Senator Chris Murphy and Mental Health Care

 Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut isn’t your typical freshman senator. Murphy was elected in 2013 but that hasn’t stopped in from jumping right into the Senate. Not only did Murphy fiercely fight for gun control in his first year, he openly opposed President Obama’s policies on Syria, unheard of for a first-term Senator. Murphy is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as well as the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions. Most recently, his constant efforts in the Senate resulted in Murphy being appointed to the Appropriations Committee (http://www.murphy.senate.gov).

Recently, Murphy has been spending a lot of time back at home in Connecticut to talk about his Mental Health Reform Act of 2015. Last week, Murphy held a public hearing in New Haven to discuss the act. Its no surprise that Murphy, a progressive Democrat, is involved in this issue. However, what makes it so interesting is that Murphy has partnered with Republican Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. The two both sit on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions. Murphy didn’t only speak about this topic in New Haven. Murphy has spent a few weeks traveling all over Connecticut, advocating for Mental Health Reform and reaching out to the public for their input and possible improvements for the bill (New Haven Register).

This isn’t a new issue for Murphy but he’s never put so much passion and effort behind it before. When Murphy ran for Senate and throughout his first year he primarily focused on gun control. So why the sudden change in focus? The more I thought about the more I realized how intricately connected the two issues are. Murphy is passionate about gun control because before being elected Senator he served as the representative of Connecticut’s 5^th District, where Newtown is located. Murphy campaigned for Senator on gun control reform and used his personal connection to the Newtown shooting. But even after the Sandy Hook shooting, the Senate failed to pass stricter gun control laws. So what did Murphy do? He refocused the fight on mental health. The shooter in the Sandy Hook massacre, Adam Lanza, was mentally unstable and ended the shooting by committing suicide. If Murphy couldn’t win the fight through gun control he could refocus on improving mental health care. Murphy’s focus on bipartisan support of the bill as well as his commitment to communicating with his constituencies, gives a hopeful outlook for mental health care reform.