Earlier this month, U.S. Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, David Trone, D-Maryland, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania and Ann McLane Kuster, D-New Hampshire, announced the creation of the Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force, according to a news release.
The task force is an effort to promote policies to combat addiction and mental health crises in America.
The task force will hold regular meetings with stakeholders, attend site visits and create policies. According to the release, one of the task force’s first priorities will be to get a grasp on how COVID-19 has impacted the state of addiction and mental health in America.
“Southwest Washington communities were already struggling with mental health and substance use issues prior to COVID – and the strain of the pandemic has increased those struggles exponentially. I’m helping lead the Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force because I want to help people in Southwest Washington, and across the country, break addiction and obtain treatment for improved mental health,” Herrera Beutler said in the release.
