Dive Brief:
- The Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday advanced legislation (HR 2626) in a 53-0 vote to spur mental health reform, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2015.
- The bill was developed in response to the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut elementary school mass shooting and caught renewed action following this week's Orlando, Florida nightclub shooting which ranked as the worst in U.S. history.
- Given that GOP leaders have pointed toward mental health reform as their response to gun violence, some House Democrats offered amendments to the legislation that would have addressed gun violence, such as one that would have allowed the CDC to research the issue, but all the amendments were voted down along party lines, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Dive Insight:
While any matter around gun control remains immensely contentious, both Republicans and Democrats have indicated mental health may be an area of common ground in addressing gun violence. However, some legislators in the House and Senate appear unlikely to settle for mental health reform without at least separately addressing matters around gun control.
The approximately one dozen proposed amendments to the mental health bill had avoided the typical efforts toward background checks or bans on assault weapons, with some focusing most notably on efforts toward research.
While legislators are mixed on the subject of gun research, the American Medical Association is leading physicians in calling for Congress to end its ban on gun violence research.