In This Week's Edition of E-News...

Murphy Calls Out Failed Leadership in Congress 
Murphy Votes Yes on Defunding Planned Parenthood
Demanding Justice for American Victims of Iranian Terror
Oversight Hearing Reveals State Insurance Exchanges Are a Bust
Attention High School Students: Service Academy Nomination Deadline is October 15^th

Murphy Calls Out Failed Leadership in Congress

Click here to watch Murphy on CNN's New Day.

"We have a federal mental health system more interested in protecting people's rights to be sick than their rights to be well," said Murphy to CNN following yesterday’s tragedy in Roseburg, Oregon when a gunman opened fire at Umpqua Community College killing at least nine people and wounding several others. "We have a criminal justice system more interested in putting people in prison than giving them hospital beds. We don't have enough providers or places for care. We spend and waste billions on absurd programs like making collages and buying paints and having websites with the sing along songs and refusing to even acknowledge that schizophrenia and bipolar illness exists.”

The shooting came on the same day 23 organizations in the mental health and substance abuse community sent a letter to House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) urging the committee to undertake and markup meaningful mental health reform legislation. H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, currently boasts 128 cosponsors and endorsements from newspaper editors, physicians, and parents of children with mental illness. 

The Murphy bill is the result of a three year investigation review of the nation’s mental health system. Local members of the community proved crucial in drafting the bill, as Murphy held numerous public forums in Southwestern Pennsylvania open to all constituents, as well as town hall meetings, and dozens of events to discuss with parents, providers, and law enforcement about the committee’s findings and ideas to improve care for the severely mentally ill.

On CNN with Chris Cuomo, Congressman Murphy expressed his frustration regarding Congress foot-dragging on his bipartisan bill. "Congress will probably have another moment of silence when we get back next week. And I, like many Americans, will be sitting there extremely frustrated saying we don't need silence. We need action. And if Americans want to do anything, they ought to pick up a pen or go to a computer or pick up their phone and call congress and say move this comprehensive mental health legislation, H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. Because once again Congress will say, ‘you know, we've got other priorities to work on.’ And again I put blame on both sides of the aisle. Leadership from top to bottom who push this aside. These families, these victims, they are hurting. They are in pain for the rest of their lives. They don't want people talking about the compromise and putting this off. They need action now.”

In June, the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee held a legislative hearing on H.R. 2646 in which Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds and former Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) shared stories from their own families’ struggles with mental illness and urged Congress to take action on Murphy’s bill. The legislation is awaiting a date for a mark-up hearing in the Health subcommittee. Murphy has been aggressively seeking Committee action, noting that each day his bill is stalled, more lives are lost. He introduced the original Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act last session of Congress, and reintroduced again in 2015.

To share your thoughts on the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, please click here.

Murphy Votes Yes on Defunding Planned Parenthood

In response to gruesome videos that continue to surface revealing Planned Parenthood’s selling of aborted baby parts, Congressman Murphy, along with 151 of his colleagues in the House, voted against a government funding measure that continues to fund Planned Parenthood. Along with voting against the stopgap government spending bill, Murphy supported legislation (H.Con.Res.79) to put a moratorium on taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood and transferring its federal funding stream to Community Health Centers to ensure women’s health services continue uninterrupted. The House overwhelmingly passed H.Con.Res. 79, but the Senate failed to take action on the measure. The President signed the short-term government funding legislation into law on September 30th, funding federal government operations through December 11th. 

Individual states have taken steps to prevent state Medicaid funds from going to Planned Parenthood, only to be told by federal courts that a bureaucratic interpretation of federal law prevents them from doing so. To give states the legal autonomy and act to protect the sanctity of life, Murphy supported legislation (H.R. 3495) so states could be the ultimate decision maker on excluding health service providers who are involved in abortions from receiving Medicaid contracts. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, Planned Parenthood receives approximately $390 million a year through Medicaid reimbursements. The House passed H.R. 3495 by a vote of 236-193 and the legislation has been referred to the Senate. 

This week, the Oversight Subcommittee, chaired by Congressman Murphy, continued its investigation of Planned Parenthood aborted fetal tissue sales brought to light in a series of undercover videos released throughout the summer. On Wednesday, Murphy, along Energy& Commerce Committee leaders, sent detailed letters to Planned Parenthood and several of its affiliates seeking further documentation to account for the policies related to aborted fetal tissue. As the investigative process continues to move forward, a full timeline of the Murphy-led investigation is available online at the Committee’s website, and will be continually updated as additional briefings, interviews, and hearings are scheduled.  

Last month, the House also advanced with Murphy’s support the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 3504), which strengthens a 2002 federal law that was enacted to protect the lives of infants who survive late-term abortions. Under current law, infants who survive a planned abortion are entitled to the same legal rights as any other human begin. However, the recently publicized undercover videos that have chronicled Planned Parenthood and  their partners’ abortion practices have revealed the organizations’ callous disregard for human life, demonstrating the need to update the 2002 law. H.R. 3504 amends federal code to ensure that abortionists who do not provide medical care to babies that survive an abortion are held criminally liable. However, President Obama Administration announced he will veto the bill if it reaches his desk.

To share your thoughts on Planned Parenthood, please click here.

Demanding Justice for American Victims of Iranian Terror

Murphy is a cosponsor of the Justice For Victims of Iranian Terrorism Act.

On October 23, 1983, a suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with dynamite crashed into a U.S. military barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 220 Marines, 18 Navy personnel, and three Army soldiers and injuring hundreds more. The attack was planned and executed by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This week legislation passed the House, which Rep. Murphy supported and cosponsored, that prohibits the President from waiving sanctions as part of the recent Iran Nuclear Agreement until Iran pays the legal terrorism-related judgments it owes. The Justice for Victims of Iranian Terrorism Act (H.R. 3457) holds Iran accountable by requiring them to pay court-ordered compensation to victims of its state-sponsored terrorism before we lift any sanctions. 

A federal court has ordered Iran to pay more billions in damages and interest to the families and survivors of the Beirut bombing. But, those Americans, including several Southwestern Pennsylvanians, have not received their settlement because the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran has tied up the process with endless appeals in U.S. courts.

In total, Iran owes $43.5 billion in compensation to the families of the victims of its state-sponsored terror. Yet the Obama administration has never demanded the regime pay these families. 

Cpl. Terry Valore, USMC (Ret.) of Latrobe was burned over 90 percent of his body when the Iranian truck bomb exploded in 1983 and is one of the lead plaintiffs in the case. Among those killed in the 1983 bombing was Marine Maj. John Macroglou of Aliquippa. Following his death, Maj. Macroglou’s wife Deborah Coltrane moved with her daughter to Edgeworth to be closer to her parents in Sewickley.

In total Iran has accumulated almost $44 billion in unpaid damages through more than 80 cases brought by Americans over the last 15 years. Among the other victims of Iranian terrorism who have been awarded judgments in U.S. courts are victims of the 9/11 attacks, the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, and numerous other bus bombings, suicide attacks, assassinations and hostage takings.

“Iran has spent billions over the past several decades backing terrorist organizations that carry out murderous attacks on Americans around the world. The families of those murdered by the Iranian regime like Beaver County native Major John Macroglou, the highest ranking officer killed in the attack on the Beirut Marine barracks, and Latrobe native Cpl. Terry Valore who survived the Marine barracks bombing, deserve their just compensation before the Ayatollah gets a dime,” said Murphy.

“In short,” Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA) author of the bill says that without this legislation, “Iran’s hardliners will get a payday while their victims await billions of dollars in compensation.”

While the bill awaits action in the Senate, the United States Supreme Court again delayed justice for the families of the Beirut bombing this week by choosing to hear another appeal from the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

To share your thoughts on Justice for Victims of Iranian Terrorism Act, please click here.

Oversight Hearing Reveals State Insurance Exchanges Are a Bust

Murphy has taken the lead on ACA congressional oversight efforts, bringing many of the ACA's flaws to light.

This week, Subcommittee on Oversight& Investigations Chairman Tim Murphy continued his panel’s probing investigation of the so-called Affordable Care Act (ACA) by calling the heads of five state healthcare exchanges to account for the over $2 billion their states received to establish health insurance marketplaces under the ACA.

Murphy noted that despite the claims of some, the status of the state healthcare exchanges are abysmal in terms of cost and performance, and not the picture of “rainbows and unicorns” that Obamacare supporters have been painting. 

Rather, Tuesday’s hearing illustrated the many problems continue to plague state insurance marketplaces, which have wasted billions of dollars in taxpayer money. To date, the federal government has provided states with $5.51 billion to setup their own state health insurance marketplaces. Despite this tremendous expenditure of taxpayer dollars, the ACA failed to provide any sort of guidance to states on what they were permitted to do when establishing their healthcare insurance exchanges.

Murphy noted that the complete lack of oversight by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was largely responsible for the tremendous amount of government waste that has resulted from failed state healthcare exchanges. For example, Murphy highlighted that due to the lack of federal guidelines, the State of Hawaii, which was awarded $205 million by CMS, ended up spending nearly $50,000 for each individual it was actually able to register on its exchange. This past June, Hawaii announced that it would be shuttering its exchange and would migrate its operations to the federal healthcare.gov due to the fact that its state exchanged failed to generate “sufficient revenues to sustain operations.” Similarly, the state of Oregon announced in March that it  would also dissolve its state exchange, squandering $305 million of federal taxpayer money.

As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Murphy has taken the lead on ACA congressional oversight efforts, bringing many of the ACA's flaws to light. In 2013, he released a report entitled "Rate Shock" revealing a triple digit rate increase that would fall on those in the individual, small and large group insurance markets under the ACA, which ultimately proved true for thousands of families in Southwestern Pennsylvania and millions across the country. At Tuesday’s hearing subcommittee members heard more of the same as it was revealed that citizens in Hawaii could expect their insurance premiums to rise approximately 48 percent for the upcoming year, thanks to the ACA. The upcoming rise in insurance rates is not limited to Hawaii as the Office of Personnel Management announced this week that federal employees and retirees will see the highest hike in their insurance rates since 2011;  similar increases are expected to be seen nationwide.

To share your thoughts on the Affordable Care Act, please click here.

Attention High School Students: Service Academy Nomination Deadline is October 15^th

Congressman Murphy wants to remind all students that are in the process of applying to one of the nation’s four Service Academies that the deadline to turn in a completed application to receive a congressional nomination is October 15, 2015.

As part of the Service Academies admission process, applicants must receive a nomination from their Member of Congress, Senator, or the Vice President. The four Service Academies requiring congressional nominations are: the Naval Academy, Merchant Marine Academy, Air Force Academy, and the U.S. Military Academy (West Point).

Congressman Murphy emphasizes academic excellence, demonstration of leadership, and involvement in a student’s school and community when reviewing applications during the selection process. Applicants seeking a nomination from Congressman Murphy MUST be residents of the 18^th Congressional District and official residents of the state of Pennsylvania.

For Congressman Murphy’s nomination process, applicants are required to submit:

• completed application with a recent photograph
• official SAT or ACT scores 
• high school and/or college transcripts 
• at least two letters of recommendation (one academic and one extracurricular) 

After applicants have successfully submitted a completed application, Congressman Murphy hosts an Academy Review Board Day, when all applicants are required to interview with members the Academy Review Board. This year’s interview day will be held at Hempfield High School on Saturday, November 14, 2015.  The school is located at 4345 State Route 136, Greensburg, PA 15601.

Congressman Murphy encourages all students to consider applying for one of the Service Academies. For further information regarding Congressman Murphy’s nomination process and admission to the Service Academies, call his Mt. Lebanon office at (412) 344-5583 or click on the following link http://murphy.house.gov/uploads/NominationApplication2015.pdf to obtain a copy of the application.