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coming up, the recent white house summit on mental health. the secretary of housing and urban development ben carson and others discuss efforts to address mental health challenges. this is about 50 minutes. ms. sullivan: hello, everyone. we are going to go ahead and start the final panel today. i'm katie sullivan at the department of justice. i just want to say thank you so much to the white house and the president, to the domestic policy council, steve wagner, thank you so much for hosting this and taking this serious issue and elevating it in this way. thanks to all participants. and at this time i have the best and easiest job of all of the moderators today. look at this amazing panel.

i have very little introduction to do. i will start with a man was just talking about, secretary carson. secretary carson leads us at hud currently, but i want to point out that he has had an amazing career as a doctor and is a passionate advocate for housing issues in this country. we couldn't ask for anyone better. thank you so much. and i want to point out with the department of justice secretary, you have done amazing work at highlighting issues with landlords tenants, to make sure , they are protected. we appreciate that. zones,o with opportunity we have had the opportunity to work on that issue. with that you can make your remarks. thank you. it is a pleasure to e

with you some thoughts onre to e mental illness and i want to thank president trump for showing up in this area and this is something he has been very concerned mr. carson: it is a pleasure to share with you some thoughts on mental illness and i want to thank president trump for showing up in this area. and this is something he has been very concerned about, and not just because of all the crazy people he has to deal with up on the hill. of mental illness to recognize the nation's opioid epidemic. >> that takes so holistic approach to recognize is not

just physical structure about a place where social cultural and economic engines are formed in places where families are raised and memories created and education and opportunity begins. that means we don't just need healthy homes but healthy people living inside of those homes and when the problems facing living with mental illness go unresolved it's usually not out of credulous or people who are evil but it's because people don't think about these issues. coming from a long career in medicine with focus on the human brain a mental illness and the health of the mind obviously this is a very important subject to me. in fact when i entered middle school i thought i would be a

psychiatrist i was a psych major in college i had an interesting professor i was gonna be a great psychoanalyst prickle obviously went from the intangible to the tangible aspects of the brain. but really i have remained very concerned about mental health in general. when the child has a brain condition that requires surgery, so often it can affect the behavior it can be disturbing until the problem is fixed sometimes it is the first manifestation by working it with so many hardships i learned a beautiful lesson that just because you have the condition that renders you abnormal doesn't mean you have fun - - don't have significant potential everybody has dreams

and the role of this administration is to help all americans to realize those dreams that are possible when applied to god-given talent. the first steps to help is getting healthy and there are a number of ways we are working on that. first, head - - her head housing and urban development often raffles for those who do not have a house or home. homelessness is an issue impacting cities across the country and mental illness often plays a significant role leading to maintain a home. and it is true when it comes to veterans who frequently have some significant problems that have been caused by them joining the military.

people were never actually on the front lines in combat but the artillery is firing her having a concussive injury to your brain that has artie shown the same kind of changes that we have seen in professional football players so this is not to be taken lightly by any stretch of the imagination. and my time as secretary having a chance to walk through the streets of skid row, shelters and new hampshire's yesterday and san antonio meeting with veterans who are facing a lot of hardships and it really is a terrible situation. fortunately we are making great strides. our recent 2019. in time homeless data shows 800 more

homeless veterans were housed between 2018 and 2019 continuing a nationwide decline to reduce almost a 50 percent decline of homeless veterans over the last decade and this accelerated over the last couple of years and this progress has prompted 78 communities in 33 states to declare an end to veteran homelessness in our country connecticut virginia and delaware have also declared an end to veteran homelessness which means more veterans are off the street with a place to call home. much of this can be contributed to the continuum of care program the grant program that provided a record two.$3 billion to support thousands of local homelessness and hud

administered help to homeless veterans from the hud program that provides housing and the v.a. provides the clinical services and management services. we tried to provide housing that doesn't work services just doesn't work but provided together we have a large percentage of people being able to move on to better facility like yesterday in texas 90 percent of the people who come in are actually able to graduate into self-sufficiency. in the past decade more than 100,000 vouchers have been awarded to this program serving the needs of 170,000 homeless veterans.

the program got a shot in the arm yesterday when we announced 23 million more dollars to 16 local agencies to continue and expand this program going beyond veterans homelessness for all groups the latest data found once in the state of california experiences 60 percent increase of homelessness the trend would have been down again this year for the entire country in california they have restrictive zoning laws and development of affordable housing is made almost impossible we are continuing to work with them i have a call with mayor garcetti in about half an hour to see if we can bring some common sense to this.

but contrary to its happening in california finance reforms to address how to best serve affordable housing so based on evidence. many of you have medical backgrounds and you appreciate doing things and that's not so much the case. and work very hard to twist a lot of arms with that ideology. but these efforts are further supported by the white house counsel to affordable housing to have a privilege to hearing that to remove those barriers that are preventing you from getting housing and those that struggle with mental health to

struggle with adequate housing and part of the council's work has issued a request for information the rfi for all of the stakeholders to submit to us information that they have on things that are preventing affordable housing and we invite all of you contributors to that. mental illness is often linked to substance abuse and i think you've heard quite a bit about that today so i will exercise that portion other than point out in the city like boston drug overdose is the leading cause of death among the homeless population. 81 percent of those overdoses are from opioids. it is a real menace and a

crisis of hope and another area is bringing hope to people yesterday we opened the h in vision center that uses what is already in existence to bring them under the same roof to make them available for people who have been chronically dependent so they can climb those letters of opportunity and realize the american dream is for themselves i look forward to continuing to work with president trump and my fellow cabinet members with all of you here as we tackle some of these problems which i think we are eminently capable of fixin fixing, particularly when we recognize that we the american people are not each other's enemy and we don't allow people to foment all this hatred and discord and

actually focus on our real issues. can the spirit of america can certainly solve this problem as well. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you doctor carson for taking the time to speak with us now someone who i truly do not believe needs an introduction is kellyanne conway she is the counselor to the president. she has an extremely robust background in politics and policy but i will tell you she is smart and feels these issues very deeply and compassionate and caring we are so fortunate to have her working for us with this

president and in particular with the opioid crisis leading us out of the crisis has been something i think has to be one of your greatest accomplishment accomplishments. >> thank you very much. [applause] it has been a privilege and a blessing to work in this white house on behalf of the country i love so dearly i never thought i would be in public service at my age but it is something i will treasure because i think it has great real people impact when those who have suffered the loss of loved ones are they themselves are suffering or feel they got a chip on a possible job opportunity or housing opportunity to feel that not on paper was somebody signing

something that they feel they could get their dignity back and their feet back on the ground and frankly that's why so many of us work here and continue to work here. you could be one tiny molecule the president asked me early on if i would help to lead his effort with the administration to the opioid crisis but also the drug demand and supply crisis it's no accident he just described it that way to all of you in the last half hour it's opioids and meth and heroin and cocaine and fentanyl marijuana use using

by pregnant women for an issue the president talked about recently and that means we refer to it as the crisis next-door for two reasons because it is an discriminant the crisis is indiscriminate affects all races both genders all age groups all political affiliation every geographic area, god bless you. and it is indiscriminate not just any geographic group that has seeped into every nook and cranny and the second reason refer to it as the crisis next-door what i want to touch upon is that we want people to know they are not alone and

those of this use disorder or any type of hopelessness that is so powerful to so many americans we feel duty bound that stigma and silence and for those who will suffer and that we believe it is a disease not a moral failing it is a disease the parallels between the two as a layperson are extraordinary and eerie in many ways if you look at the statistics mental illness and substance abuse suicide the leading cause of death we just cannot have that.

we should not bear that or look the other way when we know the statistics behind the statistics are people that we know and don't know but every single one has a value and is in need of our help. what i think also about the drug crisis think about the new wonderful statistics that should hearten every one of us and the president believes in each and every one of us has an effect of these positive statistics for the first time since 1990 we have a decline in overall overdose death due to drugs five.1 percent across the board it is down precipitously more in the state of ohio. [applause] it is tremendous. in ohio we are now down

24 percent off the peak in iowa 23 percent. new hampshire 11 percent. west virginia the hardest hit 9 percent so at least we're turning in the right direction and i see many people are in their chair. so i you have been on the frontlines for a very long time and you have been day by day and step-by-step with setbacks wondering where is the money where is the help. why doesn't somebody raise more money and awareness and education information. i feel that we are chipping away to say slowly doesn't change overnight so we do feel

there are little shades of hope that we should keep pushing forward but i would like to tell you something that is country incredibly divided especially this week a country that is divided there is no division whatsoever when it came time for congress last year to vote with little comprehensive peace of legislation hr six past with every single democratic vote. think about that people say would like to vote for this or the trade deal or the workforce development but i want to win. hr six is so overwhelmingly a win for people of this country including every single

democrat so that was wonderful was an important bipartisan moment since he has been here because there's money for treatment and recovery and patient assisted treatment and more important resources respect for first it - - responders border patrol those that are out at their own peril i don't know what they will find when they look in the car in search and eight -year-old who's running over by himself and carrying illicit drugs they don't know what they will see or what the dogs will find but yet they have more money to do that they have the respect of the entire administration. we have so much more money for prevention education and workforce development, the number of babies born taken

the first breath of life already chemically dependent is five times the level of the tribal communities we are doing something about that the first lady who have had a great enormous privilege of working with she has raised attention to this issue another issues so the newborn and the mother can stay together it's better for the newborn and the mother. she is already wracked with guilt about what has happened and now she and her newborn are safe and they have survived to keep them together even just today there was an announcement of a new grant to the moms initiative maternal. maternal opioid something but it was a positive. the upshot is eight or nine

coordinating agencies and a lot more money and awareness some people get the information they need a lot of people don't know it's harmful to the baby in utero they've never been told that's the back to back successful feedback days it such a simple message and free of charge to tell americans in your community and circle of life you can bring back the unused expired unneeded drugs no questions asked just bring them back google has been an amazing partner and facebook and others but google has invested so much money and personnel and time in connecting americans with 5200 and counting places to return those unused drugs and medical devices type into the google bar and use prescription or takeback that tells you

immediately how to get there. so i think the private sector sees from the public sector they step up we are very aware of what we've been doing for years on substance abuse and violence of homelessness and we know it all runs together for i'm also very happy to report there seems to be a greater awareness words like fentanyl in narcan. that is incredibly important because everyday americans can see that we should end the first advisory that we should arm ourselves with narcan and know how to use it you really could save a life i know we are a layperson we have medical professionals but for

us to get that message out we spend so much time talking about things that are not as relevant or urgent is what we talk about today and that is our one criticism when i talk about is incomplete coverage we share joint custody of the country and we should find a responsible way to coparent there is so many things we're not telling americans and the most important measure in that regard recently is defined treatment.gov locator that locator shows the technological abilities that government has so you can

customize and type in veteran medicaid medicare private insurance temporary outpatient i need temporary inpatient you can customize it by gender or age before it was quantity over quality then it sends 500 locations you don't go to a single because it's so overwhelming now it really is for you and that is a great example of a smarter and more responsive federal government trying to align itself with the great efforts you have made over the decades semi final message is very simple, thank you the president thinks you you saw his remarks before but it didn't include what he said

you think you're underappreciated and nobody sees your work it is very appreciated and then it has such a real people impact of rpi that we strive for and that just made a little bit of difference every single day from the bottom of my heart thank you and god bless you. [applause]

ms. sullivan: he runs the national drug policy. jim, if you want to make comments, thank you. mr. carroll: is this better? titles.ike i have many the director is probably not a title you are familiar with. it is known as the u.s. drug czar. i am thinking that i have ben to my left, kelly and to my right, and katie to my right, i think my new title should be a thorn between roses. as the director, i am charged with the responsibility to make sure that the $36 billion that the government spends is consistent with the president's

view of how to tackle this issue. i'm extraordinarily blessed, i have a president that communicates on the issue from the beginning. and that is why i have so many other people out there fighting this. when before have you heard a secretary of hud talking about substance abuse disorder? the counselor to the president, a woman who quite frankly -- the person in the white house who sees the president more than anybody else here, talking about it, and getting the president to talk about it? you realize that this is the first president to talk about that no. -- about fetanyl. the community drug programs have been around for a long time. we never had a president who has talked about the 800 drug-free community programs and it has met with these kids in the schools. we never had a president before

talk about the synthetic drugs coming into our country, that are killing so many people with just a few grains of salt, that size. so i am fortunate to be put to share this mission with some incredibly talented people that the president hand selected. you hear about the secretary talking about this, but when i have the ability to call any member of the cabinet, starting with kellyanne, to say we need to see the president, chances are she has already spoken to him about it. and that is because we have a commitment from you all. and when i look in the crowd, i see a lot of faces i know. i have one blessing you don't. i get to leave d.c. frequently, and so i see the crowd and i see so many people i have met on the road when i am traveling around the country. one thing is clear. we talked about words and new

words you hear from the president. one word i think we need to talk about today is stigma. and it is the stigma of mental illness and at stigma associated with it and with substance abuse disorder. as kellyanne knows, when i first started talking about this job, i didn't tell people why. i asked kellyanne if i could work on this issue, if i could assist her, but i did not tell her why. it was because a few months before, my wife called me and said come home. we are in a crisis. and i did not know it. for reasons -- it is not my story to tell, but a family member came to us and said i have a, dependency to opioids it started with a prescription and

i need help. i'm about to go down a bad path. and i am embarrassed to tell you . youi am embarrassed to tell that i didn't tell kellyanne and i didn't tell the president when i talked about taking this job why wanted to. , i got to ondcp, i met some extraordinarily talented staff and some are today. realize that i needed to come forward and say, i am a parent and i have a family member, and this is why i am here. so that is why i am driven. you hear about it because it is the crisis next-door. you have heard of the president be very open that his brother fred died of addiction to alcohol. so we have a president who is passionate. kellyanne and alex they all know someone. and that is why under this

administration, we have more money trying to get the workforce ready so when there is less stigma and people are willing to come forward, we have professionals there. we are funding more addiction medicine fellowships than ever before. one thing that i also do not think that people who do not study the administration closely like i do, when i am looking at the $36 billion is they think, ok how much is this president , and this administration spending on law enforcement? i'll bet $30 billion of it, and road -- ile on the have heard all kinds of things, $35 billion out of $36 billion. i tell them, no, this administration is spending more money on treatment and prevention of than law enforcement. we have asked congress and we work very closely with congress to try to get these appropriations because we

realize, we talked about it earlier, that we will not arrest our way out of this problem. courts outing more of my office than ever before. we have criminal justice reform that has been led by jared kushner and kellyanne conway as well, to make sure those who have turned their life around are able to get back to employment, get housing, and to be able to mend relationships with their families. and while we are talking about that, i think both kellyanne and ben talked about the co-occurring problem that is so typically found with folks who have any mental illness -- medical illness. the problem of that they are so much more likely, well over 50% more likely to try to illicit drug use. there are a variety of factors. we could talk about that all day. but we know not only are they

victimized in terms of housing and victimized in terms of issues, they are also victimized because they are the hardest to reach. they are the hardest to explain why, don't try this substance. and if they are the hardest ones to comprehend because the facing,that they are with any mental illness is one , of understanding and compassion. sometimes a lack of friendship and loneliness of someone to be there to say, don't try that, don't do that. it is hard for me not to think about my job every day and the blessings i have with my family. and i get to be able to say that my colleagues are also my friends, who are there for me. so often the people you are treating, the people in your housing don't have that luxury to be able to call up a friend, a colleague, or a family member. so that is what we are passionate about, making sure that the about 200 people a day who are dying from various drug overdoses have a shoulder to cry

arm to put around them, and sometimes a hand to hold. that is where you come in. you are providing that lifeline. we can give you the funds and we can try to make sure it is getting to the right place but , at the end of the day, the president understands because you heard him talk about it. it is about that relationship. that is why he was thanking you. it is about your ability to reach people and touch people in ways and that i can't. phoenixchance to go to -- i got a chance to go to a residential facility in arlington, virginia nearby, and i went and met with the people. it was my third or fourth visit to the phoenix house in arlington. it is a beautiful way to make sure some of the programs that kellyanne and i are so

passionate at the end of the day -- it is our responsibility to the president and the american people that it is working. i think you very much for allowing us the opportunity to close on this note. because we have a 5% reduction in the number of americans dying, because we are making sure there are addiction fellowships. there is now at gw a masters of health and addiction medicine . it was just announced. i don't know what your mascot is, but congratulations. colonials. we made some remarkable achievements. as i have talked about, we talked about more money for treatment more money for , prevention, and we could talk about what the attorney general has done. but at the end of the day these , aren't numbers, they are people, and that is what we need to remember. so it is great to be with you today. i am sorry you had to go through so many events to end up as me with me is the final speaker but

, has been great to be here. [applause] ms. sullivan: apparently, we have questions. sayfirst of all i have to what i love about working for the administration is we have such a can-do attitude. and i want to say that when the president or attorney general, especially attorney general barr says i would like to work on this problem and we need a solution, then you know within the next week they are going to expect you to have a solution. one of the things that you have leveragelyanne, is to federal resources. i am wondering as we envision the future as we continue to

work on the drug crisis in this country, addiction crisis and mental illness, what do you think are the next necessary steps or things you would like to see, the wish list, if you will? kellyanne: there is so much to do. one of the things we've been able to do in the white house complex is do a little bit of forensic analysis. what kind of resources do they have? it includes many. it is manpower. you do find, if you are an outsider looking in, you have said for years, why is it so expansive and expensive and invasive and intrusive in the

government? we have all of these employees and what do they all do? so when i started the opioid cabinet, bringing together 13 and 14 departments and agencies together -- the question is, what are you doing together? some knew right away and some had to go back and do research and see. sure enough, there are different agencies and departments that have visibility and authority into the overall drug crisis that you may not think of. hud and labor. we involve them in the cabinet so that the programs and resources they have broadcast to the world that when you are lucky enough to get through one of the drug court treatment emerge thend you other side, our work is not done. where is the job, housing, skills training? we want to run around and say we have 7.1 million available jobs

and more people that are looking for jobs. but there are people looking for jobs being denied for any number of reasons. so we involve them and away look in the private sector like those in indiana, where i had the privilege of going with a couple of the cabinet members and our second lady. it is one of many of a growing number of employers in the country where if you fail a drug test, instead of firing you and taking away from you your job, which is your springboard to any type of recovery in the end and re-assimilation -- instead of firing you, they hold the job open for you but they demand that you immediately enter a treatment program. and you keep the skills training going. that is a private sector solution that the federal government can amplify and tell others, look at this model or , you can do this too. likeve the usual suspects dhs doj, ondcp, hhs, fda, and

, the rest, cdc, surgeon general, but we also had the state department involved. they studied at the cartels, the business models and of the flow of the manufacturing and marketing and money and movement that goes on but the trafficking -- on with the trafficking and the drug cartels. we have also involved other departments and agencies that -- you know education, trying to , get this into the curriculum and trying to courage. to encourage different districts to adopt it or different law enforcement first responder groups to go back in and talk about this to the schoolchildren or offer free advice on the weekends. first and foremost, it is finding about what everyone is doing and empowering and encouraging and sometimes compelling them to show what they are doing, what is produced. and also to say what would you

do next? what are the goals? and i think one of the greatest things moving forward is to make sure that people who are on the front lines in the states, far , understand that we are here as a resource and as a partner. and i am thrilled to know and that the president and the first lady and the vice president and the second lady and so many people have given this top shelf priority. however, we are not replacing your judgment with ours. you know best. those who are closest to the people know best. that is why the drug-free community grants and to the drug courts are so important, that money is meant to get directly to the places and the nooks and crannies of the country where it can be immediately deployed. part of it is information and one thing that is next for us is

these analogs. we are pushing toward the end of the year to make sure that we continue them and expanded them. that will be a big one. and also to make people like china be held to account. china doesn't want to be the u.s.'s most prolific and successful drug dealer. the president said the president xi one year ago at the g20, you have to get them out of our country. he is telling mexico we are at war with the drugs, what are you doing? get it out. we need to hold people to account and stop looking the other way and say it is too big to tackle. we tried and failed, too big to tackle. too big is exactly why you do start to tackle it. it is changing the ethos and the modus operandi and also making

sure that we go forward day by day and try to coordinate and fund and bring along those who are closest to the people in need. mr. carroll: can i add to that? ms. sullivan: i was going to give you your own question, but go ahead. mr. carroll: i mentioned how fortunate i was to have this staff. ce, she has been here more than a few years working on these issues, but i also have been able to bring a whole government approach. how many of you believe you live in a rural area? who is most rural? mississippi. mr. carroll: there you go. we will bless mississippi. and miss hazelette, we brought her from the department of agriculture to work on rural issues involving substance use

disorder, involving the opioids and the other drugs flowing into our communities. and working with secretary perdue we launched a website , here at the white house with to ann, who has been traveling probably more than i am, for a website just for rural america dealing with substance use disorders and to make sure they can go to this one place to find it. we also brought folks over from the department of education. we now have a school resource guide working with the department of education here at the white house on this issue for teachers, educators, staff, so they have examples of curriculum to use with their students. one thing is very clear, we are not going to have a one national curriculum on drug prevention for eighth-graders. we have to let local communities decide how to work this best. that is how we do it with the drug-free community programs and that is what we did with the

school resource guide, so people can go in, teachers, educators, to see curriculum other teachers have developed. they can look -- what has a fifth grade teacher done? they can see examples. you if you gol website, just google school resource guide and he will be able to find it it won't , be the world's flashiest, prettiest website. it will get there in another month or so, it will look extraordinarily pretty. but right now it is useful. don't let perfect become the enemy of the good. it is a useful site. it works. you can go to it and use the resources. right now, it is available for teachers out there. there is one that looks perfect right now. but like we said, you can go in by zip code and find one in your area. and it is a remarkable tool to

be able to find and show people about. it is a great example of all of these departments and agencies coming together. to thankvan: i want you so much and coming from the of justice, and on behalf of the attorney general these issues are of utmost , importance. we work hand in hand with both ondcp and the white house. and i want to thank all of you. i want to stress how the federal government does interrelate with our public partners. kellyanne, you brought up some amazing examples of that. i would love to delve into that more deeply, but we are out of time. thank you very much. i think we are ready for closing remarks. thank you. [applause]

mr. carroll: it is working? thanks. i am not going to keep you any longer. i just want to thank you all for coming. on behalf of the domestic policy council, i want to thank you for all the work you do and work you will be doing. we have started a major push here on mental health treatment. you have heard about the opioid fight that we began in the very beginning and we made more progress against opioids than we have on the serious mental health side, but it is just beginning. we got $328 million in additional resources in the funding bill that just passed today. and there will be more announcements in 2020 with new opportunities and strategies to fight serious mental health disease and help people with serious mental health disease. i know it has been a long day and you have got to be a little tired, but again, i want to thank you and let you know that we need your help at the state

and local level, and we need your help at the expert level to get this done. this president is committed to it and we have a full administration that really wants to make an impact here. thank you, again. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [inaudible conversations] announcer: the university of washington history professor margaret romero discusses her book, "the code." >> you have the biggest of big government programs, the space race. you have what eisenhower said it was the military-industrial complex. that becomes the foundation for

this entrepreneurial flywheel of incredible creation and innovation and wealth, private wealth creation. and an industry that considers itself -- that has built itself on its own, where government has become invisible to many of the people who are in silicon valley, who are the creators of these companies. they think there is no government, but there is. that is part of the magic, that is a government out of sight. announcer: sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. c-span's live campaign 2020 coverage continues. on saturday at 4:00 p.m., hawaii congresswoman tulsi gabbard in new hampshire. sunday at two :00 p.m., the former vice president joe biden in new hampshire. monday at 2:00 p.m. eastern, andrew yang in new hampshire.

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