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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>Tracy Leinbaugh, PhD, NCC, PCC-S<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>Associate Professor, Department of Counseling and Higher Education<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>Ohio University <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>The Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>370 McCracken Hall<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>Athens, OH 45701<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>Phone: 740-593-0846<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>E-mail: <a href="mailto:leinbaug@ohio.edu">leinbaug@ohio.edu</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>Show, by your actions, that you choose peace over war, freedom over oppression, voice over silence, service over self-interest, respect over advantage, cooperation over competition, action over passivity, diversity over uniformity, and justice over all. </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> ACA Public Policy Listserv [mailto:ACA-GR@LISTSERV.COUNSELING.ORG] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Jessica Eagle<br><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, April 16, 2013 3:30 PM<br><b>To:</b> ACA-GR@LISTSERV.COUNSELING.ORG<br><b>Subject:</b> Update from the Hill<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><b>Updates from the Hill: President's Budget & Mental Health Legislation <o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoPlainText>(This will also be shared in ACA’s upcoming ENews)<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><b> </b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>President Obama released his budget proposal on April 10. With it came good news and not so good news. The good news is that the President's proposal overall includes a new $130 million initiative for expanding mental health services that would include counselor positions. The President's budget also requests $7 billion to expand mental health care for veterans, which represents a $469 million increase from the previous year. Some bad news is that the school counseling program, Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program (ESSCP), was zeroed out once again and the money is proposed to be spent under a new program called Successful, Safe, and Healthy Students. ACA is disappointed to see the Administration and the Department of Education decide to no longer request funding for a program that has demonstrated great success and high demand as seen by the number of applicants each time a call for grant proposals is made. Why is this bad if funding has been increased in new and different mental health proposals by the President? The reality of our politically-polarized Congress could cause Republicans to claim common ground with the Administration by agreeing to save money on programs that were cut in the President's proposal. Republican offices have also told us that they are not interested in approving any new programs that will cost money. Therefore, school counselors could lose all specified federal funding that has been critical to hundreds of school counseling programs. ACA needs school counselors who have received ESSCP grants and school counselors who have successful intervention data to share their stories with their federal Congress members (and us!). <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>There have been some promising pieces of mental health legislation moving through the Senate recently. Two bills, the Excellence in Mental Health Act, S. 264, and the Mental Health and Improvement Act (S. 689) may be proposed as amendments to the gun violence legislation that the Senate is believed to be voting on this week. S. 689 was recently passed out of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee after pulling together the language in a strong, bipartisan fashion. Read Chairman Harkin's press release <a href="http://www.help.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=beb70e50-e63e-476e-84ad-6912905af826&groups=Chair">here</a>. Any legislation that may pass in the Senate will still need to be passed by the House of Representatives. Please continue to share your stories with Congress of how mental health services make a difference in your community, along with the grave need for increased resources.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>You can communicate easily with Congress by going to our <a href="http://capwiz.com/counseling/home/">website</a>.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><img border=0 width=336 height=95 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.gif@01CE3AB7.3CBE1740" alt="Description: Description: aca_logo"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#0065A4'>Jessica Eagle, MA.Ed, NCC</span></b><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>|</span><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Legislative Representative<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:4.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#0065A4'>ph</span></b><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#0065A4'> </span><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>703-823-9800 x202</span><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>|</span><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>800-347-6647 x202<br></span><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#0065A4'>fx</span></b><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#0065A4'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>703-823-0252</span><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>|</span><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#1F497D'> </span><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#0065A4'>web</span></b><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#0065A4'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.counseling.org/"><span style='color:#1F497D;text-decoration:none'>counseling.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:4.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://www.facebook.com/American.Counseling.Association"><span style='color:#1F497D;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=30 height=24 id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image002.gif@01CE3AB7.3CBE1740" alt="Description: Description: facebook"></span></a><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/counselingviews"><span style='color:#1F497D;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=30 height=24 id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image003.gif@01CE3AB7.3CBE1740" alt="Description: Description: twitter"></span></a><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=103440"><span style='color:#1F497D;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=30 height=24 id="Picture_x0020_4" src="cid:image004.gif@01CE3AB7.3CBE1740" alt="Description: Description: linkedin"></span></a><a href="http://my.counseling.org/"><span style='color:#1F497D;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=27 height=24 id="Picture_x0020_5" src="cid:image005.gif@01CE3AB7.3CBE1740" alt="Description: Description: wordpress"></span></a><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><hr size=2 width="100%" align=center></span></div><p align=center style='text-align:center'>To unsubscribe from the ACA-GR list, click the following link:<br><a href="http://listserv.counseling.org/scripts/wa-COUNSELING.exe?SUBED1=ACA-GR&A=1" target="_blank">http://listserv.counseling.org/scripts/wa-COUNSELING.exe?SUBED1=ACA-GR&A=1</a> <o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>