Political Quotes

“Earlier today, the House observed a moment of silence to remember the loss of two heroes who gave their lives to protect others. The deaths of Detective John Gibson and Officer Jacob Chestnut are heartbreaking. An additional tragedy, however, is that this House has not taken action to prevent such incidents from happening again. The man who took the lives of the two police officers had paranoid schizophrenia and had previously been committed to a psychiatric hospital after threatening to kill the President, a hospital technician, and his neighbors. His paranoid delusions told him to attack the Capitol. Weston cycled in and out of emergency rooms as he refused medication and followup treatment. We know that the perpetrator had a brain disease, but our broken mental health system prevents others like Weston from being treated. The sad truth of this situation is it won't be long before we read in the headlines of another preventable tragedy. The memories of Detective Gibson and Officer Chestnut deserve our respect, their families our gratitude, but all families deserve our action. We must pass H.R. 3717, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, because where there is no help there is no hope. ____________________”