{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphys-mental-health-reform-act-signed-into-law", "MURPHYS MENTAL HEALTH REFORM ACT SIGNED INTO LAW", "2016-12-20", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Christopher Murphy", "M001169", "www.murphy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "MURPHY\u2019S MENTAL HEALTH REFORM ACT SIGNED INTO LAW\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tMurphy hosted 30 town halls & roundtables with CT families, professionals & advocates to craft bipartisan mental health reforms\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTuesday, December 13, 2016\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON\u2014 U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, attended the bill signing ceremony at the White House on Tuesday where President Obama signed his bipartisan Mental Health Reform Act as part of the 21st Century CURES Act into law. Murphy\u2019s bill will comprehensively overhaul America\u2019s mental health system, expand federal resources, and improve coordination for mental health and substance abuse treatment programs across the nation. The bill, which Murphy authored with U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.), passed the Senate 94-5 last week.\r\n\u201cToday marks a breakthrough for people with mental illness and their families,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cIt was an honor to stand behind President Obama at his final bill signing ceremony and watch him enact the most significant reforms of our mental health system in decades.\u201d\r\n\u201cMental illness and addiction do not discriminate, so our health care system shouldn\u2019t either. It should be as easy to access a doctor or get prescriptions for an illness of the mind as it is for an illness of the body. It\u2019s that simple principle that motivated all the work I put into this bill,\u201d Murphy added. \u201cI will keep working with Republicans and Democrats to make sure our bill is implemented as Congress intended, and to keep our bipartisan coalition engaged in mental health until we finish the job we started.\u201d\r\nAfter months of collaborating with mental health professionals, policy experts, consumers, and family members, Murphy and Cassidy introduced their bipartisan Mental Health Reform Act of 2015 to expand federal resources and improve coordination for mental health and substance abuse treatment programs. The Senators worked closely with U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to craft an updated bill, the Mental Health Reform Act of 2016, which passed the HELP Committee unanimously earlier this year. The Mental Health Reform Act of 2016 served as the basis for the mental health language passed last week.\r\nA fact sheet on the bill can be found here.\r\n###", 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.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphys-mental-health-reform-act-signed-into-law"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.727103954181075, "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"}