members and staff are invited to take their conversations off the floor. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: improve enforcement efforts related to prescription drug diversion and abuse and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to the consideration of the bill. without objection, so ordered, the -- without objection, the bill is read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to take from the speaker's table house concurrent resolution 117 and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the

clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 103, concurrent resolution authorizing the use of the capitol grounds for the national peace officers memorial service and national honor guard and pie fan exhibition. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to the consideration of the concurrent resolution? without objection, the concurrent resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider s laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to take from the speaker's table house concurrent resolution 120 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: housecal concurrent resolution 120, concurrent resolution authorizing the use of the capitol grounds for the third annual fallen firefighters congressional flag presentation ceremony.

the speaker pro tempore: please, the house is not in order. is there objection to the consideration of the concurrent resolution. without objection, the concurrent resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on house administration be discharged from further consideration of house concurrent resolution 115 and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 115, concurrent resolution authorizing the use of emancipation hall in the capitol visitors center for an event to celebrate the birthday kama g cam newton -- king amaia.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i thank you. today i rise with a heavy heart along with my friend, congressman cooper and congressman barr, to offer our sincere condolences to the family of justin and stephanie schultz, two of the americans who were killed by radical islamic terrorists in the march 22 brussels attack. mr. roe: these cowardly attacks targeted innocent bystanders like justin and stephanie. and this is not the first time the first congressional district of tennessee has experienced tragedy in this manner. sergeant frederick greene was killed at fort hood, texas, in the 2009 attack. justin schultz grew up in

gatlandburg, tennessee, where he was the valedictorian of his high school. he graduated from vanderbilt university and received his m.b.a. from the owen school of management where he met stephanie, his beautiful wife, and they shared their love of adventure which took them to belgium for work. justin's mom was a single mom who worked hard to provide for three children. they're a loving christian family who ended each conversation by saying, i love you. and those were the last words that justin's mom said to him. i can only imagine the grief that accompanies losing your child in such a sudden and violent manner and we all join in offering justin and stephanie's families our prayers and deepest sympathy. the family wants to thank those who have called them from around the world to offer their condolences. indeed, we extend our could be dolences to all families -- condolences to all families who lost loved ones. with that, mr. speaker, i yield

back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for one minute -- tennessee is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, america and the owen school of management vanderbilt university suffered three devastating losses just during the month of march. mr. cooper: the schultz family, which has already been mentioned, were a model american couple. the first victim of terrorism was the ties to owen school of management was tailor forest, a young man who was raised in lubbock, texas, went to a military academy in new mexico, was an eagle scout and attended and graduated from west point academy. served in the u.s. army. did two tours in the middle east. emerged as a captain and then chose the school for his business education. the young man was on a school trip to tel aviv in israel and he was murdered in a random knife attack by a terrorist.

it's hard to think of a sadder end for a great and promising young life. the young schultz couple, my colleague, mr. roe, has already mentioned them. outstanding young people. probably no finer couple ever. and a couple with a sense of adventure. they went sky diving, they ran with the bulls, they saw the eiffel tower and then as they were saying goodbye to her mother at the airport, were killed in the terrorist attack. so let us pay tribute to these three outstanding young people. let's use their lives as models and let's not be daunted by terrorism. we have to meet and beat this threat. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. thank you to my colleagues, congressman roe and congressman

cooper, for joining me in remembering our constituentses, stephanie and justin schultz. two promising young lives tragically cut short in the barbaric terrorist attacks on march 22 in brussels, belgium. stephanie schultz was born and ratesed in lexington, kentucky. she was a graduate of brian station high school and of transylvania university in lexington. we will never forget this ughter of kentucky and her sense of adventure as she lived and worked in europe. we will never forget the anguish felt by stephanie and justin's families as they search for their children in the aftermath of the attack. we will never forget their grief when they learn what had happened. and we will never forget the ideology of evil and religious intolerance that is responsible for taking these two innocent americans from us. but if the terrorist' objective was to undermine our country's

will to fight extremism, or to compel us to surrender our liberty to their oppressive owe taltarian vision of the world, then it has failed. the terrorists' cowardly act only invigorates our nation's resolve to overcome and defeat this evil. mr. barr: as we continue to pray for these families, i'd like to ask congressman roe and congressman cooper to join me and for all of my colleagues to stand and please join us in a moment of silence and prayer to honor these young american eople. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition?

without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for ne minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. today i rise to recognize florida state university for the important research they're conducting into the deadly zika virus. in coordination with johns hopkins and emery universities, florida state researchers have made crucial breakthroughs that will be useful in slowing our preventing the virus from spreading. as you know, zika has wreaked havoc across south america and it poses a great threat to our country, especially to my home state of florida. there have already been more than 80 zika cases reported in florida and as summer approaches, the situation will likely worsen. we can't wait any longer.

it's time to put politics aside and for congress to do its job. we must fully fund, research prevention and response efforts to fight this deadly virus before it spreads. ms. graham: thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman from florida is recognized for one minute. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you so much, mr. speaker. i rise to honor the life and legacy of a dear friend, john collins. john was a man of unwavering courage and dedication to our community and our country. at a very young age, john answered the patriotic call to join our proud marine corps where he served for 23 years. during that time john fought in the korean war and was promoted

on the battlefield from sergeant to lieutenant. in 1971 after retiring from the military as a major, john moved to florida where he began another successful career with the miami-dade police department, where he served 26 years. john was dedicated to his wife, mary, a good friend, with whom he celebrated 50 years of marriage this past september. and he loved their three sons and seven grandsons, three of whom continue john's legacy of service in our military. john collins stayed engaged in good causes in our community, joining the veterans committee in his hometown of miami lakes. may god bless and keep john collins in his bosom and may his memory live forever in the hearts of those he knew. semper fi. thank you so much, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey -- rhode island seek recognition?

without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. speaker, today we mark equal payday. the day when women's wages finally catch up to what men were paid in the previous year. mr. speaker, it's uncon schenn able that in the united states today -- it's uncon schennableable. for women of color this gap is even wider. 61 cents for african-american women and 55 cents for latinas. this pay gap is harming working families in every state. particularly harmful to the 2/3 of families where women are the primary bread winners. lower paychecks mean less money for groceries, less money for rent, less money for child care or other necessities. mr. speaker, this has to change. i'm proud to be an original co-sponsor of the paycheck fairness act, which will make it easier for women to win pay

discrimination cases and harder for companies to justify unequal salaries. i urge republican leaders to bring there this bill to the floor for a vote and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania eek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to ncaa bute to the 2016 men's basketball national champions. the villanova university wildcats. as head coach jay wright is fond of saying, villanova basketball can be defined in one word, attitude. i might say, an infectious attitude. over the course of a magical three-week run in the ncaa tournament, the wildcats showed why. it was a run that culminated in one of, if not the greatest championship games in ncaa

men's basketball history. it was a game that featured two intensely competitive teams, two of basketball's most talented coaches, and an ending for the ages. junior c.i.s. jenkins championship buzzer-beater is the sort of moment that for millions of kids across the country practicing in the driveways of their neighborhood park dreams are made of. mr. meehan: villanova's program has a long and storied history of success, both on the court and off, and in the classroom and the tradition of humility, class, grace and integrity that our entire region can be proud of. villanova is not a large school, but it's built a world class basketball program that remains deeply rooted in its values. i congratulate national coach of the year jay wright, his players, and their families, and the entire villanova community for the victory. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

from california seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. today i rise to talk about my youngest daughter's future and the future of young women across america. mr. cardoza: my daughter will be graduating high school and building a career soon, as she graduates next month. my eldest daughter will be graduating with her master's degree next month and 10 days later will be giving birth to her first child. the point i'm making is women .70 for erica make every dollar a man makes. mr. cardenas: minority women earn as small as 55 cents on the dollar when they perform the same work a man does. i pose this question to my colleagues, when we act to close the pay gap who does this hurt? and the answer is simple.

no one is hurt. america benefits. i'm proud to support the paycheck fairness act along with 193 members of the house democratic caucus and look forward to working with the rest of my colleagues in the house so we can work to implement it in the san fernando valley and across the united states of america. let's work together to correct this inequity. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. thompson: i ask unanimous consent to address the house and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: i rise today to congratulate the pennsylvania fish and boat commission, pfbc, on their 150th anniversary. it was founded on march 30, 1866, following a convention in harrisburg held to investigate water pollution caused by the effect of logging in the commonwealth was having on the mountain lakes and streams.

the discussion at that meeting prompted the current governor, andrew curden, to sign a law to the mes worl fisheries. the pfbc has grown to employ more than 400 people and operates on an annual budget of $60 million funded by anglers and boaters through license and registration fees aamong other methods. it's responsible for policing 86,000 miles of pennsylvania streams, more than 4,000 lakes and more than 60 miles of lake erie shoreline and around 400 acres of wetlands. i'm proud of the work done by the pennsylvania fish and boat commission in keeping our lakes and streams healthy. thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for ne minute.

ms. jackson lee: at the beginning of march, i held a briefing in houston with leaders of the health community and our research community on the zika virus. the reason is at that time we had at least one case diagnosed in the city of houston. since that time, we have watched the centers for disease control travel to puerto rico and we've seen the effect, the potential of a zika epidemic in the united states, first from florida to texas. there are conditions in our particular area that are susceptible to the transmitting of the zika virus. today the centers for disease control has indicated it may be more dangerous than we ever would have expected. over two months ago i believe the president introduced or submitted to congress $1.9 billion in emergency supplemental. all of my constituents and health profession are begging

for this supplemental to be passed. yesterday, i introduced or sent out a statement asking for the speaker and the majority leader to bring this supplemental to the floor, it is an emergency. having gone through a number of epidemics in our community and in this nation, it is time that we put -- the speaker pro tempore: the time has expired. ms. jackson lee: and the american people's interests first. it is now time, pass the emergency supplemental and save lives. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from new hampshire seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise to highlight the connection between drug and human trafficking at the southwest border, where mexican cartels control both. last week i traveled to texas and new mexico to learn more about this connection. mr. guinta: the president's disregard of our immigration

laws is encouraging people to risk their lives to enter the united states. enriching the same cartels that smuggle deadly heroin. last year in new hampshire, my home state, more than 400 granite staters died of a heroin or opiate overdose and nearly 50,000 in the united states last year that number is unfortunately trending upward. despite the best efforts of law enforcement. border patrol agents report cartels are forcing illegal immigrants to carry heroin in eblings change for protection. sanctuary cities serve as way stations in this drug trade. a secure boarder is a humane border. the southwest threat assessment act would compel homeland security to develop a better plan. border agents need more support as do police across new hampshire and this country working to keep drugs off our streets. enforcing interior immigration laws would be an excellent first step. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields bag back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek

recognition? without objection the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today on equal payday to call for action to close that persistent wage gap that occurs in the workplace and that occurs to the detriment of women. ms. sanchez: my grandmother worked all of her life. she, i would see her in the morning leave and go to the bus stop and go over and work at a convalescent home where she made three meals a day for 170 people. she worked six days a week. on the saturday she would make an extra meal that they'd serve on sunday because sunday she'd take off and she would go to church. when my grandmother could no longer stand on her feet she retired. she retired on social security. $484 a month.

just enough to be at my mom's house in her retirement. she had no savings. she had no pension. one of the reasons is that even though women work very hard in this country, they don't get paid what their counterpart, the males do. and so women are twice as likely to retire into poverty. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. sanchez: when women succeed, america succeeds. that's why i'm a proud sponsor of the paycheck fairness act. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from arizona seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, in 1963, the equal pay act was signed into law making it illegal for an employer to pay women less than

a man for the same work. yet the reality is today, over 50 years later, women are still making less than men. this is unacceptable and something which we all have a stake in fixing. ms. mcsally: here in the house we are working on putting forward new ideas and solutions to empower women to fight for equal pay. we must also encourage young girls to enter stem and other higher paying fields, make sure they know they can be whatever they want to be. lastly we must do a better job recognizing that caring for aging parents or children is a responsibility for women and men in our society. mr. speaker, i've been fighting my whole life for women's rights and equality. i know we still have work to do and i'm committed to making equal opportunity for women a reality. after all thises america. and where we pick the best man for the job, even if it's a woman. and that means making sure she's getting paid what she deserves. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the

gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? without objection the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to congratulate the rebar high school basketball team. ms. brown: the rebar high school trojan girls defeated riverdale baptist in madison square garden to bring home to jacksonville the national championship trophy . without a doubt, they are a power house in the state of florida and across the nation given that the team had won 10 previous state titles and then ranked as high as ninth in the country. they are a force to be reckoned with. this outstanding acheevement is a tremendous excitement for the entire city of jacksonville community and i'm proud to say once again that on behalf of the

constituents of florida's fifth congressional district, i hereby honor the revault trojan high school team for the 11th state championship and this year national title game in new york city, madison square garden, go, lady trojans, go! thank you. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from virginia seek recognition? without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i would like to acknowledge the achievements of an individual who has shown dedication to the future of our nation through educating our youth. ms. comstock: john cavanaugh attended georgetown university, where he received a bachelor of science in language and linguistics. he began his teaching career at georgetown preparatory in 1973 and shortly transfer moved to the congressional schools of

virginia in 1976. he's shown an exemplary commitment to teaching over what has now become a 40-year career. over the years, mr. cavanaugh has taught spanish, latin, german, italian, english as a second language, geography, world history, american history, and government to thousands of students. currently concentrating on latin and history, she's shown the same dedication to his students since the first day he walked into the classroom 40 years ago. his knowledge of american history is legendary and he instills in his students a strong desire to learn while also encouraging them to explore their own talent. his hard work and passion for education has led him to -- led to his peers nominating him for "the washington post" teacher of the year award. he's been described as an icon and shepherd by colleagues and students alike. his unwearing commitment to helping students thrive has been demonstrated through his early morning review session and advisory role to the yearbook club and national junior honor

society. mr. speaker, in closing i would like to acknowledge mr. cavanaugh for his achievements over the many years, the 40 years and wish him the best going forward. i ask my colleagues to join me in thanking mr. cavanaugh for touching so many lives as a first class educator and his dedication to our youth. with that, i yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to speak about the hateful and discriminatory legislation targeting transgender people that's sweeping thru state legislatures. mr. honda: right now there's anti-transgender legislation pending before legislatures in illinois, kansas, massachusetts, missouri, south carolina, washington, and tennessee. tomorrow, tennessee lawmakers will vote in committee on house

bill 2414 a bill that would require students to go into gender-specific bathrooms that matches the gender of their birth certificate. yet tennessee is one of the few states that does not allow a gender -- a transgender person to change their birth certificate. it is ultimately a lose-lose for transgender people this bill will cause very real emotional young put transgender people danger. these anti-transgender bills in the state are rooted in fear and deeply misguide notions about who transgender people are. i speak today as a member of congress and as proud grandfather of a granddaughter who is transgender. these laws do not make us safer. these laws instill misguided fears. we must stand up to these laws and promote our values. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition?

>> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, the first full week of april since the 1930's america and the world get a peek at the world famous augusta national golf course for masters week. spectators gatt for the augusta, georgia, or join family and friends around a television to watch the world east most talented golfers compete for the highly coveted green jacket and for one week each year, the world gets a glimpse into georgia 12 and the people who live and work there, the district i have the great honor of representing. mr. allen: from the pimiento cheese sandwiches to the perfectly man cured grounds, the masters is truly something special. the course, the keyation of the great bobby jones, has seen the

lives arnold palmer, byron nelson, jack nicklaus, tiger woods and spectators from all walks of life making a living history in the game. jordan jordan spieth has been a great champion and made a historic effort to repeated a its champion. congratulations to this year's winner on his victory and the newest edition to his wardrobe, as well as a big thank you to the members of the augusta national golf club and all those who work tirelessly to put the tournament on, which means so much to our district. it was my privilege to welcome all people from around the globe to the world's greatest sporting event. as we count down the days until masters 2017. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker.

i rise today to honor the career of commander kristena del orco and her service in the united states coast guard. she graduated from the united states coast guard academy and was selected to attend anywayville flight training where she trained to pilot fixed wing aircraft. mr. abraham: she earned her wings in 1999 and received the daughters of the american revolution award given annually to the coast guard graduate with the highest grades. she would go on to win many more awards, including the coast guard commendation medal and three coast guard achievement medals. along with these individual awards, kristena has trained a senior cadets as company officer. i served with kristena in the coast guard auxiliary and can truly say she's dedicated to her service in this -- and this

great nation. it is an honor to recognize her for all she has done for the coast guard and this country and i wish her a happy retirement. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> request to address the house for one minute, revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, it is estimated that over 30,000 americans are living with the progressive neuro degenerative disease and condition a.l.s. or lou gerhig's disease at any time. mr. fitzpatrick: that includes dozens in my pennsylvania district, including frank and formal navy officer matthew. for those impacted by this disease, the toll is extraordinary. not only on their own well-being, but on their family and their finances. thankfully for matt and frank, individuals like jim worthington and members of the athletic club have stepped up to offer emotional support and raise more than 200,000 dollars for their cause. and while these actions show

the commendable efforts of one community, there's more that can be done on their behalf here in washington. next weekley join matt and frank in the nation's capitol to urge not only for essential a.l.s. funding but for access to experimental drugs. the bipartisan right to try act would remove the barriers to these trial stage medications for those with a terminal disease like a.l.s. the compassion of our communities and the long-term benefits of research must not prevent us from taking every single step possible in the here and now to care for those battling a.l.s. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. lamalfa: thank you, mr. .peaker

just the other day, april 11, marked the 116th birthday and anniversary of the united states submarine force. this is a day the u.s. government accepted the u.s.s. holland which is s.s. 1 into the u.s. navy again in 1900's. so this was pointed out by a good friend and patron and veteran of the submarine forces, jim gibson, of redding, california, who has serve on several different submarines and is a main organizer of the u.s.s. cuddle fish, a veterans submarine group that does many events up in northern california. so he pointed that out to me and i wanted to acknowledge, again, the great work of our veteran of those subs and what they mean for the security of our nation. so a happy 116th, united states submarine fleet. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. defazio of oregon for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request is granted.

under the speaker's announced the of january 6, 2015, gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. murphy, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. the gentleman is recognized. mr. murphy: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. speaker. this is the tale of two cities but not the tale about the cities. about two examples of america's great embarrassment and failure to treat a brain disease called mental illness, especially serious mental illness. it is also a tale of congress' repeated failure to address this, despite the cries of

millions of americans to do something about it. what we here in washington tend to do when we hear of another tragedy that's occurred somewhere in the nation, a tragedy we know by the names of sandy hook elementary school or columbine or aurora, colorado, or tucson, or santa barbara. what washington tends to do is we have a moment of silence but the people want and members of congress want moments of action. and not moments of silence. let me elaborate on this tale. in this building, the u.s. capitol, back in 1980's or 1990's, i believe, two police officers were killed when russell westen came into the capitol seeking a red crystal and ended up shooting these police officers. under his diagnosis of paranoid

schizophrenia he was pushed with his delusions and hallucinations to take action. it ended up a tragedy. there's also recently over the break another man, larry russell dawson, who has been seen around this capitol and once allegedly disrupted proceedings in this chamber. and allegedly also suffers from some levels of mental illness. who when entering the capitol visitors center, a pistol was seen when going through the x-ray, when he grabbed that pistol, police officers shot and wounded him. first of all, it is a -- it is amazing to me that people did not die. we know at the entrance to the capitol visitors center, it's a highly secure environment with many, many capitol police officers. these brave men and women who put themselves between danger and members of congress and the public, show tremendous restraint and judgment that moment. i might add that many times

when mentally ill persons have conflict, a violent conflict with a police officer where they may be reaching into their jacket or may be pointing a pistol or approaching a police officer with a knife, it's estimated between 1/4 and 1 of that of those mentally -- 1/2 of those mentally ill people involved in a police encounter end up dead. hat's a few hundred each year. why are we dealing with mental illness as a violent threat instead of in treatment? we deal with it because in this nation, sadly, when someone with mental illness has reached that level, or they become violent, we call the police. the rules are, which we will look at tonight, prevent people from getting treatment, we do not have enough providers, we don't have enough places to put people, so we call the police. i should start off by saying the mentally ill are no more likely to be violent than nonmentally ill. except when you look at those

with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar and other illnesses such as that. they are 16 times more likely to engage in an act of violence than someone who is in treatment. again, person who is seriously mentally ill and not in treatment is 16 times more likely to engage in an act of violence than someone who is in treatment. on the west coast, in seattle, another tragedy was brewing. a man named cody miller climbed a tree. a giant tree in downtown seattle. and it created something of a furrer. first, i want to read parts of an article that appeared in "the new york times" on march 29 that described this, to show you how out of touch we are as a society when dealing with mem illness -- mental illness. it said that for more than 24 hours last week, cody miller,

pelted people in cars with pine cones and tearing out branches. investigators were investigating how much it would cost when using some complicated formula that goes far beyond the value of natural beauty, the article said. a seattle tree expert said mr. miller caused $7,800 in damage, according to court released this week, investigators took into account the tree's age, its potential life spab and how uch its foil yadge was denied. the trunk is 34 inches in diameter at breast hype and -- height and the tree has 95% species rating, 100% condition rating and 100% location rating , the tree's predamaged value was put at $51,700. but after mr. miller's esca paid, the tree lost 15% of its alue and is now worth only $43,900. damage to the tree was expensive, the report said. while mr. miller was charged on monday with first degree

malicious mischief and third degree assault, he's also ordered to stay away from the tree. by observing no one wanted contact -- no unwanted contact. i repeat, by observing no unwanted contact. that's in quotes, with the tree. now, the story goes on to describe trees and not until the very end of the article it mentions mr. miller's mother, lisa. said that she had not talked to her son for some 2005 years -- for some five years. she saw it on the news. and she barely recognized him. what was happening is lisa and her daughter sat in their alaska home watching this clip of the man perched in the tree with her heart broken, with tears streaming down their faces, lisa and her daughter soon came to realize they were watching their son and her brother became the latest internet mockery of a mentally ill person.

you see, when cody miller climbed this 80-foot tree and sat there for 25 hours, he was supporting a bushy beard and ragged clothes and most americans were amused by this. they called it #manintree. it was an international viral story overnight. but this was no joke. this was no prank. but was the culmination of untreated mental illness that once again our society turned into a joke and we wonder why there's a stigma when newspapers like "the new york times" write a mocking story like that toward a man who has a disease. would they have written an article like that if it was about someone with cancer or diabetes or aids or any other disease? my guess is no. but somehow in our society it's ok to mock a person who is suffering from schizophrenia. when he was younger, he was clean cut, loving and happy. that's the words his friends used to describe him. at a young age he was diagnosed

with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. however, other than excess energy, like any other child, he didn't support any behavioral issues. six years ago his mother began to notice an ununusual shift in her son's behavior as he grew increasingly paranoid. let me note here that serious mental illness, 50% of the time emerges by age 14 and 75% of the time by age 24. it's very, very difficult to predict although we've now indicated some 108 genetic markers of schizophrenia and bipolar order. the issue is still many parents have a loving and caring child, then something changes. his behavior changed when lisa would find knives stored under her son's pillow. when confronting cody about her discovery he would simply respond, it's just to keep us safe. as time passed on, cody's mental instability progressed. he refused to center certain stores downtown when making an exception, he would cover his face with a hood, convinced

people were staring at him. following this enhanced paranoiaia came the emergence of night terrors and constantly trying -- crying and shouting for his mother in the night. he would sleek of the evil surrounding him. this worrisome behavior continued to escalate ands spiraled out of control. he could be found walking down the street in high socks and clown glasses, spreading deer bones on the road. he hit a man with a flat tire and began to have dreams of killing his grandmother. going so far as setting her wood shop on fire. at that point his grandmother said she could no longer handle him, and he was sent out. he was constantly shuffled between homelessness and incarceration. lisa pleaded for others to help her son and appealed to he alaska governor's office, mental health evaluators, but despite

her effort, her attempts to get him proper treatment seemed hopeless due to the bureaucratic morass of our mental health system, which is not a system at all. she was sidelined from helping her son due to the inefficient system and forced to sit by and watch as cody eroded over time. we pretend in our own deluded state that all the seriously mental ill are aware of their symptoms and welcome treatment. but many don't. 40% of those with schizophrenia and other disorders don't recognize that the delusions are not real. this is a condition. it's something you see in people with dementia or alzheimer's or stroke. very real and the person is not aware of their own problems. but somehow we come up with this an thropomorfism that says they can decide -- decide for

themselves. but they can't decide for themselves when they don't know who they are, they hear things differently they encode information differently into their brain. they process it, recall it differently. for us to say that they just don't want treatment is a fool's errand on our part. can you imagine if we said that again to someone with cancer? you don't understand your disease. diabetic, we're going to dismiss you. what if a person clutched his chest in a heart attack and laid unconscious in a street, would we tell that person, we're not going to help you until you wake up and tell taos treat you? or worse yet, would we say to that person, we're not going to treat you until you're in imminent danger of killing yourself or killing someone else no. but that's what we do with the mental i e-- mentally ill. the energy and commerce committee on oversight investigations that i chair had a couple-year study paving the way for my bill the helping families in mental health crisis act, with 187 co-sponsors from

both sides of the aisle, a bipartisan measure addresses the shortage of psychiatric beds, clarifies hippaa privacy laws so families can be allowed to have compassionate communication to be part of frontline care and helps patients get treatment well before their illness spirals into crisis my legislation has been endorsed by dozens of publications and newspapers including the "washington post," the "seattle times," the "san francisco chronicle," "the wall street journal," and the "pittsburgh post-gazette." each day, i hear from countless families from across the country, who are experiencing a mental health crisis and are counting on our efforts to bring positive changes to the mental health system. we cannot let these families down. lives are depending upon it. we cannot wish this away and denial is not a treatment. but let me tell you what americans have to say about this. because as we're dealing with this issue, americans are

wondering why congress is not acting. why is congress being so passive? why aren't we doing what we need to do? i want to tell you about a story i posted on my facebook page. this picture that i posted as well. this is cody lee miller. in court. look at his hair. look at his beard. this is a man that obviously has not been taking care of himself. shackles on his ankles and wrists. chained at his waist. led by two police officers wearing their purple gloves so they are not at risk of infection. while a judge sitz in the background. his man was diagnosed with schizophrenia being treated like a criminal. i wrote on my post this, friends, you really can't make this stuff up. a man diagnosed with paranoid

chizophrenia, #maninatree, who desperately needs psychiatric care is brought in shackles before a judge because he's charged with first degree malicious mischief and third degree malicious assault. what was the outcome? he was ordered to stay away from the tree. but first he needs to make $50,000 bail. look at this picture and tell me our mental system isn't a mess. call that he remained atop a giant sequoia, since that time, there's been greater worry about the plight of the tee than this throes n clearly in the of a psychotic break. i reference that "new york times" article. he's ordered to have no unwanted contact with the se coy qua, yet yet no th the sequioia,

ord of help. cody's mom talks about his dawnword spiral and made it his mission -- made it her mission to be a voice for families who want to help their loved ones but blocked by federal and constituent laws that make it impossible to help mentally ill family members and congress is still staaling my helping families in mental health crisis law. this posting must have hit a nerve. members of congress all have facebook pages and twitter. we have our social media. many times when we post something we may hear from a few thousand people. as of a few minutes ago this posting led to 1. million hits n my facebook. what is also compeling is as sad as the story is about this man

treated like a prisoner, like a common criminal instead of getting treatment are the heart wrenching comments made by the families. i want to read some of them to you. these are people from around the world -- world who commented on what's happening. holly wrote, i agry with cody's mom, the real culprits are state nd federal laws preventing people from helping their family members. there's laws that say unless you're in immeant danger of hurting yourself or others, you're not forced into theement. or if the person says don't tell my mother or my father because they're part of the c.i.a. or they're a martian or planting thoughts in my brain, the doctors cannot tell the family members, when is the next appointment, what is the medication, what's the diagnosis, how should they treat them. they may say take them home. when the family says what should

i do? we've heard of cases where the doctor said, we can't tell you because he doesn't want us to. one family member said, let's just have a supposition, pretend that there's a case of someone with squits frienda going to my house what should i do? they said, we're not going to tell you. family members may be in court, pleading with a judge, tell me where my son is, tell me where my daughter is my father, my mother, my brother, my sister. tell me so i can do something for them. a caseworker may be sitting in the courtroom knowing full well where the person is knowing the problems, but say i can't tell you because we believe their delusions are reality that they somehow have a right to be sick instead of a right to be wefment james wrote, my guess is he will get some mental health services in jail, evaluate him and see if they can send him to a

psychiatric hospital. this is a process, he says. here's the problem. when we take the mentally ill people into jail, 80% of them et no treatment. 0% of people take ton jail get no treatment. of those in jail, 40% to 60% have some level of mental illness. what happens instead is a person is 10 times more likely to be in jail than a hospital if they're mentally ill. and once there, they don't get treatment. they often times are subjected to abuse by other prisoners, may get into fights with prison guards and then charged with another crime and because of all these problems, a person with mental illness tends to serve a sentence four times longer for the same crime than a person without mental illness. when you discharge them, they don't get treatment. so they get involved in this revolving door. why? why in heaven's name is jail the right place to send someone with a brain disease?

why is it that congress doesn't wake up, instead of passing so many silly bills all the time. we're willing to let people continue to die, by the way, at a rate of about 10 people an hour. last year in the united states, 41,000 deaths by suicide. 45,000-plus deaths by drug overdose. somewhere between 200 and 500 deaths of a mentally ill person confronting a police officer. thousands, we don't know how accurately, people who are homeless and die. one person in los angeles died every day who was homeless. and about 200,000 of those homeless people are severely mentally ill people. but we've gotten ourselves accustomed to stepping over there -- them, ignoring them, treating them as an invisible class that doesn't exist saying that's what they want to be, when they're not aware. we think it's comfortable for them to live in filth and squalor. if you add the numbers up, the total number of mentally ill who died in this country, well over

85,000, maybe 100,000 or 120,000. even that lowest number is far greater than the total united states combat deaths in the entire korean war and vietnam war combined for the length of those wars. up with year in america that's how many died. what we do here is throw them in jail where quite frankly many of them die in jill as well. another comment. jim holden wrote, the system is the problem. we can't help these people because of personal choice that's championed other their health and well being. people in the streets need to be a danger to themselves or others before we can offer much needed health. as a social worker i have always found this frustrating. another woman write, my brother-in-law was arrested for doing something in a psychotic break from his textbook skits friend yasm my husband's mom thinks he's going to get the help he needs in the system. yeah, right. he's not going to be any better

off, they don't give a rat's -- when they can shuffle him through the corrections system. it break misheart to explain this to them, but look at the track record of them helping. deb smith writes, unfortunately our jails and juvenile centers have become mental health facilities. while a person has mental health problem they also may commit crimes for which they can be arrested and held. this is difficult and often very dangerous situation for everyone involved. it is never ascism as them getting treatment. nor is it as simple as just set them free if they commit a crime. the judge has to look at all sides including the safety of both sides but for the individual and citizens of the community and what risk the person may have of further harm to himself or others. cindy writes, there's still a shame and embarrassment about mental'8"ness that we don't understand. then you have the people who believe mental illness is a myth. until those attitudes change, probably by some respected celebrity having a psychotic

break, mental health will stay in the shadows. beverly wrote, the problem is the mentally ill have rights and if they choose not to seek treatment they have that right. the treatment given to them prior to 1970's was forced and inhumane. they were locked if you were decades, isolated, this doesn't happen much anymore, thank god. they had procedures done on them, like prefrontal lobotomies or subjected to shock treatment, cruel and unusual treatment for humans that didn't see the world the way they did. i agree with most of that we don't want those treatments again. except, when she write this is doesn't happen much anymore, thank god, she's wrong. we should never allow again to bring back ai-- asylums with horrendous treatment but we have gone from a time of 550,000 psychiatric hospital beds in the 19's to less than 48,000 now.

in the 19's, a population of the united states was 150 million. now it exceeds 316 million. there's about 10 million people with severe mental illness, four million or so don't have any treatment. what happens to them is they go to jail. when we close these asylum, people didn't all of a sudden get better. some got better because of medication but we traded that psychiatric hospital bed for the prison cell. we traded that psychiatric hospital bed for the emergency room gurney where a person is given a five-point tie down and sedation. we traded that psychiatric hospital bed for the streets and subway grates for the homeless and we traded that psych bed for the county morgue where many of them die as paupers waiting to be claimed. mary writes, i suffer from major depression and had to do 10 days in jail. while there, they refused to give me my antidepressant medication, this seem to be the norm in my county's jail, that's

sad. this man needs people who care about humanity, not to be treated like this. rhoda wrote, what about getcts who beg for help but put in jail. most think, at least they won't have drugs in jail, but ask any diadict who has been in jail, it's there a study done in eark found that it cost 0 times more to put a person with mental illness in jail than in outpatient treatment. 0 times more. . thr is no hurt as watching your hurlt. my son passioned away and i still ake. i have a schiled who is in the same situation and he uses

drugs. and nothing parents can do when is an adult schiled and how they surround. heidi, this stems if a and no where to get help. this is the problem caused by the federal government. sike you we have too few ki at trick beds. and if you have a problem, i captain make this up. nd where do they go? and thinking they are going to save money. if a