IV 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 850 
Recognizing suicide as a public health problem and expressing support for 
designation of September as ‘‘National Suicide Prevention Month’’. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 
Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. THOMP-
SON of Pennsylvania, Mrs. BLACK, Mr. WALDEN, Mr. YOUNG of Iowa, 
Mr. CURBELO
of Florida, Mr. COSTELLO
of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
BARLETTA, Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois, Mr. GIBSON, Ms. CLARKE of New 
York, Mr. DEUTCH, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. MAT-
SUI, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 
GRIJALVA, Mr. DESANTIS, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. KELLY of Pennsyl-
vania, Mr. KNIGHT, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. JOHNSON 
of Ohio, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. NOEM, Mr. 
ROTHFUS, Mr. EMMER of Minnesota, and Mr. KATKO) submitted the fol-
lowing resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing suicide as a public health problem and express-
ing support for designation of September as ‘‘National 
Suicide Prevention Month’’. 
Whereas suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the 
United States and the second leading cause of death 
among individuals between the ages of 10 to 34; 
Whereas according to the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC), one person completes suicide every 
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12.3 minutes, resulting in nearly 43,000 suicides each 
year in the United States; 
Whereas suicide is the only leading cause of death in the 
United States that has increased every year for the past 
decade; 
Whereas it is estimated that there are over 1,100,000 suicide 
attempts each year; 
Whereas over 90 percent of the people who die by suicide 
have a diagnosable and treatable mental health condition, 
although often that condition is not recognized or treat-
ed; 
Whereas according to the CDC, suicide results in an esti-
mated $44,600,000,000 in combined medical and work 
loss costs nationally; 
Whereas the stigma associated with mental health conditions 
and suicidality works against suicide prevention by dis-
couraging persons at risk for suicide from seeking life- 
saving help and further traumatizes survivors of suicide 
loss and people with lived experience of suicide; and 
Whereas September would be an appropriate month to des-
ignate as ‘‘National Suicide Prevention Month’’ which 
overlaps World Suicide Prevention Day, September 10, 
recognized internationally and supported by the World 
Health Organization: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes suicide as a preventable national 
and State public health problem; 
(2) supports the designation of ‘‘National Sui-
cide Prevention Month’’; 
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(3) supports declaring that suicide prevention 
should be a priority; 
(4) acknowledges that no single suicide preven-
tion program or effort will be appropriate for all 
populations or communities; 
(5) promotes awareness that there is no single 
cause for suicide, and that suicide most often occurs 
when stressors exceed current coping abilities of 
someone suffering from a mental health condition; 
and 
(6) develops and implements strategies to in-
crease access to quality mental health, substance 
abuse, and suicide prevention services. 
Æ 
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