119-hres619

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 619 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
H. RES. 619

 Supporting the goals and ideals of ``Minority Mental Health Awareness 
 Month'' and recognizing the disproportionate impacts of mental health 
 conditions and struggles on minority populations and communities.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 July 29, 2025

 Ms. Crockett (for herself, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Matsui, Ms. 
 Salinas, Mr. Bell, Ms. Chu, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cohen, Mr. 
 Fields, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Norton, Mr. Thanedar, Ms. Tokuda, 
and Ms. Williams of Georgia) submitted the following resolution; which 
 was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

 RESOLUTION

 Supporting the goals and ideals of ``Minority Mental Health Awareness 
 Month'' and recognizing the disproportionate impacts of mental health 
 conditions and struggles on minority populations and communities.

Whereas more than 1 in 5 adults in the United States live with a mental health 
 condition;
Whereas, in 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 
 suicide was among the top 8 leading causes of death for people ages 10 
 through 64;
Whereas the stigma surrounding mental health conditions significantly 
 contributes to the decision of people with mental health conditions to 
 forego treatment;
Whereas minority persons are more likely to experience symptoms of diagnosable 
 mental health conditions than nonminorities, with Native and Indigenous 
 American adults reporting the highest rate of mental health conditions 
 of any single race-identifying group;
Whereas mental health conditions may first present themselves through 
 experiencing and noticing systematic racial inequities and racial 
 trauma;
Whereas Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders faced almost a 150-percent surge 
 in anti-Asian discrimination and xenophobic hate-related incidents 
 during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to exacerbated experiences of 
 stress, anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation;
Whereas studies show that experiencing racial discrimination has led to a direct 
 link to mental health issues as this causes sustained levels of stress, 
 which lead to adverse physical, emotional, and mental health outcomes, 
 including post-traumatic stress disorder (``PTSD''), depression, and 
 heart disease;
Whereas Black adults are more likely to report frequent and consistent emotional 
 distress symptoms yet do not receive the help they need;
Whereas minority adults who have family income that is less than the Federal 
 poverty line are twice as likely to experience and report psychological 
 distress compared to adults who have family income that is in excess of 
 2 times the poverty line;
Whereas minority mental health providers make up less than one-fifth of the 
 profession, leading to a severe lack of access to representational 
 mental health professionals and culturally informed treatment options;
Whereas, in 2021, less than 13 percent of Latinx adults ages 18 to 44 who 
 experienced mental health conditions received treatment, in contrast to 
 over one-third of nonminorities;
Whereas language barriers result in the inaccessibility of and reluctancy to 
 seek health care and misdiagnoses and miscommunication between patient 
 and physician, which decrease the quality of care and cause adverse and 
 ineffective health outcomes;
Whereas disparities in insurance coverage for culturally specific mental health 
 conditions exist and have led to a reluctancy to seek health care among 
 minority communities;
Whereas Native and Indigenous persons face significant barriers to mental health 
 care services, clinics, and resources due to experiencing 
 disproportional health insurance coverage;
Whereas nearly half of pregnant persons who experienced depression were not 
 treated;
Whereas over half of pregnant minority individuals do not receive treatment or 
 resources for prenatal and postpartum mental health conditions;
Whereas pregnant persons who remain untreated for mental health conditions 
 related to anxiety, depression, and mood disorders face higher risks of 
 experiencing adverse pregnancy and birthing outcomes;
Whereas minority parents experience postpartum depression at a rate that is 
 double that of nonminority parents;
Whereas economic loss due to lack of productivity caused by untreated mental 
 health conditions is roughly $100,000,000,000 per year;
Whereas nearly three-fourths of minority children are less likely to receive a 
 diagnosis of ADHD/ADD compared to nonminority youth;
Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in reported symptoms of anxiety 
 and depression and in suicide death rates in minority communities as 
 compared to nonminorities;
Whereas suicide is one of the leading causes of death among Asian/Pacific 
 Islander American youth;
Whereas the percentage of Asian Americans and Native Hawaiian and Pacific 
 Islanders who reported having any mental illness in 2021 was 16 percent 
 and 18 percent, respectively;
Whereas only 25 percent of Asian Americans received mental health services 
 compared to non-Hispanic Whites;
Whereas roughly 8 percent of Asian Americans and over 15 percent of Native 
 Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders reported having a substance use disorder, 
 with 7 percent of Asian Americans reporting illicit drug use with 
 reported unmet treatment needs;
Whereas suicide rates among Black girls and boys have significantly increased 
 over the last several years;
Whereas, in 2021, 1 in 5 Black high school students reported seriously 
 considering attempting suicide in the past year, and that same year, 
 nearly 18 percent had made a suicide plan, and 15 percent reported 
 attempting suicide;
Whereas minority youth are more likely to enter the criminal justice system with 
 untreated mental health conditions;
Whereas people of color make up the majority of essential workers in areas of 
 food and agriculture and industrial, commercial, and residential 
 facilities and services, and their mental health worsened with the 
 increased risk of contracting COVID-19;
Whereas minority populations disproportionately face racial inequality in mental 
 health research requiring an increased need to ensure that diversified 
 data are reflective of current mental health experiences;
Whereas the Biden-Harris administration pioneered several mental health care 
 initiatives, including implementation of the mental health crisis 
 service hotline ``9-8-8'', and made significant investments in the 
 National Health Service Corps, the establishment of the National 
 Strategy for Suicide Prevention, the Behavioral Health Workforce 
 Education and Training Program, and the Minority Fellowship Program to 
 address the unprecedented mental health crisis;
Whereas recent actions by the Trump Administration have undercut investments and 
 jeopardized the improvements in addressing the unique needs of minority 
 communities in combating mental health challenges;
Whereas, within the first 100 days of the current Trump Administration, the 
 Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental 
 Health Services Administration terminated 10 percent of its staff, 
 including individuals operating the national 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis 
 Lifeline;
Whereas the Trump Administration's National Institutes of Health canceled over 
 900 Federal health grants, including those working on addressing racial 
 health disparities and increasing diversity in clinical research;
Whereas, following Executive Order 14151, the Secretary of Health and Human 
 Services directed employees to remove program descriptions involving 
 race, sex, and gender, and to revise requests for applications for 
 programs addressing diversity and inclusion in health;
Whereas Federal agencies under the Trump Administration were given a list of 
 words to review to limit, avoid, or remove from government websites, 
 including the following: ``anti-racism'', ``barriers'', ``bias'', 
 ``BIPOC'', ``Black'', ``cultural differences'', ``discrimination'', 
 ``disparity'', ``diversity'', ``equity'', ``ethnicity'', ``gender'', 
 ``health disparity'', ``Hispanic minority'', ``immigrants'', ``LGBTQ'', 
 ``mental health'', ``minorities'', ``Native American'', ``racial 
 minority'', ``sociocultural'', ``transgender'', ``tribal'', 
 ``underrepresentation'', and ``women'';
Whereas the Trump Administration's Department of Education released plans to 
 reallocate over $1,000,000,000 in Federal mental health grant funding 
 for schools;
Whereas the aforementioned actions by the Trump Administration will cause 
 devastating harm to children and adults battling and seeking treatment 
 for mental health challenges; and
Whereas increased awareness and prioritizing prevention and treatment of mental 
 health conditions disproportionately impacting people of color are 
 critically needed to reduce the racial and ethnic disparities in 
 minority mental health condition rates as compared to nonminorities: 
 Now, therefore, be it
 Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

    (1) recognizes the mental health disparities in our country 
 facing Black and Indigenous individuals and people of color in 
 the United States;

    (2) calls on the President to increase mental health care 
 access that acknowledges the unique needs and incorporates 
 racial, cultural, and social differences that minority 
 communities experience;

    (3) commits to continuing to work with, where appropriate, 
 the proper executive agencies to address the ongoing mental 
 health crisis across the United States, its territories, and 
 federally recognized Tribes; and

    (4) seeks to provide as many resources and funds as 
 possible to mental health care services across the United 
 States, its territories, and federally recognized Tribes.
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