Chris Stewart: “I thank my colleague from Montana, as well as others who have supported this. Mr. Speaker, the sad reality is, here in…”

“I thank my colleague from Montana, as well as others who have supported this. Mr. Speaker, the sad reality is, here in the United States, we are in the middle of a tragedy. It is a tragedy that is particularly painful for our youth and our veterans, as so many of them have experienced suicide and left tragedies behind for them and their families. If you are in the middle of a mental health crisis and you need help, if you are worried about one of your children, your son, a daughter, a roommate, a friend, you need to know who to call. But the problem is, no one knows the number. The second problem is, the number is different. If you are calling in Salt Lake City, it is a different number than if you are calling in New York or if you are calling from California or even another part of Utah. This fixes it, which is why I rise to support the bill, S. 2661. Mr. Speaker, I am so pleased, working with, again, my colleagues, that after 4 years of working on designating this three-digit number-- legislation which, by the way, was based on something that we did in Utah about 4 years ago--we are finally going to pass this bill to do just that. Imagine this: Every 11 minutes, somebody in the United States commits suicide--not attempts suicide, actually commits suicide--leaving behind devastation of broken hearts and broken families and friends.…”