WASHINGTON – Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) discussed the need for the House of Representatives to pass legislation that has already cleared the Senate unanimously, including his Residential Substance Use Disorder Treatment Act and his Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.

“Throughout this Congress, I’ve been more than a little puzzled about the House’s refusal to advance commonsense bills that pass the Senate with unanimous support.”

“Last week, the House finally passed the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Reauthorization Act that I authored with Senator Klobuchar. This bill will continue critical grants for mental health courts, crisis intervention teams, and other programs to promote public safety, improve mental health outcomes, and reduce recidivism. The bill passed the Senate unanimously in June, and while I’m disappointed it took so long for the House to act, I’m glad it finally did with overwhelming bipartisan support.”

“The House still refuses to pass another incredible bill, the Residential Substance Use Disorder Treatment Act.”

“It passed the Senate with unanimous support last year, but for some unknown reason, the House has refused to take it up so far.”

“As bad as it is to block any of these commonsense bipartisan bills, one of the most confounding is the bill to improve the way police respond to an individual experiencing a mental health crisis. This has been a major issue, something we have led on here in the Congress, and why the House refuses to act now is beyond me.”

“This legislation will ensure that all of our officers have the skills they need to defuse a potentially dangerous situation that could endanger them or, perhaps, the individual experiencing the crisis.”

“Law enforcement has specifically requested this training, and I’m not willing to second-guess them when they say these are important techniques to keep their officers and the general public safe.” 

“As recently as two months ago, grants for de-escalation training were uncontroversial. It’s tough to understand what’s changed and why anyone would vote against this bill now.”

“Anyone who considers themselves pro-police or pro law enforcement should be pro this legislation.”

“The Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act will go a long way to give those officers the funding and training that they’ve requested and that they need in order to do their jobs better.”