Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Linda Sanchez (38th District of CA)

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez (D-Calif.) today spoke on the House floor before the vote on the Republican tax bill, which only passed by a single vote.

Video of her statement introducing the amendment is available HERE and the text follows:

“The bill that we are debating this morning is an insult to every American who works for a living.

American families are struggling. Under President Trump and Republican leadership, they’ve seen nothing but chaos.

Prices for everyday necessities – like food, clothing, diapers and formula – keep rising because of Trump’s tariffs. Premiums for health insurance, car insurance and housing are going up, making it harder to make ends meet.

Americans are worried about their future. People are afraid about losing their jobs, their health care, student aid and food assistance.

And this bill brings that pain.

Almost 14 million people will lose their health care coverage under this Republican bill. And for what? So billionaires can get even richer while the rest of us drown in debt?

This is outrageous. Republicans are doling out tax cuts for the wealthiest while destroying the means of survival for hardworking families.

This bill assaults those seeking the American Dream by stealing tax benefits and services from working people who are paying taxes! It would deny the Child [Tax] Credit to 2 million children who live in the United States.

Here’s an idea: How about you start working for the people you represent, not your wealthy donors.

But I guess that’s asking too much from people who have lost their moral compass.”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Linda Sanchez (38th District of CA)

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez (D-Calif today introduced the Put School Counselors Where They Are Needed Act, a bill to put more counselors in high schools with high dropout rates.

“Schools with high dropout rates desperately need more counselors to provide the support and guidance at-risk students require,” said Congresswoman Sánchez. “Counselors can help identify early warning signs and intervene before students fall through the cracks. With the right resources, they can help prevent dropouts by offering emotional support, academic guidance and a path forward for students who may otherwise feel forgotten.”

The bill would authorize a limited four-year demonstration program, placing additional professional secondary school counselors in high schools with drop-out rates of 60 percent or more. These additional counselors will work intensively with students at risk of dropping out and collaborate with parents, teachers and others to develop a comprehensive plan to get these students on the track to graduate.

The American School Counselor Association and the National Association for College Admission Counseling, and other organizations recommend a ratio of one school counselor to 250 students and a lower ratio for counselors working primarily with students at risk. However, the average counselor-to-student ratio in America’s public schools is one to 376, a ratio that hardly allows for individual attention and intensive support. Even worse, in California’s public schools, that average ratio is a staggering 464 students per counselor.

The bill is cosponsored by Representatives Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.).

The bill is endorsed by the American School Counselor Association and the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

Text of the legislation is available HERE.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joaquin Castro (20th District of Texas)

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Robin Kelly IL

WASHINGTON – The White House released its recissions package, requesting Congress to cancel $9.4 billion already appropriated by Congress. The package advances President Donald Trump’s agenda to codify DOGE’s spending cuts, slash foreign aid, cut funding from major public broadcasting entities and rolls back a Biden-era guidance requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortion care.

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (IL-02) released the following statement condemning the recissions package:

“President Trump’s recissions package is needlessly cruel and evil. He is stealing money – money that has already been designated by Congress – from Sesame Street to Main Street, hurting everyday Americans to give tax breaks to the well-off and well-connected. For years, I’ve heard my Republican colleagues spout about Congress’s constitutional power of the purse, but now, they’d consider cancelling $9.4 billion that we have already appropriated to programs like PBS, NPR, and USAID.

“The President also continues to threaten the lives of women by rescinding guidance that reaffirmed hospitals’ obligation under law to provide lifesaving abortion care to patients experiencing a medical emergency. While the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act is still the law of the land, this is, again, a cruel and evil decision by the Trump administration. Rescinding this guidance will delay necessary emergency abortion care, endangering the lives of patients.”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jerrold Nadler (10th District of New York)

WASHINGTON, DC –  Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-12) released the following statement after voting in favor of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act:

“Today, I voted in favor of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act, which reauthorizes vital prevention, treatment, and recovery programs that tackle our nation’s opioid crisis, substance use disorders, and pressing mental health needs. Since the SUPPORT Act became law in 2018, these programs have undeniably saved lives, and our commitment to this work must continue.

However, we cannot overlook the alarming context surrounding this vote. The Trump Administration is actively and unlawfully working to dismantle the very agency responsible for executing the programs we have just reauthorized. They have recklessly terminated hundreds of experienced employees, shut down critical offices established by Congress, and withdrawn over $1 billion that was previously allocated to state and local behavioral health initiatives. This has severely undermined essential prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts across the nation. Moreover, the Administration’s proposed budget only exacerbates this crisis, threatening to eliminate nearly all the programs outlined in the SUPPORT Act.

In a disgraceful display of hypocrisy, House Republicans have chosen to be complicit in this dismantling rather than doing anything to stand against it. Reauthorizing these programs on paper amounts to nothing if we permit the infrastructure that supports them to be obliterated. Just weeks ago, House Republicans passed the largest Medicaid cut in our nation’s history, targeting a program that provides care for 40 percent of Americans grappling with opioid use disorder. These Medicaid reductions will deprive millions of lifesaving treatment, all to fund massive tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans at the expense of vulnerable individuals fighting substance use disorders. Voting to reauthorize programs while allowing their infrastructure to be dismantled is simply unacceptable.

Republicans must finally stand up to the Trump Administration and take decisive action to halt its reckless dismantling of our nation’s support systems. Anything less would render the SUPPORT Act meaningless. Americans facing mental health and addiction crises deserve genuine leadership and steadfast support, not empty rhetoric and political games.”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA)

The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2483, the SUPPORT for Patients & Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025. This legislation helps continue important health programs that fight substance use disorder and promote recovery resources.

Following House passage of the bill, U.S. Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) issued the following statement:

“We are seeing real progress in terms of treatment opportunities as well as recovery resources for those affected by substance use disorder. I am proud to support reauthorization of the SUPPORT Act, further strengthening our ability to combat the opioid crisis in Appalachia and giving Americans hope to rebuild their lives.”

BACKGROUND

Given the opioid epidemic hitting Appalachia, and Virginia’s Ninth District bordering the states of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina, Congressman Griffith introduced during the last Congress the RECONNECTIONS Act of 2023.

Language from Congressman Griffith’s bill is now Section 103 of the SUPPORT for Patients & Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025. This section reauthorizes the prescription drug monitoring program, which is an important tool to track where prescription drugs are being dispensed at.

Congressman Griffith’s recent remarks in the Rules Committee on the SUPPORT for Patients & Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025 can be found here.

SUPPORT for Patients & Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025 now goes to the U.S. Senate for consideration.

Congressman Griffith is the House sponsor of the HALT Fentanyl Act. The HALT Fentanyl Act passedthe House in February of 2025.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Adam Smith (9th District of Washington)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Rep. Smith (D – Wash.) released the following statement regarding the SUPPORT Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives today.
 
“Today I voted for the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025, which would renew funding for drug prevention and treatment programs, as well as key mental health initiatives, and behavioral health care programs.

“Improving our response to mental and behavioral health is a key priority of mine. This bill has historically provided a bipartisan investment in addressing these issues. I am glad to support the authorization of important disorder treatment programs and opioid response grants.

“Unfortunately, this historically bipartisan bill is being knee-capped by an Executive Branch that has unlawfully gutted the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) which would be responsible for running these vital programs. The Administration is also preparing to eliminate 40 different mental health and substance use programs, including eight programs reauthorized by the SUPPORT Act.

“It is incredibly hypocritical of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to vote for this bill while maintaining ardent support for the cutting of SAMHSA and other programs by the “Big Ugly Bill” and the Trump Administration.

“Congress must take the problems of mental and behavioral health care seriously. I urge all who also vote “yea” on this bill to also take a long, hard look at the proposed cuts to SAMHSA and HHS from the Trump Administration. This bill could do important things to address substance use disorders, the opioid crisis, and our mental and behavioral health care crisis, if only the Trump Administration would faithfully implement it.” 

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 4, 2025

Rep. Nanette Barragán Leads Letter Demanding Protections for Multilingual Weather Alerts and Forecasts

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Nanette Barragán (CA-44) led a letter to National Weather Service (NWS) Director Ken Graham urging immediate action to protect and strengthen access to multilingual weather alerts and forecasts. The letter was co-led by the current and most recent chairs of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), and Congressional Black Caucus (CBC)— key caucuses whose members represent communities most impacted by language-access failures.

Rep. Barragán’s letter follows a recent disruption in the NWS’s multilingual alert services, which occurred when NWS allowed its contract with a third-party translation firm to lapse. Although the service has since been restored, the letter highlights that the gap placed millions of Americans with limited English proficiency at risk and exposed dangerous vulnerabilities in the country’s emergency communication system.

“Ensuring that all Americans, regardless of the language they speak, have access to life-saving weather information is not optional—it is a core responsibility of the National Weather Service,” said Rep. Barragán. “In a nation as diverse as ours, language access must be treated as an essential component of emergency preparedness and public communication— not an expendable service.”

In the letter, CHC, CAPAC, and CBC members posed specific questions to the NWS about how it plans to prevent future lapses, evaluate translation service providers, and ensure inclusive outreach to limited-English-proficient communities. The lawmakers also pressed for transparency on the criteria used to select which languages are included in multilingual alerts and how the agency plans to update those lists to reflect shifting demographics.

Nearly 68 million people in the U.S. speak a language other than English at home— roughly one in five Americans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The letter underscores that access to accurate weather information in one’s language is essential, not just during emergencies, but also for everyday decisions that affect safety, health, and economic security.

Rep. Barragán has long championed language accessibility and continues to lead efforts in Congress to ensure that language is never a barrier to safety or survival. 

The letter was signed by the following Tri-Caucus leaders and members: Reps. Adriano Espaillat, Judy Chu, Grace Meng, Steven Horsford, Yvette Clarke, Robin Kelly, Maxwell Frost, Debbie Dingell, Dan Goldman, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Danny Davis, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Robert Menendez, Nydia Velázquez, Lizzie Fletcher, Kevin Mullin, Doris Matsui, Frederica Wilson, Gilbert Cisneros, Andrea Salinas, Dave Min, Emilia Sykes, Jill Tokuda, Robert Garcia, Sara Jacobs, and Senator Ben Ray Luján.

The full letter to NWS Director Graham can be found here and below:

Director Graham:

We write to express our serious concern regarding the National Weather Service’s (NWS) recent decision to discontinue the translation of weather alerts and forecasts into languages other than English. This change, purportedly prompted by the lapse of a contract with a third-party provider, created a dangerous gap in access to information for the many Americans who rely on multilingual alerts and forecasts to stay safe during critical emergencies and make everyday decisions that impact their families, livelihoods, and our nation’s economy.

We are relieved that multilingual translation services have now been restored. However, the disruption highlighted the vulnerabilities in the current system and the unacceptable risk created by lapses in language access. For tens of millions of Americans, receiving weather alerts in a language they understand can mean the difference between life and death. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 68 million people in the United States speak a language other than English at home.^[1]That number has nearly tripled since 1980 and now represents one in five Americans.^[2]For these individuals and families, multilingual alerts are critical for preparing for severe weather events, which increase in frequency and intensity every year. The absence of accessible warnings can—and likely will—lead to avoidable tragedy. ​

The real-world consequences of inaccessible alerts are not hypothetical. Take, for example, the 2021 deadly tornado outbreak that hit Mayfield, Kentucky, a city with a large Spanish-speaking population. According to news coverage of the outbreak, a Spanish-speaking family in the impacted area had initially ignored a tornado alert delivered only in English because they could not read the warning.^[3]It was not until the family received a Spanish-language alert that they quickly took shelter​ on the first floor of their home—shortly before the second floor of their home was wiped out. If they had not received the alert in Spanish, the outcome could have been fatal.^[4]Communities across the United States — including speakers of Vietnamese, Chinese, Tagalog, Korean, French, Haitian Creole, and many African languages — also face significant barriers during emergencies when alerts are not available in their primary language. No one should be left without life-saving information simply because of the language they speak.

Beyond the immediate risk to public safety, this abrupt lapse in translation services also risked creating operational challenges for those on the front lines of weather communication. During the lapse, local meteorologists and alert originators—who rely on NWS-provided multilingual content—were forced to fill the gap themselves. Unfortunately, on-site translation is something not many have the staff or resources to do quickly and accurately. Many communities that rely on NWS-provided multilingual content are unlikely to continue sending multilingual weather alerts should NWS’s centralized translation support halt or lapse again.

Multilingual access to weather forecasts is not only critical during emergencies—it is equally vital for day-to-day planning and economic stability. Families rely on accurate, understandable forecasts to decide whether it’s safe to send their children to school or for parents to travel to work. Businesses across key sectors—including agriculture, construction, transportation, energy, and tourism—depend on timely weather information to operate safely and efficiently. When forecasts are delivered in clear, accessible language, they empower individuals and industries alike to make informed decisions, reduce risk, and maintain productivity. Stripping away multilingual access undermines this everyday functionality and places non-English-speaking communities and families at a great disadvantage.

Ensuring that all Americans—regardless of the language they speak—have access to life-saving weather information is not optional; it is a core responsibility of the NWS. In a nation as diverse as ours, language access must be treated as an essential component of emergency preparedness and public communication—not an expendable service.

In light of the recent disruption and the restoration of multilingual services, we respectfully request responses to the following questions no later than August 1, 2025, to better understand how NWS plans to ensure long-term, uninterrupted language access for all communities:

What is the scope of the new contract for multilingual translation services? Does it include options for renewal or extension to ensure service continuity beyond the initial term?

What safeguards has NWS put in place to prevent future gaps in translation services, particularly during contract transitions or vendor changes?

Has NWS conducted a risk assessment or after-action review to identify what led to the previous lapse and how similar disruptions can be avoided in the future? If so, what were the findings and resulting action steps?

Is there a contingency plan or backup system in place to provide uninterrupted translation services in the event of a contract lapse, provider failure, or other unexpected disruption?

How does NWS evaluate and monitor the performance and reliability of its language service providers? Are there benchmarks or quality assurance measures to ensure timely and accurate translations in all covered languages?

What criteria does NWS use to determine which languages are included in its multilingual alerts? How frequently is this list updated to reflect demographic shifts and community needs?

How is NWS engaging with non-English-speaking communities and local emergency managers to ensure that multilingual weather communication is effective, culturally appropriate, and broadly accessible?

We strongly urge NWS to institutionalize safeguards to prevent future interruptions to multilingual services and to treat language access as a permanent, non-negotiable aspect of public safety.

We stand ready to support your efforts to secure the necessary resources to sustain and strengthen language access in weather communications. The safety, preparedness, and economic resilience of our communities depend on it.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Paul Tonko (Capital Region New York)

Tonko’s speech came ahead of the vote on the bipartisan Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act. Tonko decried the hypocrisy of Republicans in bringing up this bill to pay lip service to the mental health and addiction crises while at the same time enabling the Trump administration to make devastating cuts to the very programs, services, and staff the SUPPORT Act needs to function, including decimating the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

SAMHSA’s stated mission is to lead public health and service delivery efforts that promote mental health, prevent substance misuse, and provide treatments and supports to foster recovery while ensuring access and better outcomes for all.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the public servants at SAMHSA work every day to prevent overdoses and suicides and save lives.

As a longtime champion for behavioral health parity and access to treatment and as Co-Chair of the Congressional Addiction Treatment and Recovery Caucus, bipartisan in nature, there have been a few questions on my mind.

For instance, how many public servants need to be fired at SAMHSA before we say enough?

How many suicide prevention trainings need to be cancelled before Republicans can speak out?

How many lifesaving naloxone trainings need to be cancelled for Republicans to say something… say anything?

How many lives need to be lost before Republicans tell the Trump Administration to stop the decimation of SAMHSA?

I have other questions too, simple ones like how many people work at SAMHSA currently? What divisions have no staff left at all? What programs have they had to cut in local communities?

In February, following the firing of probationary employees, I started asking these questions and since the firing of nearly 50 percent of SAMHSA’s staff I have continued asking those questions.

To date I have gotten zero answers. Zero.

Currently, we have lost 50 percent of SAMHSA staff and it’s not HHS or the Trump administration who shared that with Congress.

We only have confirmation that SAMHSA lost half its staff from the press and from the former SAMHSA employees.

That is unacceptable.

As a Congress if we say we care about behavioral health, then we should be ashamed that we are okay not knowing this. For four months we have been asking questions and instead of answers we have even more concerning questions.

I shared with our Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman that as the committee that has jurisdiction over SAMHSA, how do we not have these answers?

This affects every community in the country and our first action should be finding out these answers. If the administration refuses to come in, then let’s bring in the fired employees.

These people are some of the most dedicated public servants who did this work for all the right reasons and they served an incredible need. On behalf of all Americans, I thank all of the fired SAMHSA employees for their service to our nation. You deserved better. And frankly all Americans deserve better.

Our loved ones should have access to effective addiction treatment, prevention and recovery support and behavioral health support and services. 

The recent actions of this Trump Administration are betraying the goal of access to behavioral health treatment and support.

RFK and Donald Trump have proposed to eliminate SAMHSA as an independent agency, burying it in the so-called “Administration for a Healthy America or AHA”

Let’s remember that the whole reason Congress moved SAMHSA into an independent agency was to ensure that behavioral health was prioritized despite the longstanding stigma.

Instead, AHA would take us back to the time that behavioral health is tucked away in another agency and deprioritized.

When the agency is gutted, the programs and the mission suffers, and ultimately, the individuals we are trying to help with their mental health and substance use struggles will simply not get the support they need.

People will die.

I beg my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, let’s reverse course. We have an obligation to protect SAMHSA’s mission and all of our constituents who SAMHSA serves.

Like many of my colleagues, I support the programs in this package; but it’s completely disingenuous and frankly outrageous that Republicans are here today trying to pat themselves on the back as doing something meaningful for those struggling with addiction while the entire agency we are authorizing programs for is being dismantled – the people doing the work we are authorizing have all been fired – and the Administration is proposing even more draconian cuts for mental health and substance use programs in the 2026 budget.

Give me a break. 

It’s like we’re trying to heal a bullet wound with a band aid.

So I’m regrettably going to have to vote no and would respectfully ask my Republican colleagues to pause today’s vote and instead focus our intention on responding to the actual crisis at SAMHSA.

Let’s stop this performance and instead let’s do the right thing and walk out right now and meet, make calls and work together to stop this madness. Let’s actually do something to meet this moment before it’s too late and we no longer have an agency focused on behavioral health.

This is a truly a performative vote if Republicans are too scared to say anything when the agency is being decimated and the mission is on the line but they want to go home and say they voted for SUPPORT.

But they won’t mention that it will never be implemented because the funding and staff are gone. 

Let’s return to my initial question: how many lives need to be lost before Republicans tell the Trump Administration to stop the decimation of SAMHSA?

If Republicans go forward with this vote today while staying silent as this administration takes the chainsaw to SAMHSA then it’s clear that they are willing to let SAMHSA lose all capacity to serve its mission to save lives.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Steny H Hoyer (MD-05)

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05), Ranking Member of the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered opening remarks at the FSGG hearing with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought. Below is a video and transcript of his remarks:

Click here to watch a full video of his remarks.

“Mr. Chairman. Mr. Director. Candidly, Director Vought, I think your agenda is a danger to our country, our Constitution, our people, and one that marginalizes the Congress and Article I to establish an imperial presidency. That’s exactly the opposite of what our founders had in mind.

“What this administration has done under your direction mirrors what you did during Trump’s first term, what you wrote in your Project 2025 chapter, and what you said in a ‘23 speech – 2023 – to members of the MAGA right. You had it quoted to you many times – as you probably know, I represent over 70,000 federal employees – a highly offensive statement: ‘We want the bureaucrats,’ which is so often used as an epithet, not a descriptor, ‘to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as villains. We want their funding to be shut down.’ Were the thousands of doctors, scientists, and cancer researchers DOGE fired from NIH villains? The more than 800 employees DOGE dismissed from NOAA, people who take, track hurricanes and protect Americans from storms, were they deep state agendas? What about the food inspectors, intelligence officers, National Park rangers, first responders, and countless others purged by this administration? They’re just patriotic Americans trying to serve their country. [They] all received an email seeking their decision to leave the federal service, two point – plus million of them. What sort of message does that send?

“I think of a Marylander named Caitlin, who worked at the Center for Medical and Medicaid Innovation. After spending weeks agonizing over whether DOGE would fire her, she died of suicide back in February. I think of another Marylander, Monique, who worked for the Social Security Administration. She was forced to pick up more work as many of her colleagues took the buyout or fired by DOGE. The stress grew and grew until sitting at her desk in February, she died of a heart attack. Her friends and family are certain it was triggered by the stress she was under at work. No business on Earth could treat employees like this and expect efficiency to improve or their enterprise to succeed.

“There is no doubt efficiency has gone down. Backlogs have grown at the Social Security Administration, the VA, and other agencies. Federal employees now have to spend hours filling out paperwork just to order basic office supplies, something that used to take minutes. One of the first things OMB did after Trump took office was pause all federal loans and grants. That froze thousands of infrastructure projects that were already under construction across the country, an action taken with no regard – or no awareness, perhaps, of the consequences of those actions.

“The Trump Administration has traumatized Americans – not just federal employees – reduced efficiency, broken the law, and trampled on Congress’s authority, and for what? We have every indication that DOGE will cost taxpayers more than it’s going to save. Director Vought, you’re going to play an even larger role in these efforts now that Elon Musk is reportedly leaving. This committee isn’t going to ask you to summarize your work in five bullet points, or write essays to pass a loyalty test. We expect you to address the concerns of the American people. They have questions. I have questions. We owe them answers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”