Washington Roundup November 7, 2003
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Congress Extends Current Funding of Government Programs; Final Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Bill Continues to Move Slowly Towards Final Passage

 

This week, Congress passed and President Bush signed a Continuing Resolution, H.J. Res. 76, that extends funding for current government programs through November 21, 2003.  This resolution includes funding for alcohol and drug treatment, prevention, education and research programs. 

 

The FY 2004 appropriations process for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill that funds alcohol and drug treatment, prevention and education programs continues to move slowly towards final passage.  Members of the Conference Committee are discussing key issues and differences between the House and Senate bills, including the President’s “Access to Recovery,” or drug treatment voucher program that received $100 million of funding in the House bill and no funding in the Senate bill.  The Administration is advocating for full funding, or $200 million, for the program in FY 2004. 

 

Congress is still planning to pass the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill as a separate bill and not as part of a larger “omnibus” appropriations legislative package that would include funding for several outstanding appropriations bills.  Congressional negotiators may be able to conclude their work on the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill soon enough so that the bill would go to the House and Senate floor for final passage before Thanksgiving.  Congressional staff and Democratic leadership have stated that Congress may be in session during the month of December; however, at this point, it is unclear what the Congressional schedule will be.       

 

 

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Holds Hearing on President’s Mental Health Commission Report: Administration and Community Witnesses Testify About the Need to Expand and Improve Mental Health Treatment Nationwide

 

This week, Chairman Mike DeWine (R-OH) and Ranking Member Ted Kennedy (D-MA) of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services held a hearing to review the findings of the final report of President Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.  The Commission released its final report this July as a part of the anniversary celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

In their remarks, Chairman DeWine and Ranking Member Kennedy both reaffirmed the importance of improving mental health and the need to work with federal and state governments as well as with national advocacy and community-based organizations, families and consumers to assess how to address many of the recommendations in the Commission’s report.  Additionally, Senator Kennedy and several other committee members, including Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Hillary Clinton (D-NY), stated the urgent need for mental health parity and urged for passage of the pending Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act.

Appearing as witnesses at the hearing were Stephen Mayberg, Mental Health Commissioner for California, representing the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, and Charles Curie, Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the federal agency in charge of organizing the federal government’s response to the Commission’s recommendations.  Dr. Mayberg reiterated many of the report’s recommendations, including increasing the priority of providing citizens with access to mental health treatment; shifting care toward consumer- and family-driven services; focusing the system more on early intervention and disability prevention; providing support for mentally ill adults to work; closing the gap between science and services; expanding access to care for minority populations and rural areas; and increasing the use of technology to expand access to services.  Administrator Curie stated in his testimony that SAMHSA was in the process of developing an action agenda for implementing the Commission’s recommendations and that it would be able to share this agenda by the end of the year. 

Other witnesses who testified included Dr. Paul Appelbaum from the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry; Michael Faenza, President and CEO of the National Mental Health Association; Carlos Brandenburg, Ph.D., ../testimony/111_tes.htmlAdministrator of the Nevada Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services; and Ann Buchanan, a mother of a mentally ill son.  These witnesses uniformly echoed the need for dramatic reform of the mental health system and urged that this reform include more consumer- and family-focused services.