“Y’know, w-we need, it’s time that we keep talkin’ ’bout, y’know, treatin’ man-, mental health, addressin’ the issue, and we need to quit talkin’ ’bout…,” Don McLaughlin, the mayor of Uvalde, Texas (population 16,000) explains, relying on his vast domestic policy and foreign affairs experience, blames Washington for not addressing mental health issues in the nation, without noting that his spends 40% of his town’s budget on police–who proved ineffective–or acknowledging that Republican Governor Greg Abbott has cut more than $200 million from Texas social services since he was elected. “We give billions of dollars away to countries that don’t even like us. We outghta be takin’ that money and investin’ in our own country.”
The Mental Health Justice Act of 2021, of which Democratic California Congresswoman Katie Porter was the chief sponsor, had 127 co-sponsors; only one was a Republican, fellow Californian Michelle Steel. It is languishing in committee.