On the recordSeptember 7, 2016
As September is National Suicide Prevention Month, I am proud to join my colleague, Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, in introducing a resolution to address this silent epidemic which took the lives of near 43,000 Americans last year. Last month, the CDC reported the suicide rate has increased across nearly all age groups. And over the past decade, while mortality rates decreased for homicide, AIDS, heart disease, stroke, auto accidents, and cancer, the overall suicide rate increased again for the 11th time in 14 years. Last July, the House passed H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, by a near-unanimous vote of 422-2. This month alone, 826 Americans have died by suicide, and about 7,434 have died since we passed this bill. We fervently hope the Senate does not delay in passing this bill. Lives hang in the balance. Every 12 minutes a person dies of suicide. Every 13 minutes a family mourns a lost life who will never go home again. The Senate needs to pass this bill before they go home again themselves. Where there is help, there is hope. ____________________
