Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 1396 and ask for its immediate consideration. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota…
Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 1396 and ask for its immediate consideration.
Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Fischbach), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.
General Leave
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Rules Committee met and reported a rule, House Resolution 1396, providing for consideration of three measures.
First, the rule provides for consideration of H.R. 7780 under a structured rule. The rule provides 1 hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and the ranking minority member of the Committee on Education and Labor, and makes in order two amendments, and provides one motion to recommit.
Second, the rule provides for consideration of H.R. 3843 under a closed rule. The rule provides 1 hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary and a motion to recommit.
Third, the rule provides for consideration of S. 3969 under a closed rule. The rule provides 1 hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and the ranking minority member of the Committee on House Administration and a motion to commit.
The rule provides the majority leader or his designee the ability to en bloc requested roll call votes on suspension bills considered on September 28 to September 30. This authority lasts through September 30, 2022.
Lastly, the rule provides standard recess instructions from October 3 to November 11.
Mr. Speaker, an average of 18 young Americans took their own lives every
day in 2020. When children take their own lives, families and communities are left broken. This includes the community of Moorhead, Minnesota, which faced the devastating loss of 13-year old Horizon Middle School student Jacoby Blake to suicide just last year.
These sad stories happen all over this country in all of our districts. Mental health disorders, as a whole, are a common cause of death. It is estimated by CDC that 8 million deaths worldwide, which represents about 14.3 of total annual deaths, are attributable to mental disorders.
Even before the pandemic, the unmet mental and behavioral health needs of young people, students, and teachers, were a serious problem.
In talking with teachers in the district I represent in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay area, it is clear that this problem has become a crisis. Teachers, administrators, and parents, often tell me that dealing with their students and their children's and their own mental and behavioral health challenges is among the most difficult things they deal with every day.
The data, unfortunately, backs up these stories. Teachers are saying, just last year, almost half of the students experienced persistent sadness or hopelessness, and nearly 20 percent seriously considered suicide.
Think of that, Mr. Speaker. Almost one in four American children have considered suicide in the last 2 years.
At the same time, 27 percent of teachers reported symptoms of depression, which is significantly higher than average adults, and those numbers have been growing.
Despite these warning signs, over 60 percent of children experiencing major depression do not receive any form of mental health treatment, and only 22 percent of teachers reported receiving emotional support from their school, their school district, or professional staff.
This is at a time when investments in the National Institute of Mental Health is discovering exponential information about how our brains work, how they cognitively develop, and the danger to trauma.
We are not getting this information out to the people who need it the most. We know that when people get treatment, they succeed. They overcome their difficulties.
As a Nation, we are underinvesting in the resources our students need, and our communities, our parents, our teachers, our administrators, to stay healthy, to succeed in school, and retain talented teachers and professionals and make sure that future Americans grow and are ready to carry on the legacy that we have inherited from former generations.
While the School Social Work Association of America recommends a ratio of 250 students per social worker, not one single State meets this recommended ratio. The national average is 2,106 of students per social worker; 2,106, as opposed to the recommended average of 250.
I am proud this week that the House is advancing my legislation, the Mental Health Matters Act, to confront this crisis head on, to give communities and parents and teachers the resources they need.
This bill was drafted with the needs of students, parents, and teachers in mind and is the product of months of careful consideration about how Congress can best respond to our Nation's mental health crisis.
This legislation before us would expand the school-based mental and behavioral health workforce, promote accessibility for students with disabilities, provide resources to address trauma in young children, and strengthen the ability of Americans with employer-sponsored insurance to access mental health and substance use disorder treatments they are statutorily entitled to.
From my discussions with mental health professionals over the years and research that has informed this legislation, it is clear that failure to address these challenges at a young age can harm performance at school and work and lead to ever worsening mental and behavioral health outcomes later in life for individuals and for our country.
Anxiety and reading disorders co-occur in approximately 25 percent of students. For individuals whose reading challenges persist into adulthood, there is a greater likelihood of depression, low self- esteem, and difficulty in social functioning.
To break this cycle, a provision I authored would help Head Start agencies implement evidence-based interventions to improve the health of children and staff.
While investment is needed for greater access to school-based mental health and behavioral health, individuals and families with employer- sponsored health insurance must also have robust access to treatment outside of school.
Some insurers, unfortunately, have placed arbitrary coverage limits on mental and behavioral health care, making it hard for patients to access treatment in the same way they would for physical ailments. This legislation makes great strides in the fight for mental health parity so that families can focus more on staying healthy and less on battling insurers for coverage.
Mental health and suicide prevention are deeply personal issues for me, having lost my own father to suicide almost 34 years ago. In advancing this bill, it is my hope that we can prevent many families from having to experience what mine went through several decades ago.
Also included in today's rule is the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act. This bipartisan bill would increase the filing fee that large corporations must pay the Federal Trade Commission in order to conduct a merger.
A recent surge in merger filings has placed a strain on the FTC's resources, and updating the fee schedule will help the agency cope with its many demands.
Finally, we will also consider the PAVA Program Inclusion Act under the rule. This Senate-passed legislation would help ensure that all programs designed to help voters with disabilities can access Federal funds regardless of their location.
Unfortunately, programs designed to help individuals with disabilities vote who are Native Americans or who live in the Northern Mariana Islands are not currently able to access the Protection and Advocacy for Voting Access funds in the same manner as other Federal programs. The PAVA Program Inclusion Act will fix this injustice, and passing this bill will send it to President Biden's desk to be signed into law.
Mr. Speaker, we have a great opportunity this week to make transformative investments in our Nation's future and our mental health and pass other commonsense legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I appreciate the comments from my friend.
Just on the mental health part, we did have hearings in the subcommittee I am proud to chair, the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions. We have had ongoing discussions with both the ranking member of that subcommittee and the ranking member of the full committee, so I think this is to be continued.
I would say on the mental health part of the rule, the urgency is right now, as I outlined in my opening comments. It is something we will have to continue to work with and hopefully will in good faith because all of these issues are on mental health, particularly for young people. I have agreed in my conversations with my friends, the ranking members, Ms. Foxx and Mr. Allen, and I look forward to continuing that. I think there is a real urgency on that.
On the trust, I respectfully disagree. Given the level of inequality in this country right now, I think it is really important that we support competition in the marketplace, and the Federal Trade Commission needs the resources to make sure that that happens.
The PAVA bill obviously has bipartisan support.
On all of these bills, I am anxious to get them off the floor today as a rule and look forward to seeing the continued debate tomorrow on the specific bills and the outcome of those bills.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I always say that I respect and admire my friend from the San Francisco Bay Area. Sometimes, we disagree.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the names and correspondence of several organizations I will mention just briefly. These are 40 different organizations that have written to Congress in support of H.R. 3843, the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act.
Amongst them are Accountable Tech, American Trust Institute, American Family Voices, Artist Rights Alliance, Center for Democracy and Technology, Center for Digital Democracy, Common Sense Media, Consumer Action, Consumer Reports, Free Press Action, Open Markets Institute, Our Revolution, the Service Employees International Union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the Writers Guild of America West, amongst others. We have covered a broad group here.
These organizations include:
Accountable Tech, American Antitrust Institute, American
Economic Liberties Project, American Family Voices, Artist
Rights Alliance, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-
CIO, Athena, Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment,
Center for Democracy & Technology, Center for Digital
Democracy, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Common
Sense Media, Consumer Action.
Consumer Reports, Demand Progress, Demos, Economic Security
Project Action, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC),
Farm Action Fund, Fight for the Future, Free Press Action,
Future of Music Coalition, Institute for Local Self-Reliance,
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, National Grocers
Association, New York Communities for Change.
Open Markets Institute, Our Revolution, P Street/
Progressive Change Campaign Committee, People's Parity
Project, Public Citizen, Public Knowledge, Revolving Door
Project, Service Employees International Union, The
Democratic Coalition, The Tech Oversight Project, UltraViolet
Action, Writers Guild of America West (WGAW).
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record The Washington Post article titled: ``U.S. arrests along Mexico border top 2 million a year for first time.''
[From the Washington Post, Sept. 19, 2022]
U.S. Arrests Along Mexico Border Top 2 Million a Year for First Time
(By Nick Miroff)
U.S. authorities made more than 2 million immigration
arrests along the southern border during the past 11 months,
marking the first time annual enforcement statistics have
exceeded that threshold, according to figures provided by
senior Biden administration officials Monday.
In August, U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained
203,598 migrants crossing from Mexico, the latest figures
show, putting authorities on pace to tally more than 2.3
million arrests during the government's 2022 fiscal year,
which ends Sept. 30. The total, which includes some people
apprehended more than once, far exceeds last year's record of
more than 1.7 million arrests.
The historic migration wave this year has been driven by
soaring numbers of border-crossers from outside Mexico and
Central America, the two largest traditional sources of
illegal entries. Migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba
accounted for more than one-third of those taken into custody
along the southern border last month, according to Customs
and Border Protection, a 175 percent increase over August
2021.
Biden administration officials blamed the governments of
those countries, whose strained relations with Washington
severely limit the ability of authorities to send them
deportees. Many of the migrants apply for humanitarian
protection in the United States and tend to have strong
asylum claims.
``Failing communist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and
Cuba are driving a new wave of migration across the Western
Hemisphere, including the recent increase in encounters at
the southwest U.S. border,'' Customs and Border Protection
Commissioner Chris Magnus, said in a statement. ``Those
fleeing repressive regimes pose significant challenges for
processing and removal,'' he said, using the official term
for deportations.
Biden administration officials continue to insist they are
building a ``safe, orderly and humane'' immigration system
while blaming the Trump administration for ``dismantling''
channels for legal migration.
Critics say Biden administration officials have fallen far
short of meeting their refugee admission goals, and the
number of migrants who have died this year attempting to
cross into the United States is at an all-time high. Scores
have drowned in the Rio Grande in recent months, and 53 were
killed in June when smugglers in Texas packed migrants into a
sweltering tractor trailer with a failing cooling system.
Republican lawmakers blame the record number of crossings
on President Biden's reversal of Trump administration border
policies. Over the past several months, the Republican
governors of Texas and Arizona have sent more than 10,000
migrants on buses to Washington, New York and other northern
destinations to put pressure on Democrats by straining relief
services in their jurisdictions.
Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) shipped a
planeload of Venezuelans to Martha's Vineyard in
Massachusetts, transporting them to a wealthy island enclave
with limited services for migrants.
Biden administration officials also say the high border
numbers are distorted by repeat crossing attempts by migrants
who have been previously arrested. Last month, 22 percent of
those taken into custody had a prior arrest in the previous
12 months, the latest figures show.
One factor Biden administration officials blame for the
repeat crossings is the Title 42 emergency public health
policy, implemented at the start of the pandemic, that allows
U.S. agents to rapidly ''expel'' some migrants back to
Mexico. The Biden administration's attempt to phase out Title
42 was blocked in federal court last spring.
The latest figures show the percentage of border-crossers
expelled under Title 42 has been falling and remains far
lower under Biden than President Donald Trump. About 36
percent of the 203,598 migrant ``encounters'' resulted in an
expulsion last month, down from 83 percent when Biden took
office.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), said Monday that the strain on
Democratic-run cities will force the administration to see
the border surge as a crisis. ``Maybe, just maybe, they'll
see that what's happening along our border every day is
dangerous, unsustainable, and a problem that we need to work
on together to address,'' he said.
Biden officials defending the administration's border
record pointed to a decline in the number of Mexican and
Central American migrants arrested over the past three months
as a sign their enforcement policies are having some success,
including efforts to target smuggling organizations in Latin
America.
Mr. Speaker, the numbers don't lie. If the annual number of apprehensions at the border is set to break records, that means fewer migrants are making it into the country. The notion that Biden is doing nothing is just absolutely not true.
Just secondarily, my good friend and co-chair of the Cancer Survivors Caucus from Georgia, we have a wonderful relationship. On this I agree, but I disagree on the process. As somebody who has spent a lot of time on opioid abuse, and we know that in our experience with people like myself who survived cancer, particularly more painful ones, that is a product when used properly that can bring relief to people, but we know about the abuse. As you said, a lot of that led to fentanyl.
We are against illegal drugs hurting Americans. We want to support effective remedies to that. I would say that one of the most effective things we can do--having had a long experience personally and professionally in behavioral health--is to invest in the kind of bill we have in front of us--with all due respect, with my name on it--to get upstream, so we make sure that people have the resources, evidence- based resources. So it is not as subjective to get the services they need to protect themselves in an, unfortunately, far-too-free market when it comes to the abuse of both legal and illegal drugs.
With all due respect, again, I am happy to work with the gentleman, but I really think, from my perspective, it is an argument to engage in the investment in behavioral health and mental health services. I will still work with the gentleman to make sure people aren't bringing these awful products across our border.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would say in brief response that I have great respect, obviously, for our emergency responders. I appreciate what the gentlewoman's husband does for a living and what they have to go through. We all agree that we have to support thoughtful oversight to stop these drugs from getting into the hands of people who it can do great damage.
I have been to the border multiple times, both as a Member of Congress and as a member of the California State Legislature. We have a problem, and it has been a problem through Republican administrations and Democratic administrations, both in State houses in the border States and here in Washington, D.C.
We are not for open borders. We want to stop people being harmed by illicit drugs. So the idea that we are not, I would respectfully say that is not accurate.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I will read a few numbers, particularly on the part of the rule that is the Mental Health Matters Act, which I am proud to be the author of with Chairman Scott.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages of Americans 10 to 24; second for 12 to 18.
For adolescents, depression, substance abuse, and suicide are extremely important concerns--an epidemic, I would say--among adolescents age 12 to 17.
In 2018 to 2019, 15.1 percent of young Americans had major depressive episodes; 36.7 had persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness; 4.1 had a substance abuse disorder; 18 percent seriously considered attempting suicide; 16 percent made a suicide plan; and 10 percent attempted suicide.
Madam Speaker, 10 percent of America's young people have attempted suicide; 2.5 percent made suicide attempts requiring medical treatment.
For all those reasons, the part of the rule that is the Mental Health Matters Act is extremely important to this country. Is it perfect? Of course not, from every perspective of 535 Members of Congress and 435 Members of the House. But the need is too urgent, in my view, to wait. That is why it is so important that not just this rule passes but the bill is passed.
We need to put resources in the FTC with the most income inequality and consolidation of wealth through mergers. Not always in our best interest. It is important that the FTC has the resources it needs to actually enforce the statutes as they currently have.
Madam Speaker, we need to help Americans, and specifically teachers and students, get back to doing what they do best, teaching and learning.
The legislation before us on the rule will help provide the resources to improve mental health outcomes and educational attainment.
Madam Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the rule and the previous question.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.