IV

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. RES. 596

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with respect to the

seriousness of the national problems associated with mental illness and

with respect to congressional intent to establish a ‘‘Mental Illness Working Group’’.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 13, 1998

Mrs. ROUKEMA (for herself and Ms. KAPTUR) submitted the following

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with

respect to the seriousness of the national problems associated with mental illness and with respect to congressional intent to establish a ‘‘Mental Illness Working

Group’’.

Whereas mental illness is not a character flaw, but a tangible

and treatable illness as real as epilepsy, hypertension,

cancer or heart disease;

Whereas great strides are being made in the diagnosis and

treatment of mental illness;

Whereas there remain gaping holes in the network of Federal, State and local services designed to identify and

treat people with mental illness;
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Whereas millions of Americans suffer from the debilitating

effects of serious mental illnesses;

Whereas, more and more, America is witnessing violence resulting from untreated mental illness and a failed policy

of deinstitutionalization without any proper community

follow-up;

Whereas, all too often, we hear of situations where an individual with a mental disorder has not received adequate

treatment and has reacted violently and endangered himself or herself, or, tragically, taken the life of another;

Whereas such a situation occurred at the Capitol when officer

Jacob J. Chestnut and Special Agent John Gibson tragically lost their lives;

Whereas last year alone, over 1,000 homicides were directly

attributable to improperly treated mental illnesses;

Whereas far too many lives are being lost because our country and our communities are not providing early diagnosis, adequate protection, or treatment to individuals

with mental illnesses;

Whereas, although the treatment of the mentally ill is primarily a function of the separate States, there is a significant sharing of costs between the Federal Government

and the States for such treatment, and there are some

joint responsibilities of the Federal Government and the

States for such treatment;

Whereas Federal issues involving the mentally ill fall under

the jurisdiction of several committee jurisdictions, including Education and the Workforce, Ways and Means, Judiciary, Commerce, Veterans’ Affairs, Appropriations and

Banking through such issues as Medicaid/SSI, housing,
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nondiscrimination, prison care, health coverage, the mental health block grants;

Whereas overlapping legal and administrative authorities with

respect to the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness

make reform of the current system very complex;

Whereas it is necessary to conduct an in-depth analysis of the

effectiveness of mental health block grants and of the

Federal prison costs attributed to mental illness; and

Whereas it is also necessary to conduct an in-depth analysis

of issues relating to reciprocity between the States: Now,

therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that there should be established a ‘‘Mental Ill3 ness Working Group’’ that would be responsible for prob4 ing the serious national dimensions of the mentally ill, in5 cluding determining the extent to which individuals with

6 mental illness are not receiving proper treatment and the

7 extent to which violence is resulting from the lack of such

8 treatment and prepare a report to the Committees of juris9 diction outlining options for more effective diagnosis and

10 treatment.

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