WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Energy and Commerce Democrats attempted to improve a controversial mental health bill, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, introduced by Congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA) that further stigmatizes mental illness and threatens the rights and protections guaranteed to patients.
In an attempt to make the bill truly bipartisan, Democrats offered proposals to ensure that more individuals have the coverage and resources that they desperately need and prioritized new funding for critical prevention and treatment programs.
Democrats offered 30 amendments to Rep. Murphy’s underlying bill in an attempt to make improvements to numerous controversial provisions that had not been addressed, despite Committee Democrats repeatedly expressing their concerns. Democrats even offered an entire substitute bill that incorporated bipartisan proposals, which was rejected by all present Republicans on the subcommittee.
The complete list of Democratic amendments offered at today’s markup can be found here.
