At Wednesday’s press conference, Vice President Kamala Harris introduced two bills to be sent to committee Monday: the Foreign Cyber Defense Act and the For the People Medicaid Plus Act. “Vice President Harris’ bills are an excellent reflection of our administration's efforts and successes with not only Medicare but also our cybersecurity infrastructure,” said President Biden.
Growing tensions between Russia in the US has made cybersecurity a priority for the Biden-Harris administration. “Cybersecurity is becoming more and more important, especially with increased interconnectedness,” said Harris. The Foreign Cyber Defense Act aims to reinforce America’s cybersecurity. In the press conference, Harris explained “This bill will fund a federal grant program to strengthen cybersecurity and help expand, modernize, and advance data protection systems against foregin adversaries.” The bill will partially be funded by $1.5 billion from the Biden-Harris administration’s budget.
“Cybersecurity is one of my top priorities as vice president,” said Harris.
Harris stressed that cybersecurity is not a partisan issue, “It doesn’t just affect Democrats, it doesn’t just affect Republicans, it affects all of us.” The bill should enter the foreign committee on Monday. “Senators, I urge you all to support these bills as they go into committee next week,” said Harris during the press conference.
The For the People Medicaid Plus Act aims to expand Medicaid to cover mental illness treatment. The bill comes at an especially difficult time for Americans, with a drastically increased amount of Americans diagnosed with a mental illness since the pandemic:
“In the United States 1 in 5 adults live with a mental illness, and a quarter of adults on Medicaid suffer from mental illness."
Harris’ bill will repeal Medicaid’s IMD (Institution for Mental Disease) exclusion, which prevents non-geriatric adults from receiving mental illness treatment at IMD facilities. An IMD is a facility that treats mental illnesses and has more than twelve beds. This exclusion severely limits Americans' access to mental health treatment under Medicaid. “Instead, they are cast aside to a vicious cycle of acute hospitalization, incarceration, homelessness, and victimization,” said Harris.
This repeal is long overdue and more necessary than ever. In the press conference Wednesday, Harris emphasized this point, saying “There is absolutely no reason [mental health] coverage should be more restricted than coverage available for traditional medical and surgical benefits.”
“What we’re trying to do is improve the lifestyle for most Americans, working class Americans,” said Harris.
Although Medicaid has long been a divisive program, Harris is hopeful as the bill enters the judiciary committee on Monday. “I hope the Republicans are able to see how important mental health is. . .We’ve been able to see how mental health is as important as your physical health. Just because you’re struggling mentally and it’s not physical doesn’t mean you’re not also suffering.”
President Biden looks forward to the passage of these bills. In an interview following the press conference, he said “I think that both of these topics that our bills are addressing are super crucial not only for our administration, but for the American people. I’m really excited to be signing them in the next few weeks and I look forward to hearing the floor session debates on them as well.”
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