Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I want to restate the problems that exist at SAMHSA. The General Accounting Office, during the multiyear investigation of the subcommittee which I chair, the Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, came back and said that 80 percent of the grants for SAMHSA are not evidence-based. There is a serious problem in that agency. Instead, they funded absurd programs, such as making fruit smoothies; and a $400,000 website for toddlers to sing-along songs, which they told us was about prevention. We asked: What are you preventing? They said: We will get back to you on that. They also had workshops on getting in touch with your inner animal, making masks and collages; interpretive dancing; a website and crisis line for people in the New England area when they had heavy a snowfall so they could call in. They have workshops on how to tell people to get off their medications. They had a $25,000 oil painting for their office, which graces their hall, of people sitting on a rock, which gives them mental health awareness. I might add, the only thing I am aware of is a total waste of money. And, of course, an alternative conference, which continues this year as well, spending, I think, $150,000 or so to hold their conference at the luxurious Boston Park Plaza Hotel. I don't want to hear from that agency that they don't have money. This particular program redirects them so they get reset in terms of evidence-based care.…”