Lawmakers push for mental health reform

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) today urged Congress to move forward on mental health reform. At a National Journal event on improving access to mental health care and reducing incarceration, Sen. Murphy said momentum was building for reform, citing a scheduled markup of the Mental Health Reform Act (S. 1945) later this month by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Introduced this summer by Murphy and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the bill would create an assistant secretary within the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate federal mental health services, a committee to coordinate research and treatment for serious mental illness, and a national policy laboratory to provide innovation grants, among other changes. Reps. Murphy and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) introduced a separate bill (H.R. 2646) earlier this year.