Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. President. I am thrilled to be here today as the Senate gets ready to send a proposal that I have been working on for several years now to the President for signature. The proposal, which is based on my bill, the Excellence in Mental Health Act, will improve quality, expand access, and ensure greater coordination in the delivery of mental health services through community mental health providers, creating an important leap forward in ensuring mental health parity. Specifically, this proposal establishes an eight-State demonstration program where the appropriate State agencies in the States that participate will certify that community mental health providers meet new high standards and offer a broad range of mental health services like 24-hour crisis psychiatric services. These services can then be adequately reimbursed under Medicaid just as Federally Qualified Community Health Centers are reimbursed for comprehensive primary care services. Now, I was incredibly fortunate to work closely with several of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle on this bill. But no one played a more important role than my friend from Missouri, Senator Blunt. Whether it was fighting on behalf of his constituents struggling with mental illness or working with our Republican colleagues in both the Senate and House to garner support, he was there every step of the way. I would like to yield to my colleague from Missouri for a question.…”