IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 292
Expressing the sense of Congress that Congress should adopt and implement 
the goals and recommendations provided by the President’s New Freedom 
Commission on Mental Health through legislation or other appropriate 
action to help ensure affordable, accessible, and high quality mental 
health care for all Americans. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 2, 2003
Mrs. NAPOLITANO submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that Congress should adopt 
and implement the goals and recommendations provided 
by the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental 
Health through legislation or other appropriate action 
to help ensure affordable, accessible, and high quality 
mental health care for all Americans.
Whereas the National Institute of Mental Health has found 
that 22.1 percent of Americans ages 18 and older suffer 
from a diagnosable mental disorder each year; 
Whereas the National Institute of Mental Health has found 
that 4 of the 10 leading causes of disability in the United 
States are mental disorders;
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Whereas approximately 90 percent of the 30,000 people who 
commit suicide in the United States every year have a 
diagnosable mental disorder; 
Whereas the President created the New Freedom Commission 
on Mental Health on April 29, 2002 to study the mental 
health service delivery system and make recommendations 
to enable people with serious mental illness to live, work, 
learn, and participate fully in their communities; 
Whereas the Commission identified 6 goals to begin trans-
forming mental health care in America: (1) to help all 
Americans understand that mental health is essential to 
overall health; (2) to make mental health care consumer 
and family driven; (3) to eliminate disparities in mental 
health services; (4) to make early mental illness screen-
ing, assessment, and referral to services common prac-
tice; (5) to ensure delivery of excellent mental health care 
and acceleration of mental illness research; and (6) to use 
technology to access mental health care and information; 
Whereas the Commission has made a number of rec-
ommendations to Congress to implement its goals; 
Whereas the Commission has recommended that to imple-
ment its first goal of helping Americans understand that 
mental health is essential to overall health, Congress 
should address mental health with the same urgency as 
physical health, as well as develop and advance a national 
strategy for suicide prevention and a national campaign 
aimed at reducing the stigma attached to seeking mental 
health care; 
Whereas the Commission has recommended that to imple-
ment its second goal of making mental health care con-
sumer and family driven, Congress should support the
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practice of developing an individualized plan of care for 
every individual with a serious mental illness, encourage 
mental health care providers to involve consumers and 
families in the mental health system and the path toward 
recovery, take action to realign relevant Federal pro-
grams to improve consumer access and accountability for 
mental health services, support the States in developing 
extensive, coordinated mental health systems, and encour-
age the protection and enhancement of the rights of peo-
ple with mental illness; 
Whereas the Commission has recommended that to imple-
ment its third goal of eliminating disparities in mental 
health services, Congress should support improved access 
to quality care in rural and geographically remote areas 
and ensure that mental health care providers are trained 
to work effectively with culturally diverse populations; 
Whereas the Commission has recommended that to imple-
ment its fourth goal of making early screening, assess-
ment, and treatment of mental illness a common practice, 
Congress should help promote children’s mental health by 
improving and expanding school mental health programs, 
encouraging screenings for mental disorders (including 
co-occurring substance use disorders) in primary health 
care, and supporting appropriate referral to treatment 
and integrated treatment strategies; 
Whereas the Commission has recommended that to imple-
ment its fifth goal of ensuring the delivery of excellent 
mental health care and the acceleration of mental illness 
research, Congress should encourage the acceleration of 
research to promote recovery, cures, and prevention, the 
advance of evidence-based practices using dissemination 
and demonstration projects, the improvement and expan-
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sion of the workforce which provides these services, and 
the development of a base of knowledge in understudied 
areas; 
Whereas the Commission has recommended that to imple-
ment its sixth goal of using technology to access mental 
health care and information, Congress should encourage 
the use of health technology and telehealth to improve ac-
cess and coordination of mental health care, particularly 
for Americans in remote areas or in underserved popu-
lations, and the development and implementation of inte-
grated electronic health records; and 
Whereas these goals are interrelated and must be pursued to-
gether as quickly as possible: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that Con-
gress should act immediately to adopt and implement the 
goals and recommendations highlighted in the final report 
of the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental 
Health, ‘‘Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental 
Health Care in America’’ through legislation or other ap-
propriate action to help ensure affordable, accessible, and 
high quality mental health care for all Americans.
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