I want to make sure we have got programs that work, and the ones that work, expand them, and if they don't, eliminate them.

The Federal Government spends $125 billion a year across many agencies.

This bill does not cut 85 percent of federal funding for the programs. It does not.

We have elevated this to the level of Congressional discussion instead of keeping it in the dark shadows.

Haven't we done enough with treating people with mental illness as legal cases? We have closed our hospitals and filled our prisons.

Well, it is easy to count because the answer is zero.

There is parity for people who have private insurance in the Affordable Care Act. There is not parity with Medicaid.

I want this person to have some power and mojo.

most persons with mental illness are not violent, and tragically, are more frequently the victims of violence

For the last 20 years that SAMHSA has been around, it has gotten worse.

I have some serious concerns about some of the provisions of H.R. 3717 but I remain committed to working with you and my other colleagues on the committee as we make mental health a priority.

We want professionals involved who are looking out for the best interest of the patients all the way through.

our mental health system is broken and failing the very people who need help most

I really have no hope that some of the things that have created barriers to treatment would be addressed until Congressman Murphy introduced the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.

We will continue to listen to you. We want to work together.

If there is a point in that bill where you feel that is, will you make sure you let me know? Because I want to fix that.

This investigation is bipartisan, it is a priority of all the members of this committee.

What we have here is a failure to communicate, and the results were deadly.

Is that part of the problem that occurs too with emergency rooms in terms of getting someone to----

It has been since 1963, as you referenced, Dr. Geller, the last time this country really did some major mental health reforms.

I am committed to do this and I know Representative DeGette is too.

Other tragic cases, like Seung-Hui Cho, James Holmes, Jared Loughner, and Adam Lanza, all exhibited a record of untreated severe mental illness prior to their crimes.

Right after the December 14, 2012, elementary school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations began a review of federal programs and resources devoted to mental health and serious mental illness.

This is not a political one, this is not one that we can't reach across the aisle and work together on.

This hearing could also be titled 'Poison Pills in Your Medicine Cabinet, or Counterfeiters Deliver Deadly Drugs.'