The Hill (1/10, Pecquet) “Healthwatch” blog reported, “‘The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) one year ago in Tucson,” Arizona, “sparked a ‘hue and cry about mental health,’ but little progress on the issue’ has been made,” said Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA), co-chairwoman of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus, in an interview with The Hill.
Napolitano “in particular said she regrets that her legislation to fund mental health services in public schools went nowhere. The Mental Health in Schools Act would have authorized $200 million in competitive grants to provide mental health professionals in 200 or so public schools, but never got a committee hearing.”
The blog entry points out, however, that the congresswoman “led a letter (pdf) to House leaders that helped pare down cuts to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in the omnibus spending bill from $212 million to just $33 million, preventing $179 million in cuts.”