By
Kevin Carty
December 3, 2015 at 11:12 am ET
McCarthy Calls for Mental Health Reform in Wake of San Bernardino Shooting
U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) participates in a news conference after a Republican caucus meeting at the Capitol in Washington, April 29, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
The U.S. needs to “overhaul” its mental health programs, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said today in response to a question about Wednesday’s mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif.
Mental health issues “had been a theme to a lot of the other shootings,” the California Republican said at a news conference on Capitol Hill. “I don’t know yet if that theme is coming out of this one. It could be motivated in a different manner.”
Earlier this week, following a mass shooting in Colorado Springs, Colo., House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called on Congress to take up a mental health bill introduced by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.).
“As the speaker talked about earlier in this week, we have been working with, and we have had a markup on Tim Murphy’s bill dealing with mental health,” McCarthy said.