Senate names a day for farm mental health—but no new help
S.Res. 143 — A resolution supporting the designation of May 29, 2025, as "Mental Health Awareness in Agriculture Day" to raise awareness around mental health in the agricultural industry and workforce and to continue to reduce stigma associated with mental illness. · Filed by Deb Fischer (R-NE) · 15 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 26, 2025 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This is a Senate resolution designating May 29, 2025, as 'Mental Health Awareness in Agriculture Day' to highlight the mental health crisis in farming and agricultural work. The resolution acknowledges that farmers and farmworkers face suicide rates 3.5 and 1.4 times higher than the general population, respectively, and calls for public awareness and reduced stigma around mental illness in agriculture.
Why we flagged it
This is a non-binding Senate resolution that designates a single day for awareness and recognition. It contains no operative legislation, no appropriations, no regulatory change, and no enforcement mechanism. Its sole function is to place a public statement on the record and encourage observance of the designated day.
What the text implies
- The resolution references the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network but does not fund, expand, or mandate any changes to it—awareness alone may not translate to increased utilization if barriers to access (cost, stigma, rural isolation) remain unaddressed.
- Designating a single day may create symbolic recognition without sustained policy or funding commitments to address the underlying crisis (economic stress, commodity volatility, labor shortages) that drives agricultural mental health challenges.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The resolution itself creates no legal change and imposes no cost or benefit on citizens directly. However, it places public accountability on record for a genuine public-health crisis (elevated suicide rates in agriculture) and directs attention to existing USDA resources (Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network), which may increase awareness and utilization of support services. The civic value lies in acknowledgment and visibility, not in new law or funding.
Named in the bill
U.S. Senate, Department of Agriculture, Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network, National Rural Health Association, Economic Policy Institute
Where it stands
15 cosponsors: 8 Republicans, 7 Democrats.
- Mar 26, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 26, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text: CR S1877-1878)”
- May 19, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Senate Committee on the Judiciary discharged by Unanimous Consent”
- May 19, 2025 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed/agreed to in Senate: Resolution agreed to in Senate without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $720,409 in lobbying spend. A filing names 37 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Deb Fischer, the sponsor, reported $352,755 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Farm Bureau Fed — $720,409 on 3 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,076 characters) on Sep 18, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Senate names a day for farm mental health—but no new help” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/sres143 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.