Political Quotes

“At noon today, back in my district in Pennsylvania, there is a funeral service for Scott Bashioum, a brave policeman who died last week. His partner, James Saieva, was critically injured. Ultimately, the shooter died of suicide. Had we had a functional mental health system, lives could have been saved. Families could have been spared the mourning. The shooter's background is all too familiar: prior criminal convictions, mental health issues, and not taking medications. How many more lives will be lost before we act? This broken Federal and State approach to treating mental illness will not fix itself. It must be overhauled with the leadership of a new office of Assistant Secretary of Mental Health and Substance Use; changes to HIPAA laws that currently block families from helping, and fixing the crisis shortage of providers and hospitals. Waiting will not work. Token or superficial changes won't work. Continuing to fund the current mess won't work. If anyone thinks it does, then I suggest you get on the phone and explain this to the officer's widow and children that everything is just fine. Or the Senate can act and pass the changes we passed in H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, which the House passed with near unanimous vote in July. Lives are at stake. Time is running short; and for Officer Bashioum's family, time has run out. ____________________”