{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/king-colleagues-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-address-suicide-crisis-in-native-communities", "King, Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Address Suicide Crisis in Native Communities", "2018-09-19", "2018", "2018-09", "Independent", "House", "ME", "Angus King", "K000383", "www.king.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "BRUNSWICK, ME  U.S Senator Angus King (I-Maine)\r\njoined a bipartisan group of his Senate colleagues to introduce the Native\r\nAmerican Suicide Prevention Act. This legislation would help address the\r\nsuicide crisis in Indian Country by ensuring collaboration among states and\r\ntribal communities to design and implement statewide suicide intervention and\r\nprevention strategies that work for their communities. The Native American\r\nSuicide Prevention Act is the Senate companion to H.R. 3473, a bipartisan bill\r\nintroduced by Congressman Ral M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Congressman Tom Cole\r\n(R-Okla.), and 27 other House cosponsors. \r\n One suicide in Maine is one too\r\nmany  and in order to tackle a problem as serious as this, we need to have\r\neveryone at the table discussing solutions, said Senator King. Native\r\ncommunities have some of the highest rates of suicide in the nation, which is\r\nwhy including them in discussions about suicide prevention is so important \r\nit's just commonsense, and it can save lives.\r\n  Native American reservations are\r\nexperiencing an epidemic of suicide that is claiming the lives of countless\r\nyoung people. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Native\r\npeople ages 10-34. For American Indians and Alaska Natives ages 15-34, the suicide\r\nrate is 1.5 times higher than the national average. In some tribal\r\ncommunities, the youth suicide rate is 10 times greater than the national\r\naverage. Despite the devastating scope of this crisis and the clear need\r\nfor Native communities' involvement in the development of suicide prevention\r\nstrategies, tribes and tribal organizations are too often left out of planning\r\nand execution of statewide suicide prevention programs.  The Native American Suicide\r\nPrevention Act would help address this epidemic by amending the Public Health\r\nService Act to require states or state-designated entities to collaborate with\r\ntribes in an effort to curtail the alarming suicide rate in Native\r\ncommunities. Specifically, the bill would mandate that state governments\r\ncollaborate with each federally recognized Indian tribe, tribal organization,\r\nurban Indian organization, and Native Hawaiian health care system in the state\r\nin developing and implementing statewide suicide early intervention and\r\nprevention strategies.  In addition to Senator King, this\r\nlegislation is supported by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Lisa Murkowski\r\n(R-Alaska) Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Catherine Cortez-Masto\r\n(D-Nev.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Richard Blumenthal\r\n(D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jon Tester\r\n(D-Mont.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Tina Smith\r\n(D-Minn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).   Organizations that support the\r\nNative American Suicide Prevention Act include the American Foundation for\r\nSuicide Prevention, Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health, the\r\nAssociation on American Indian Affairs, the National Council of Urban Indian\r\nHealth, the Alaska Native Health Board, the Alaska Native Tribal Health\r\nConsortium, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Papa Ola Lokahi, and the Association For\r\nBehavioral Healthcare.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/king-colleagues-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-address-suicide-crisis-in-native-communities"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1467700824141502, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}