Despite the fact that the Paul amendment to prohibit funding for universal mental health screening programs in the Labor/HHS/Education appropriations bill was not adopted, there is good news. Concern and outrage run deep across the country over the use of tax dollars both to screen the minds and emotions of children as young as preschool age and then potentially to treat them with drugs that the FDA is finally admitting are not effective and have dangerous side effects.
 
On the day the Paul amendment was introduced, the highly rated and respected Internet news service, World Net Daily carried a story about the amendment and follow-up to the vote. People from all over the country, including school psychologists and psychiatric nurses, called and emailed to express support for the Paul amendment and outrage that the federal government would even consider such a program as universal screening.  EdWatch website traffic tripled that day. Fox News ran an editorial on their website the week after the amendment. Seven radio programs have interviewed Dr. Effrem since the Paul amendment was introduced, and three more are scheduled.

Members of Congress respond

House members who voted against the Paul amendment heard from their constituents. Several of them are using the excuse that the appropriations bill did not specifically mention universal and /or mandatory mental health screening programs, and that the amendment was unnecessary.  This excuse was actually used by the Appropriations subcommittee chairman, Mr. Ralph Regula (R-OH), during floor debate on the amendment. 

Here is a sample of a letter to a constituent:

"Thank you for your further comments about Rep. Ron Paul's amendment regarding a mandatory, universal mental health screening program. I appreciate this opportunity to clarify my vote.

 "The Labor-HHS Appropriations Act provided funding for States to apply for and use to provide mental health services such as those recommended by the New Freedom Commission. The Commission's report contained a list of recommendations including those from Goal 4 (see page 57 of report) which are the source of this confusion."

GOAL 4 - Early Mental Health Screening, Assessment, and Referral to Services Are Common Practice.
RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1 Promote the mental health of young children.
4.2 Improve and expand school mental health programs.
4.3 Screen for co-occurring mental and substance use disorders and link with integrated treatment strategies.
4.4 Screen for mental disorders in primary health care, across the life span, and connect to treatment and supports.


"As you can see from the recommendations of Goal 4, nothing is mentioned about a universal, mandatory mental health screening program and the discussion of these recommendations mentions nothing about a universal, mandatory mental health screening program.

"Rep. Ron Paul's amendment would have prohibited funding from being used to implement a mandatory, universal mental health screening program -- a program which has not been created.  Creation of such a program would require Congressional action, which hasn't occurred and no one expects to occur.  Accordingly, I voted against Rep. Paul's amendment as I don't believe it is necessary to prevent a program from being implemented that hasn't been created."

This letter and the House Committee both actually admit that the appropriations bill grants federal money to the states to support the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission (NFC). Here is what the Committee report says:

"The Committee provides $20,000,000 for the State incentive grants for transformation ... The Committee supports the recommendations made in the July 2003 New Freedom Commission on Mental Health's report on transforming mental health care in America. These grants will support the development of comprehensive State mental health plans that will enhance services and supports to persons with mental illnesses."

The above letter specifically references the New Freedom "recommendations" and "comprehensive State mental health plans" for universal screening, but because the actual words "universal" and "mandatory" are not used, the Congressman thinks that these concerned constituents will be put off. Apparently the following quotes from the recommendations and the New Freedom report do not mean "universal" to this member of Congress:

4.2 Improve and expand school mental health programs. "Since children develop rapidly, delivering mental health services and supports early and swiftly is necessary to avoid permanent consequences and to ensure that children are ready for school." (Emphasis added.)

"Schools are where children spend most of each day. While schools are primarily concerned with education, mental health is essential to learning as well as to social and emotional development. Because of this important interplay between emotional health and school success, schools must be partners in the mental health care of our children. Schools are in a key position to identify mental health problems early and to provide a link to appropriate services. Every day more than 52 million students attend over 114,000 schools in the U.S. When combined with the six million adults working at those schools, almost one-fifth of the population passes through the Nation's schools on any given weekday." (Emphasis added.)

4.4 Screen for mental disorders in primary health care, across the life span, and connect to treatment and supports. (Emphasis added.)

Even though the word "universal" is not used, speaking of screening the entire American school population of students and adults, as well as delivering mental health services to "children so they are ready for school," and screening "across the life span" sounds very universal to us. The NFC report never uses the word mandatory either, but it is clear that states would receive the federal money to implement the NFC recommendations.  The Illinois Children's Mental Health Act is a perfect example. As stated in the draft implementation plan, it is clearly based on the New Freedom Commission report:

"Align systems of care with the President's New Freedom Report, particularly the child and adolescent recommendations"

The Illinois draft implementation plan goes on to say:

"Develop a mental health system for all children ages 0-18 years that respects, supports and treats families and caregivers as partners." "Screen all women for depression during pregnancy and following the birth of a child up to one year post partum, and provide necessary follow-up treatment services." (Emphasis added.)

New information has come from people monitoring the Illinois mental health law that the states of Hawaii, Wisconsin, and New Jersey are poised to implement similar laws and programs in those states.

What next?

Two actions are moving forward. One is stand-alone legislation (rather than an amendment to existing legislation) that would directly oppose this Orwellian program. Another action is an attempt to remove from the final appropriations bill the $20 million for grants to states to implement the New Freedom Commission's recommendations, including universal screening and drugging with powerful and dangerous medications.  

Removing the $20 million in state grants from the final bill is feasible because the Senate is unlikely to actually pass its version. Numerous controversies and possible amendments to the bill make its passage before the November election extremely difficult. Funding for these three high profile departments, therefore, can only occur under one of two scenarios.

The first scenario is a continuing resolution which would maintain funding for all programs at current levels, not allowing funding any new programs such as the state grants to fund the New Freedom recommendations.  This scenario is desirable if Congress extends funding for most or all of next year. It is much less desirable if funding extends only through the election, after which a lame duck session would decide. Lame ducks are not so accountable to the voters.

The second scenario is passage of an omnibus bill to fund all the programs, including new ones like the New Freedom state grants. In an omnibus bill scenario, leaders in the House and Senate determine what goes into the legislation, and it cannot be amended.  Only an up or down vote is allowed.  This scenario requires convincing Congressional leaders to strip the grants to fund New Freedom recommendations out of the bill before the single House and Senate vote.

What You Can Do:

1) Stay tuned and be ready to support the stand-alone legislation to prevent universal mental health screening programs.

2) If your House Member voted against the Paul amendment, use the information in this alert to explain to him or her that these programs truly are universal and that states plan to make them mandatory.

3) Send a request to your House member and both Senators by phone, fax, or email, that they support a continuing resolution with no funding for new programs, or that if there is an omnibus bill, that the state incentive transformation grants to fund the New Freedom Commission recommendations be stripped out.

4) Let your state legislators know, especially during this campaign season, that you do not want a mandatory universal mental health screening program in your state, as is being done in Illinois and planned for New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Hawaii. 

5) Your case for discussing any of the above items can be made stronger if you purchase the briefing book now available from EdWatch that contains hard copies of nine articles by Dr. Karen Effrem, Dr. Dennis Cuddy, Penny Pullen, and Karen Hayes.  The CD-rom contains all of those articles plus a Power Point presentation with evidence to bolster your case and excerpts of a radio debate between Dr. Effrem and a member of the New Freedom Commission