|
Congress to Act Soon on
$20 Billion Emergency-Response Funding Bill
Advocacy Needed: Administration
Fails to Propose Any Mental Health Funding
October 29, 2001
Background:
In response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, Congress passed
and the President signed legislation providing $40 billion for recovery
efforts, national security purposes, and the criminal investigation. This
bill provided an immediate appropriation of $10 billion over which the
Administration had complete discretion. The second $10 billion could be
accessed only after the White House had submitted a plan for its use to
Congress. The final $20 billion will only be available after Congress has
provided it through the regular FY 2002 appropriations process.
Out of the first $10 billion, the Administration provided $650,000 for
mental health needs assessments and $6.1 million for substance abuse
prevention and treatment to the following eight States and the District of
Columbia: New York, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.
An additional $20 million will be provided out of the second $10 billion
to those same eight States for addressing mental health and substance
abuse needs as those States see fit. The Center for Mental Health Services
will receive an additional $944,000 to develop a public awareness campaign
to counteract the risk of mental health and/or substance abuse problems as
a result of the recent spate of bioterrorism.
However, the President's proposal for how the final $20 billion should be
appropriated makes no mention of mental health or substance abuse needs.
Problem:
To date, Federal emergency efforts to address mental health needs have
been largely limited to providing crisis counseling to individuals in
States in which the terrorist attacks occurred. Crisis counseling does not
encompass formal mental health services such as medications, office-based
therapy, diagnostic services, psychiatric treatment or substance abuse
treatment, many of which may be necessary given the severity of trauma
caused by the recent attack. We are not aware of any Federal support being
provided to
help States or communities (outside of those eight States most directly
affected) meet mental health needs, including the needs of tens of
thousands who have lost their jobs and consequently their health
insurance, in industries affected by the disaster and its aftermath.
Action:
NMHA has sent a
letter to all of the members of the House and Senate Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Education Appropriation Subcommittees. We need your
help in getting our message out to our Nation's lawmakers. Please use this
letter to e-mail your Senators and Members of Congress and call their
local district offices to urge that they to fight for increased mental
health funding in the emergency supplemental appropriations measure.
The Administration's failure to propose any funding to meet mental health
needs, which have arisen as a result of these terrorist attacks, makes it
critical that we mount strong grassroots advocacy.
Call:
The local district offices for your Senators and Member of Congress. Phone
numbers for their district offices should be listed in your local yellow
pages. (Their D.C. offices may still be closed due to recent incidents of
bioterrorism.)
E-mail:
Go to http://www.congress.org, enter
your zip code, click on "e-mail" under the Member you wish to
contact, and a form will appear.
If you have any questions regarding this issue, please contact Kirsten
Beronio at 202-675-8413 or c
or Ralph Ibson at 202-675-8388 or ribson@nmha.org
in the NMHA Government Affairs Department.
|
