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Senators Launch Bipartisan Mental Health Caucus

The National Alliance on Mental Illness, which has joined the new caucus, said that one in five adults deal with mental illness every year.

Just days after World Mental Health Day, Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) announced Monday they’d launched a bipartisan caucus to focus on the issue. Both lawmakers referenced their personal experiences in an interview with NBC News; Padilla’s wife, Angela, became a mental health advocate while caring for her mother, who had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and manic-depressive disorder, while Tillis said he took medication that led him to experience depression and manic behavior for nearly a year. The National Alliance on Mental Illness, which has joined the new caucus, said that one in five adults deal with mental illness each year. In January 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services provided $245 million to fund mental health services through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was passed through the House following the shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas. “Let’s make sure that money has been spent effectively and quickly,” Padilla said. About $60 million of the funding will go to training for school staff, law enforcement, and first responders.