Cortez Masto bill has $50M for mental health pandemic funding
WASHINGTON — The tragic number of suicides by Las Vegas high school students, along with the anxiety and depression experienced by first responders due to the pandemic, prompted Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto to refile a bill Wednesday seeking $50 million for mental health programs.
Cortez Masto said it was urgent to address mental health needs immediately because of the restrictions and hardships caused by the coronavirus.
“It’s obviously taking a horrific toll on our students,” Cortez Masto told the Review-Journal.
The grants sought by Cortez Masto would dovetail with the Biden administration’s hastened vaccination push to open public schools and provide more funds for testing and aid for health care clinics and workers on the front line of the pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 people, including 4,088 in Nevada.
Cortez and Sen. Jacky Rosen, both Democrats, spoke with the White House seeking additional doses of vaccines for Nevada, which has received fewer doses per 100,000 people than other states.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday the administration was close to a deal with two additional vaccine manufacturers that would increase the number of doses going to states.
Rosen said she was glad to see Biden say he wanted to increase weekly “vaccines to 1.4 million, at a minimum.”
Opening schools
Vaccines are needed to open public schools, many which have been closed since last March when the pandemic swept across the states, and provide safety to those that have re-opened.
Clark County School District employees were notified this week that they can begin registering for COVID-19 vaccinations and the administration and Nevada push to protect teachers and counselors.
The pandemic’s forced closure of schools has had a deadly impact on the nation’s school children, as is evident in Las Vegas, where suicide has claimed 19 students since last March.
Cortez Masto said increased vaccinations plus $50 million in grant funds for virtual peer support behavioral health programs would begin to address the stress triggers on students.
She said remote learning, without being able to engage with peers or counselors, has created mental health issues. The stress of students on virtual calls, where their peers can see inside their homes, causes stress to some children.
“The tragic string of student suicides in the Clark County School District adds even more urgency to the need to address this crisis and prioritize improving mental health services for Nevadans,” Cortez Masto said.
She said she has consulted with Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara about her legislation, which is supported by the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, Mental Health America and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Nevada lacking in care
The grants would be distributed through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration and doled out on criteria to determine community need.
Funding would be made available for virtual peer programs, said Cortez Masto, who noted that Nevada “doesn’t have a lot of behavioral health services clinics.”
The program grants would also be available for groups supporting first responders or others seeking peer group support and counseling during the pandemic.
Cortez Masto filed the bill as stand-alone legislation, but she said her goal is get the language tucked into a COVID-19 relief package that Biden has proposed and the House and Senate are expected to address in the weeks ahead.
The price tag on the COVID-19 relief bill is $1.9 trillion. Some Republicans are pressing the administration to justify the spending in the bill because there are still funds left over from a relief package passed in December.
But the Biden administration and Democrats are pushing for a new package that includes more funding for vaccines, testing, economic assistance and health care money that would include Cortez Masto’s legislation on mental health programs.
Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.