what the standard is. Therefore, they do not know what is expected of them to comply.

Mr. Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).

Mr. Chair, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. McClain).

Mr. Chair, I would like to correct the record regarding a comment Chairman Scott made at the Rules Committee Tuesday that employers must offer mental health benefits.

Most health plans governed by ERISA are not required to offer mental health benefits. Let me repeat myself: Most mental health benefits offered by employers with ERISA plans are offered voluntarily.

Offering comprehensive health coverage is a valuable tool used to recruit and retain employees. When employers choose to offer mental health benefits, those benefits must be at parity with other benefits. What parity means is a matter of debate, which is the root of the problem here.

The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 required mental health parity for plans that choose to provide mental health benefits. When these employer-sponsored plans cover mental health benefits, they must abide by mental health parity laws.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 directed the Department of Labor to provide additional assistance to plans to comply with parity requirements. DOL has ignored Congress' mandate to provide additional assistance to plans and is instead expecting plans to read the minds of Washington bureaucrats or face litigation and fines.

The problem with this top-down approach is that employers do not have to subject themselves to DOL's whims. Employers are choosing to cover mental health benefits. They can just as easily choose not to offer mental health benefits if Washington is intent on making it too challenging or costly.

DOL should follow the law and issue additional guidance, specifically standards, to employers and plans.

Helping employers would undermine the Democrats' long-term goal of weakening employer-sponsored insurance and implementing government-run healthcare.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, passing H.R. 7780 would do a disservice to students, workers, and job creators. This legislation has been weighed, it has been measured, and it has been found wanting.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I rise today to oppose the amendment offered by Representative Porter and Representative Trone.

Much of this amendment is well-intentioned. The amendment authorizes the Department of Education to conduct a study to better understand the prevalence of mental health disabilities and substance use disorders on campus.

The amendment also authorizes the Department of Education, in conjunction with the Department of Justice, to issue guidance to institutions on how they can continue to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and other legal obligations, when serving students with mental health disabilities and substance use disorders.

However, this amendment has some issues. This amendment includes broader language that could allow the Department of Education to deviate from issuing guidance on complying with these existing laws and open the door for the Department of Education to speculate on a variety of other institution policies.

For example, language in this amendment could permit the Department of Education to prohibit colleges and universities from enforcing their codes of conduct when students engage in drug use that violate campus policies, which would make campuses less safe and less able to support students with mental health disabilities or substance use disorders.

Unfortunately, this amendment did not go through the normal committee process, where it would be my hope that much of this language could have been discussed and revised.

I believe we all want to ensure students struggling with mental health disabilities are provided the appropriate legal accommodations by their institutions. However, this amendment fails to do that.

Mr. Chair, I will oppose this amendment; I encourage my colleagues to do the same, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, we are hearing a lot lately about how bills are imperfect, but we should go ahead and pass them.

Mr. Chair, we have an opportunity to improve legislation before we pass it, but there seems to be no appetite on the part of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to act in a bipartisan fashion to improve legislation.

Why in the world do we want to vote for things that are imperfect but could be improved when there is a will to do that on our side of the aisle?

It makes no sense.

This amendment needs work done to it before we could possibly support it, and I suggest that we set it aside--set the bill aside--and work on those things that need to be improved, demand that the Department of Education do its job. Clean this up. Then we could pass good legislation, maybe not perfect, but certainly better than what we are facing here today.

Mr. Chair, I agree, don't let perfect be the enemy of the good. For heaven's sake, let's pass good legislation, not legislation that isn't as good as it could be.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this amendment, ``no'' on the underlying bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Republicans are committed to addressing the Nation's mental health crisis, including in the workplace. Unfortunately, this amendment, while spending $30 million, puts the cart before the horse and does nothing to address the serious flaws in H.R. 7780.

If Democrats were serious about improving mental health resources and implementing best practices in the workplace, they would strike the provisions in the underlying bill that will make it more difficult for employers to offer mental health benefits.

Still, the amendment, as written, is not ready for prime time. First, I have concerns about the program's bloated $30 million price tag over 3 years. It is all too common for Congress to throw money at a problem without any oversight or accountability to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent in the most effective way possible.

The amendment also establishes inappropriate criteria for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH, to examine. This includes how changes in workplace protocols or traumatic grief from COVID-19 in the workplace contributes to adverse worker mental health.

These criteria are overly prescriptive. Congress should let NIOSH do its job in determining what kinds of workplace factors contribute to poor mental health.

Further, the amendment directs NIOSH to report to Congress within a year on whether the best practices have been developed and adopted by relevant stakeholders. However, the Department of Labor's vague and unclear guidance on mental health parity makes it challenging for employers to offer mental health benefits; and H.R. 7780 would only increase the risk for employers offering mental health benefits.

I am disappointed by the lack of effort to develop a workable bipartisan solution to study the mental health of our Nation's workers before this flawed legislation was rushed to the floor by Democrats. This is a partisan amendment to a partisan bill, and a missed opportunity to improve healthcare for workers.

I urge a ``no'' vote on the amendment and the underlying bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time.

As I stated on the last amendment, this bill needs a lot of work. Republicans are more than willing to work with our colleagues across the aisle to make the bill better, to make this amendment better.

Again, Democrats' favorite ploy to solve a problem is to throw money at it, but not have clear standards, not hold agencies accountable, and not have a clear plan.

Republicans have plans for how to get things done better in this country, and we would be so much better off if we could work in a bipartisan manner to bring bills to the floor; have them go through regular order; and spend time debating them together.

We want legislation that helps our situations in the country; not throw money at it; not just say, well, let's try this imperfect approach and see what will happen. Throw something against the wall and see if it will stick. That is a rotten way to run this country, Mr. Chairman. We can do better.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 7780, the Mental Health Matters Act.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the mental health crisis among American students, educators, and families.

In 2021, 44 percent of students experienced persistent feelings of hopelessness; almost 20 percent seriously considered suicide; and 9 percent of American kids attempted suicide.

Regrettably, 80 percent of youth in need of mental health services do not have the access to heal in their communities. As a result, educators have been forced to play an outsized role in supporting and responding to students' mental health needs, leading to increased depression and trauma among educators, their students, their families, and the community. However, our schools do not have the specialized staff necessary to respond to the increased prevalence and complexity of students' mental health needs.

According to a 2019 ACLU study, no State met the student-to-social worker ratio of one social worker for every 250 students, as recommended by the National Association of Social Workers. Not one State.

On top of that, the national ratio of school psychologists per students during the 2020-2022 school years was one psychologist per every 1,162 students--more than double the ratio recommended by the National Association of School Psychologists. Clearly, this is unacceptable.

The rise in mental health challenges is not isolated to students and educators. Nearly half of the United States workforce now suffers from mental health issues since the COVID-19 pandemic started. Yet, many workers are denied the mental health and substance use disorder benefits they are legally entitled to receive under their employer- sponsored health plan.

In a recent report to Congress, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury found widespread violations of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act by group health plans. Unfortunately, some of these plans are failing to maintain parity between behavioral health benefits and physical health benefits as required by statute.

The report recommended that Congress enhance the Secretary of Labor's capacity to enforce the parity law, including providing authority to impose civil monetary penalties for violations.

Notably, the same recommendations were made by former President Trump's Commission on Combating the Opioid Crisis, which was led by then-New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie.

In response to these violations and the national mental health crisis, I introduced the Mental Health Matters Act, which includes proposals championed by several committee members.

This legislation helps Head Start agencies implement evidence-based interventions to improve the behavioral health of children and staff in Head Start programs.

It improves trauma-informed services in schools by developing innovative initiatives to link schools and local educational agencies with local trauma-informed support and mental health systems.

It requires colleges and universities to accept existing documentation of disability and provide reasonable accommodations so disabled students can achieve success in higher education.

It also provides the Department of Labor with enhanced authority to ensure that private, employer-sponsored group health plans and insurers comply with the mental health parity and related laws.

The bill ensures workers who are wrongfully denied health or retirement benefits under their job-based plans have meaningful access to the courts.

And finally, this legislation directs the Department of Education to award grants to build a pipeline of school-based mental health service providers and increase the number of mental health professionals serving in elementary and secondary schools in high-need areas.

Mr. Chairman, simply put, the Mental Health Matters Act delivers the resources students, educators, and families need to improve their well- being.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I do want to say that it is always delightful, truthfully, to see my friend and our differences of opinion. I see Mr. Allen will speak as well, my wonderful colleague and ranking member of the subcommittee.

Just as a former small business owner, the term ``voluntary'' is, in my view, accurate in the sense that it is an employer's choice to provide health insurance, but the parity is required by statute once having done that. So, it is a question of terminology, perhaps.

As I have said, even just shortly ago, I am ready to work with my friend to work on enforcement mechanisms that are efficient because I think we all agree there is a problem here in this country about mental health and kids and how we enforce the best possible enforcement for employers. The vast majority of employers do the right thing, but how to make sure that people who don't do the right thing, and thereby get an advantage if we don't enforce the laws against law-abiding employers, I really think that we can work something out.

This is the best mechanism I see right at the moment, however imperfect. I look forward to continuing the conversation.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici), who is the chair of the Civil Rights and Human Services Subcommittee of the Education and Labor Committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney), who is a member of the Education and Labor Committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Connecticut.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Hayes), a distinguished member of the Education and Labor Committee.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark).

Mr. Chair, could I ask how much time we have remaining?

Mr. Chair, we have no more speakers, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I love my good friend's closing. That was artful and poetic, but I respectfully disagree. I look forward to continuing the conversation, particularly around enforcement and the definition of parity.

To me, as a former employer, I thought parity was clear, but if we need more clarity for some employers, I am happy to have that discussion.

Mr. Chair, as lawmakers, we have a duty to support Americans' health and well-being. The Mental Health Matters Act will help us deliver on that goal by ensuring students, educators, and families receive the support they need to lead healthier and happier lives, and provide America with future generations of healthy and happy providers.

I thank the gentleman from Virginia, Chairman Scott; the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Chu); the gentlewoman from Massachusetts, Assistant Speaker Clark; the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Hayes); the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici); the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney); and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Norcross) for their leadership on this legislation.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I rise as the designee of the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Mrvan), and I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, for nearly 3 years, frontline and essential workers have experienced traumatic stress while navigating different and difficult barriers and new challenges in the workplace.

Studies have shown that nearly two-thirds of adults, 63 percent, believe their lives have been irreversibly changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many reported worsening mental health, traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, and other negative health outcomes.

For those who experience loss or workplace violence and harassment, traumatic stress can make a demanding workload, longer shifts, repeated staff shortages, and administrative challenges difficult to manage.

That is why Representative Mrvan introduced H.R. 8887, the Prioritizing Workplace Mental Health and Resilience Act.

Throughout my career in public office, I have worked to ensure that resources are available for those impacted by PTSD, anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions.

The pandemic was particularly challenging for many members of organized labor in the manufacturing and construction industries, who continued to show up to work every day during that challenging time, and this provision would aim to give them the support they deserve.

As Mr. Mrvan's designee, I am offering the text of his Prioritizing Workplace Mental Health and Resilience Act as an amendment to H.R. 7780 today.

This amendment will ensure affected workers, who made it possible for our Nation to recover from various challenges posed by COVID-19 in the public health emergency, are afforded the adequate support services during their times of need.

The amendment will establish a research program to identify and apply comprehensive approaches to support frontline and essential workers exposed to and affected by workplace stressors that contribute to adverse mental health outcomes.

If adopted, this amendment will require NIOSH, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, to coordinate with other research programs within the Institute to develop comprehensive, evidence-based approaches to support mental health and behavioral health; inform NIOSH on best practices and recommendations for organizational-level workplace interventions; support the Institute's mission to prevent worker injury or illness and reduce the risk of such mental health outcomes among frontline, essential, and other affected workers.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

In closing, I will just say it is vital that we address the adverse mental health outcomes that stem from work environments and provide resources to workers living with PTSD, anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong support of the Mental Health Matters Act, led by the gentleman from California, Mr. DeSaulnier.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the mental health crisis among students, workers, and families.

In 2021, over 44 percent of students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness; almost 20 percent seriously considered suicide; and 9 percent actually attempted suicide. Regrettably, 80 percent of youth in need of mental health services do not have access in their communities.

As a result, educators have been forced to play an outsized role in supporting and responding to students' mental health needs, leading to increased depression and trauma among educators. However, our schools do not have the specialized staff necessary to respond to the increased prevalence and complexity of students' mental health needs.

According to a 2019 ACLU study, no state met the student-to-social worker ratio of one social worker to every 250 students, as recommended by the National Association of Social Workers. Furthermore, the national ratio of school psychologists per students during the 2020- 2022 school years was one psychologist per every 1,100 students--more than double the ratio recommended by the National Association of School Psychologists.

The rise in mental health challenges is not isolated to students and educators. Nearly half of the U.S. workforce now suffers from mental health issues since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Yet, many workers are denied the mental health and substance abuse disorder benefits they are legally entitled to receive under their employer-sponsored health plan.

In a recent report to Congress, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury found widespread violations of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act by group health plans and insurers who are failing to maintain parity between mental health and substance abuse disorder benefits and physical health benefits. Further, the report recommended that Congress enhance the Secretary of Labor's capacity to enforce the parity law, including providing the authority to impose civil monetary penalties for violations. Notably, this same recommendation was made by former President Trump's Commission on Combatting the Opioid Crisis, which was led by then- Governor Chris Christie.

In response to these violations and the national mental health crisis, the Chair of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, Mr. DeSaulnier, introduced the Mental Health Matters Act, which includes proposals championed by several Committee Members.

This legislation:

Helps Head Start agencies implement evidence-based interventions to improve the behavioral health of children and staff wellness;

Improves trauma-informed services in schools by developing innovative initiatives to link schools and local educational agencies with local trauma-informed support and mental health systems;

Requires colleges and universities to accept existing documentation of disability and provide reasonable accommodations so that disabled students can achieve success in higher education;

Provides the Department of Labor with enhanced authority to ensure that private, employer-sponsored group health plans and insurers fulfill their responsibility to provide mental health and substance abuse disorder benefits;

Strengthens protections to ensure workers receive behavioral health care and other benefits they have earned under their job-based plans; and, finally,

Directs the Department of Education to award grants to build a pipeline of school-based mental health services providers and increase the number of mental health professionals serving in elementary and secondary schools in high-need areas.

Simply put, the Mental Health Matters Act delivers the resources that students, workers, and families need to improve their well-being.

I want to thank the gentleman from California, Mr. DeSaulnier, for championing the bill. I also want to thank those that had sponsored bills that were included in this legislation: the gentle lady from California, Ms. Chu, the gentlelady from Massachusetts, Assistant Speaker Clark, the gentle lady from Connecticut, Ms. Hayes, the gentle lady from Oregon, Ms. Bonamici, the gentleman from Connecticut, Mr. Courtney, and the gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Norcross, for their leadership in helping to put together this legislation.

Mr. Chair, I include in the Record the following letters in support.

National Education Association,

Washington, DC, May 17, 2022.

Education and Labor Committee,

House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

Dear Representative: On behalf of our 3 million members and

the 50 million students they serve, we urge you to address

the pressing need to modernize America's public school

facilities and address the mental health crisis among

students. Specifically, during the May 18 markup session, we

urge you to support the:

Reopen and Rebuild America's Schools Act (H.R. 604)--This

bill would create a $100 billion grant program and $30

billion tax-credit bond program targeting high-poverty

schools whose facilities pose health and safety risks to

students and educators. It would also provide the means for

such schools to operate safely in accordance with Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, including

heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

America spends more on public school facilities than any part

of our infrastructure except roads and highways, yet many of

our 100,000 public school buildings are poorly equipped or in

poor physical condition-so poor it undermines student

learning. The federal government, however, remains noticeably

absent from any meaningful investment in this area.

Enhancing Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Through

Campus Planning Act (H.R. 5407)--This bill would promote

positive mental health among college students and encourage

comprehensive planning on college campuses to prevent suicide

and other mental health crises.

Campus Prevention and Recovery Services for Students Act

(H.R. 6493)--This bill would promote evidence-based

prevention and intervention strategies on college campuses.

It would also encourage integration and collaboration among

campus-based health services to address substance use and

mental health.

Mental Health Matters Act (H.R. 7780)--This bill would

promote the use of evidence-based mental health, social-

emotional, and behavioral health interventions for young

children enrolled in early education programs like Head

Start. It would also create a grant program to increase the

number of school-based mental health services providers.

Please support this vitally important legislation.

Sincerely,

Marc Egan,

Director of Government Relations,

National Education Association.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from California for his enormous leadership, and I thank the sponsors of this legislation for their hard work.

It is always baffling to me, as I have spoken on the floor of the House and served in this Congress, how colleagues can look a crisis in the face and run head-on as a locomotive, smashing the solution, speaking ill about those who need and are suffering, and that is what we are hearing today.

I am very glad to rise in support of the Mental Health Matters Act, H.R. 7780, and I hope some of my friends on the other side of the aisle will recognize that we are the problem-solvers. We are not the bomb- throwers. We are not supposed to be looking at every solution, and because it comes from somebody of a different party, we want to fight them for it.

I know what happened during the pandemic. I was out in the community doing testing and vaccinations. I talked to parents about online learning, those who didn't have access to broadband, and I knew what it did to the children.

Why? Because children view schools and their daily activities as their work. Adults go to work; children go to school. It builds their confidence, their sense of esteem, their friendships, lifelong friendships. That was all undone because of the pandemic.

Do you know what else we did? We saved lives. If we had continued in- school learning, we would have lost thousands of children and their families.

We must repair what was broken, not because we broke it but because there was a pandemic. So, this legislation provides grants to build a pipeline of school-based mental health service providers, more nurses in the school. It directs the Department of Education to award grants to State agencies to develop more school-based mental health providers. It requires institutions of higher learning to let incoming students with existing documentation have access to disability resources and creates a grant program I am most excited about, increasing student access to treatment of evidence-based trauma. They experienced trauma.

Add to that trauma the families in Uvalde that I visited on Monday who are still crying with the pain of the loss of their children.

It is clearly a bill that we should accept, and it is a bill that I support enthusiastically, Mr. Chair, the Mental Health Matters Act,

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.

Mr. Chair, I thank the ranking member for the opportunity to talk about this important legislation.

Millions of Americans experience mental health issues and struggle to find adequate care. We all agree on that in this Chamber. This is especially true among our Nation's youth due in large part to the prolonged school closures championed by the Democrats.

Republicans have continually stressed the mental health toll students have shouldered because of these school closures. But closures were led by Democrats in Democrat-run States that were allies with the teachers unions.

That is why I have also introduced H.R. 787, the Expanding Student Access to Mental Health Services Act, which would authorize State and local educational agencies to use student support and academic enrichment grants to improve mental health services available to students by allowing funds to be used for identifying and disseminating best practices for mental health first aid, emergency planning, coordination of services, and telehealth services.

I would have loved to have introduced this bill as an amendment to H.R. 7780, but, unfortunately, the Democrats did not allow any amendments to this legislation on the floor today. Rather than working in a bipartisan manner to reform our current mental health care systems, Democrats are pushing a bill that will punish employers for offering mental health benefits to their employees and incite brash litigation against benefit plan sponsors.

Let me repeat: Democrats are pushing a bill that will punish employers for offering mental health benefits to their employees and incite brash litigation against benefit plan sponsors.

To add insult to injury, H.R. 7780 recklessly spends 275 million taxpayer dollars under the guise of mental health parity enforcement, but the Department of Labor hasn't even clarified what mental health parity means.

So, we are going to pass it and then figure out what it means. We have heard that before.

How can it be enforced if no one understands what it is? How can we authorize this funding without vetting how it will be spent?

Additionally, H.R. 7780 prohibits arbitration clauses, class action waivers, and discretionary clauses from employee benefit plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, known as ERISA. In short, this bill will only benefit trial lawyers and will lead to a reduction in mental health benefits as employers will have to divert money to pay attorney's fees.

This is precisely why I tried to submit an amendment to the bill on the floor today, almost the same amendment I offered during its markup in the Education and Labor Committee, which the Democrats failed to pass.

My proposed amendment would have made the Department of Labor's ability to bring civil action against ERISA plans offering mental health benefits conditional on the Department issuing additional guidance on these vague mental health parity requirements. It would also strike the $275 million in funding that has been allocated to the Department of Labor. But, again, Democrats blocked our ability to offer amendments.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Democrats exempt unions from some of the most damaging provisions of the bill.

It is imperative that we address the mental health crisis that is plaguing our society, but we should do that by ensuring access to reliable, high-quality, and affordable mental health services.

Mr. Chair, I emphasize it is imperative that we address the mental health crisis that is plaguing our society. We all agree here in the House on that. But we should do that by ensuring access to reliable, high-quality, and affordable mental health services, not by punishing employers with undue litigation for offering these benefits to our workers.

I remain committed to finding solutions to combat the mental health problem in this country, especially for our youth. It is my hope that, in the future, as my chairman said, House Democrats will work in a bipartisan manner to address this crisis, rather than bringing damaging legislation such as H.R. 7780 to the floor.