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Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I send a second-degree amendment to the desk.
[Page: S12184] GPO's PDF
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the clerk will report.
The legislative assistant read as follows:
The Senator from Minnesota [Mr. WELLSTONE] proposes an amendment numbered 2271 to amendment No. 1880.
Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
Beginning on page 1 of the amendment, strike ``$70,000,000'' and all that follows and insert the following: ``$358,816,000 shall be made available to carry out the mental health services block grant under subpart I of part B of title XIX of the Public Health Service Act ($48,816,000 of which shall become available on October 1, 2000 and remain available through September 30, 2001), and''.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be 1 hour of debate equally divided in relation to the Wellstone amendment on mental health prior to a motion to table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, it is not anticipated that this side of the aisle will use very much time. So Senators should be prepared to vote perhaps even in advance of 5 o'clock.
Mr. WELLSTONE. I say to my colleague, I will be pleased to use his additional time if he wants me to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I will shortly outline my amendment, which is a very important amendment dealing with community block grant mental health services. I want to start out, however, in a very personal way.
Mr. President, the Governor of Minnesota, Governor Ventura, in an interview with Playboy magazine said that he did not read books by Ernest Hemingway because the writer killed himself. And he want on to say:
I've seen too many people fight for their lives. I have no respect for anyone who would kill himself. If you're a feeble, weak-minded person to begin with, I don't have time for you.
At Harvard University yesterday Governor Ventura was asked about his remarks, that suicide was for the feeble, weak-minded. And he said:
I do upwards of 25 interviews a week ..... over 1,000 interviews a year. I'm human. You got good days; you got bad days.
He continued:
I don't have sympathy, is what my feelings are on suicide. ..... To me it's something that doesn't have to happen if people take a positive attitude on life like I do.
Today the Surgeon General, David Satcher, gave a very eloquent speech. Today is the ninth annual National Depression Screening Day. He pointed out that suicide is the ninth leading cause of mortality in the United States, responsible for 31,000 deaths.
Mr. President, 85 Americans die every day having taken their lives. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for children ages 10 to 14.
I want to respond to these remarks by Governor Ventura because I have devoted so much of my work as a Senator in the mental health area, with Senator DOMENICI, my colleague from New Mexico, who is a Republican, and Senator REID from Nevada.
First of all, let me acknowledge the work of Al and Mary Kluesner. The Kluesners are wonderful people. Al and Mary Kluesner started an organization 10 years ago called SA/VE. This is an organization made up of family members. Many of them are parents who have lost their children. Al and Mary Kluesner have lost two children to suicide.
The Governor of Minnesota and all Americans need to understand that suicide is directly linked to mental illness. The form of mental illness we are talking about is severe depression. When people struggle with severe depression, they lose hope.
I want the Governor of Minnesota to understand that this mental illness is not a moral failing. I want Governor Ventura to understand that all these families that have gone through so much pain need support. They do not need ridicule.
Today is the ninth annual National Depression Screening Day. This is when communities set up free confidential screening opportunities for people to talk privately with mental health professionals, receive educational material about the symptoms and treatment for depression and, when appropriate obtain referrals for care.
Clinical depression is one of the most common illnesses. It affects more than 19 million Americans a year. These educational programs are to be commended. But if we do not have the resources to fund proper treatment for mental health illnesses, then all of this research and all of this education and all of this information may be for nothing.
The clinical care that is needed may never reach those who need it the most.
Why? Because they cannot afford it.
Why? Because we do not have fairness--parity --in mental health coverage.
Why? Because we drastically underfund public programs for mental health care, such as the mental health block grant program.
Why? Because of problems with mental health services provided through the Medicaid programs, which represent 19 percent of nationwide mental health care.
Why? Because it seems we would rather incarcerate children with mental illness than to provide community treatment programs that are so desperately needed.
Why? Because we do not provide coverage for medication in so many health care programs.
Untreated mental illness so often leads to tragedy such as suicide. We know from today's congressional briefing on depression and the elderly an outstanding fact: The highest suicide rate--often the result of undiagnosed and untreated depression--is for white men over 85 years old--65.3 per 100,000 persons.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people ages 15 to 24.
We need to increase funding for mental health services, not decrease it.
This amendment, which I will summarize in a moment----
Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield for a question?
Mr. WELLSTONE. I am pleased to yield for a question.
Mr. REID. I have heard with--I do not know if the word is ``horror'' but certainly with disgust the statements made by the Governor of Minnesota. The Senator knows--because we have spoken--that 31,000 people each year kill themselves. The Senator knows that; isn't that true?
Mr. WELLSTONE. That is true.
Mr. REID. Isn't it true that during the time we are going to be debating this very important matter, there will be four people in our country during this hour's period of time who will kill themselves?
Mr. WELLSTONE. That is correct.
Mr. REID. And for the Governor of the State of Minnesota to say--I am sorry to report--that these people in effect deserve to die because they have problems, is not understandable. The Senator understands. We have held hearings in the Senate dealing with suicide. We have heard from academics, we have heard from people from the entertainment industry, we have heard from people from all walks of life because suicide does not discriminate among people; it does not affect only one age group; it does not affect one economic group more than others; it affects everyone.
It is true, is it not, I say to my friend, that the vast majority of suicides could be avoided if that person had some counseling and many times a little bit of medication? Isn't that true?
Mr. WELLSTONE. My colleague from Nevada is absolutely correct. That is why I had to respond to these comments by Governor Ventura from Minnesota. This is an illness. This is an illness that affects many Americans. This is an illness that has led to such pain for so many families.
I mentioned Al and Mary Kluesner from Minnesota who started an organization. Sheila and I have been to their gatherings, I say to my colleague, for the last 3 years. Hundreds of people come, including parents who have lost their children to suicide. They do not need ridicule. We need to understand this is not a moral failing. This is an illness. Suicide is the result of this illness. With treatment, we can prevent these deaths.
[Page: S12185] GPO's PDF
Mr. REID. I will make one last statement, if I could.
The illness that leads people to commit suicide, it is no different than someone that has tuberculosis, someone who has cancer; isn't that true?
Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I say to my colleague from Nevada, he is absolutely correct. The research over especially this last decade--which has focused on brain diseases--over and over and over again points out that these diseases are comparable to physical illnesses. They are diagnosable and they are treatable, but the big challenge for us is to overcome the stigma, to overcome the discrimination.
That is why I am so outraged by these remarks by Governor Ventura.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I very much appreciate, admire, and respect the Senator from Minnesota, who is on the floor now talking about these issues. We need to talk more about them.
We don't know why people kill themselves. We have some understanding, but we need to study this. Thank goodness the Centers for Disease Control is now studying suicide. The Federal Government, for the first time, has directed research to determine why 31,000 Americans, young and old, kill themselves every year.
Again, I appreciate very much the Senator from Minnesota having the courage to talk about an issue some people refuse to acknowledge.
Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank my colleague.
I point out to the Senator from Nevada, this is the fourth leading cause of death among children, ages 10 to 14, suicide, among white males. There are other populations as well. The rate of suicide among African American males, ages 15 to 19, has increased 105 percent between 1980 and 1996.
Senator SPECTER and Senator HARKIN have done a yeoman's job of getting more support for these mental health services. What I am trying to do is take this mental health performance partnership block grant program, which supports comprehensive community-based treatment for adults with serious mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbances, back to the level of funding the President requested. This is administered through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, SAMHSA.
I say to my colleague from Pennsylvania, if I could have 5 more minutes to summarize this, we want to go to a voice vote, and this amendment will be accepted. I will be honored.
Let me simply talk about the services that are so important. This is funding for communities for programs that include treatment, rehabilitation, case management, outreach for homeless individuals, children's mental health services, and community-based treatment services that have everything in the world to do with providing treatment to people and enabling people to live lives with as much independence and dignity as possible.
Right now the mental health block grant is funded at $310 million. That is a small amount compared to the tremendous need. This amendment would add $50 million. With this amendment, we could provide support for some important community services that would make a tremendous amount of difference.
I went over some of the gaps earlier. My colleague from Pennsylvania, who is managing this bill on the Republican side, said there is an indication to accept this amendment. I will be very pleased. I know colleagues want to move this along.
I say to my Republican colleagues and Democratic colleagues, I appreciate the support for this. I know Senator SPECTER is committed to this. I know Senator HARKIN is as well. I would like to have this amendment approved. I would like to see the additional resources. This is an extremely important program. We have to do a lot better in this area. We can do it at the community level, but for those adults--and we are, in particular, talking about adults with serious mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbances--all too often, they wind up out on the streets or they wind up in prison or they wind up not receiving the care. So much of this illness is diagnosable. So much of it is treatable. There are so many ways we can help people.
I think accepting this amendment and making sure we can keep this level of funding as we go to the conference committee would be extremely important.
Mr. President, I reserve the remainder of my time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, we have been reviewing this amendment for additional funding for the mental health block grant. It is obviously a good program, beyond any question. The key issue is how far we can stretch in this bill. I have talked to the Senator from Minnesota and told him that after consulting with some of my colleagues on this side of the aisle, we would be prepared to accept it on a voice vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is all time yielded back?
Mr. SPECTER. I yield back my time.
Mr. WELLSTONE. I yield back my time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the second-degree amendment No. 2271.
The amendment (No. 2271) was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the first-degree amendment No. 1880.
The amendment (No. 1880) was agreed to.
Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. REID. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
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