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Slideshow

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Reduce military spending, more money into health care, give mental health care coverage. Ban assault weapons.

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1.  The steps showed in the Schoolhouse Rock video are; Somebody has an idea on a law, then they tell their representative that law, if the representative agrees with the idea then they write it, introduce it to Congress, and it becomes a bill. Then, it'll stay a bill until the houses of Congress debate on the bill, and if they agree, then the President gets to decide whether or not to create the law, or veto the bill, if the president agrees, then the bill  becomes a law.
2.Committees work on marking up the bill and debate and vote on it. If it's good, then it will move on to the houses of Congress. The reason committee selection is so important is because if the committee selected doesn't care for the idea, then the bill will never become a law.
3. A bill faces many hurdles. The bill can be never leave the committee if they don't agree on it, or if the Senate/HoR doesn't agree with the bill, the bill can sit in a waiting list for a very long time, or the president can veto the bill, or can ignore the bill if the bill was introduced later than the 10-day period.

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Chris Murphy, a Democratic Senator from Connecticut who would back our proposal on gun control. He is a big proponent of ending gun violence following the Sandy Hook tragedy and the shooting in the Gay Bar in Florida. Following these events he conducted one of the longest filibusters in Senate history.

The House Member who would support us is Kathleen Rice. She is a democratic representative of New York. Currently she is Vice Chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. She is making it a priority to help break through the gridlock in Congress and pass common-sense solutions that we know will save lives.

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1. Were convicted of a crime punishable by being in prison for more than one year;
2. Are a fugitive from justice;
3. Are addicted to, or illegally use, any controlled substance;
Have been ruled mentally defective by a court, or are committed to a mental institution;
Are an illegal alien living in the United States unlawfully;
Received a dishonorable discharge from the U.S. Armed Forces;  Renounced your U.S. citizenship, if you are a U.S. citizen;
Are subject to a court restraining order that involves your 'intimate partner,' your partner's child, or children; or were convicted of domestic violence in any court of a misdemeanor.

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https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/11/29/567264925/health-insurers-are-still-skimping-on-mental-health-coverage

1. It has been nearly a decade since Congress passed the Mental Health Parity And Addiction Equity Act, with its promise to make mental health and substance abuse treatment just as easy to get as care for any other condition. Yet today, amid an opioid epidemic and a spike in the suicide rate, patients are still struggling to get access to treatment.

In 2015, behavioral care was four to six times more likely to be provided out-of-network than medical or surgical care.

Insurers paid primary care providers 20 percent more for the same types of care than they paid addiction and mental health care specialists, including psychiatrists.

State statistics vary widely. In New Jersey, 45 percent of office visits for behavioral health care were out-of-network. In Washington, D.C., it was 63 percent.

2. The high proportion of out-of-network behavioral care means patients with mental health or substance abuse problems were far more likely to face the high out-of-pocket costs that can make treatment unaffordable, even for those with insurance.
3. Still, discrepancies appear to continue in the more subtle ways that insurers deliver benefits, including the size of provider networks. Kate Berry, a senior vice president at America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's main trade group, says the real problem is the shortage of behavioral health clinicians.

Health plans are working very hard to actively recruit providers and offer telemedicine visits in areas with shortages, says Berry. "But some behavioral health specialists opt not to participate in contracts with providers, simply because they prefer to see patients who are able to pay out of their pocket and may not have the kind of severe needs that other patients have."
4. In Virginia, the Milliman report found that 26 percent of behavioral health office visits were out-of-network — more than seven times more than for medical care. With no alternative, Carlin stuck with her old therapist but now has to save up between sessions. She has just enough to cover a visit once every few months. "I make $30,000 a year," Carlin says. "I can't afford an out-of-pocket therapist or psychiatrist. I just can't afford it. I'm choosing groceries over a therapist." Angela Kimball, the director of advocacy and public policy at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, says she worries many patients like Carlin simply forgo treatment entirely. "One of the most common reasons people give of not getting mental health treatment is the cost," Kimball says. "The other is not being able to find care. It's hurting people in every corner of this nation."

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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/us/politics/budget-deal-health-care.html

1. To help offset the cost of new spending in the bill, Congress would take some money from a fund established by the Affordable Care Act to pay for public health initiatives such as preventing diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

2. The bill would also increase premiums for Medicare beneficiaries with income of more than $500,000 a year ($750,000 for couples filing joint returns).

3. In addition, the bill would make it easier for states to eliminate Medicaid coverage for some low-income people who hit the jackpot in lotteries. Under current Medicaid rules, income received as a lump sum, such as lottery winnings, is counted as income only in the month when it is received. Lottery winners may lose Medicaid for a month, but then reapply and, in some cases, qualify for coverage at a later date.

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Military Spending Current Wants for gov't

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Military Spending Current Wants for gov't

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1. The Pentagon is seeking a 10 percent hike in funding, asking Congress for $686.1 billion next year to grow the size and might of the U.S. military while investing in modern hardware, primarily in response to China and Russia’s growing capabilities.

2. The Defense Department’s fiscal year 2019 budget request, unveiled Monday, asks lawmakers to fund an increase of more than 15,000 active duty troops and invest in key modernization programs to rebuild the United States’ long-held battlefield capability advantages over Russia and China.

3.The budget represents a $74 billion increase over the Defense Department’s current funding. It calls for $617.1 billion in base funding and $69 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations, which pays for ongoing actions in war zones like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria as well as reassurance operations in Europe. The request does not include national defense money for the Department of Energy and other agencies that contribute to the Trump administration’s overall national defense request of $716 billion.

4. The budget would also jump-start the Pentagon’s rebuild of its nuclear infrastructure, which it committed to do in the Nuclear Posture Review released this month. The request includes $7.77 billion in upgrades to U.S. nuclear programs, including $2.3 billion for its nuclear-capable B-21 Raider heavy bomber, expected to enter the force in the mid-2020s.

5.Friday’s deal lifts a $549 billion budget cap for defense spending in 2018 to $629 billion and puts a remaining $71 billion in the Overseas Contingency Operations fund, for a total of $700 billion. The 2019 plan lifts a $562 billion budget cap to $647 billion and puts $69 billion in the war fund for a total of $716 billion.

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The legislative process would consist of

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https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5087?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22gun+control%22%5D%7D&r=3

Assault weapons ban proposed by David Cicilline, Rhode Island's first congressional district representative

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Senate:
Homeland Security Committee
Reason: Mass shooting have been a rapidly growing problem in the well being of our nation, both physically and mentally. Having the fear of being in a mass shooting constantly can have a massive negative effect on people´s mental state and this fear has become more prevalent which each mass shooting occurring.The shootings also of course take lives for no reason. Protecting citizen lives is a matter for Homeland. Banning weapons or accessories capable of causing this much death (such as assault weapons and bump stocks) could help prevent shootings of the magnitude we have been seeing recently.

Congress:
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee could review the bill because a major facet of the bill is creating mental health services for those who need it. The health portion of the committee relates to this, and the education portion of it relates to where many of these mass shooting occur, schools.

Homeland Security Governmental Affairs Same as the Homeland one for Senate