Real bill currently in Congress c/o S/119/5365

Community Mental Wellness Worker Training Act

Policy area: Health ▲ 28 days since action Sponsor: Cory A. Booker, NJ-Senate, D → Congress.gov

Latest action (2026-08-07): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

What should pass

“AI Consensus Solution”

Community Mental Health Workforce Training Block Grant Act of 2025

Increase the number of trained community mental wellness workers by authorizing federal grants to train them, addressing the shortage of mental health professionals in underserved areas.

Bipartisan rationale: Democratic priorities: Expands mental health workforce in underserved communities, uses federal funding to address a public health crisis. Republican priorities: Preserves state control over training and hiring, avoids federal mandates, includes a sunset and spending cap, uses existing funds rather than new taxes.

Funding: 5% of unobligated balances from the Public $500 million per year for five Sunset 5y Oversight: HHS Office of Inspector Genera Enforcement: If a state does not expend at least

Vote-count path: ~260 House votes: 180 Democrats + 80 Republicans (federalism and fiscal conservatives); ~63 Senate votes: 48 Democrats + 15 Republicans (moderates and rural-state senators).

→ Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 (Spending Clause – general welfare) → Tenth Amendment (reserving powers to states) → South Dakota v. Dole (483 U.S. 203) – spending must be for general welfare, unambiguous, related to federal interest, and not coercive

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