Senator George Helmy Delivers Maiden Speech

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Maiden Speech on the United States Senate Floor

Senator George Helmy (D-NJ)

September 19, 2024

Thank you, Madam President.

It is a distinct honor to stand in this esteemed Chamber as a member of “The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body,” the United States Senate. That I am even standing here as just the 81st New Jerseyan, the 2,004th American, currently the only Arab American and the first member of the Coptic Church to hold the title “United States Senator” is something I had never imagined and still struggle to accept.

For more than a decade, I proudly served as a staffer for two senators from the great State of New Jersey — first, the late Senator Frank Lautenberg. And, as fate would have it, my friend, mentor, now colleague, and Senior Senator, Cory Booker. As such, it was always my job to be the guy behind the guy. It was my job to make sure they were prepared, had the best possible counsel, and were ready to make the consequential decisions required of every United States Senator.

So, standing here now is a little odd, a little overwhelming, and very humbling.

I will, as I have for many years, continue to do my utmost to live up to the faith placed in me by Governor Phil Murphy to be a thoughtful, diligent, and forceful voice and representative of the people of New Jersey. And I have a very short window in which to do just that.

In fact, it is my stated intention to resign from this post once the General Election is certified by Lt. Governor Tahesha Way, who also serves as New Jersey Secretary of State, at which point Governor Murphy has said he will appoint my duly-elected successor. So, there is a possibility that my tenure in this body may last all of 73 days.

Should that be the case, that means I will tie for the 10th shortest ever tenure as a United States Senator — which also means I will forever be rooting for the good health and good fortune of all who will follow, so I can at least be on one Top 10 list at some point in my life.

As with those who have come before me and those who will follow me, no one comes to this august and revered Chamber because they were a wallflower before they got here. And so no one seeks to be a wallflower – whether here for a day or a decade.

The challenges facing our nation are many. But that means, so too, are the opportunities. And I am going to lean into these opportunities so that, while my time here may be short, my impact may be lasting.

So I intend to be focused. And I intend to be busy. And I intend to make every single day count for the people of New Jersey.

One vital issue close to my heart and which I will spend much of my energy on over the next nine weeks is that of our nation’s youth mental health crisis. As a father of two sons, Joshua, age 15, and Elijah, age 12, I know I cannot make them immune from the strains and stressors which could adversely impact their, or their friends’, mental health. But I can at least try to mitigate the harmful impacts of those stressors while I hold office, and longer while the lord gives me life and voice.

The challenges are well known, and frankly, shocking. Over the past decade, cases of severe depression among young adults have nearly doubled. In the 2010’s, suicidal behaviors among high school students increased by more than 40 percent. And since 2017, the number of youth hospitalized for anxiety has increased by half and the proportion of hospitalizations for self-harm have nearly doubled.

Let me repeat that. In just 7 years, the number of youth hospitalized for anxiety has increased by 50 percent and the proportion of hospitalizations for self-harm have increased nearly 100 percent.

The kids are not ok.

Last year alone, 40 percent of our nation’s high schoolers reported feeling so sad or hopeless that they stopped doing their usual activities. That is a truly tragic statistic. Childhood and adolescence should be a time of great hope and optimism, not hopelessness and pessimism.

In my home state of New Jersey, up to one half of our youth are experiencing poor mental health, and we know this is even more prevalent amongst young women. In 2021 alone, in New Jersey, nearly 60 percent of female students reported experiencing persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. This was double the rate of their male peers — and nearly one-in-four had made a suicide plan. One in four.

I am incredibly grateful to welcome two teens from New Jersey who have overcome their own struggles with mental health and are now looking toward college and a brighter future. Emma Baez, sitting in the gallery, is a senior at North Arlington High School. After experiencing her own challenges she is now a Junior Commissioner on the Bergen County Commission on the Status of Women, an important commission supporting women like her. Valeria Gimenez, also in the gallery, just graduated from Carteret High School. She participated in the Pathways Program, an important counseling center in New Jersey, and says it changed her life. Valeria is starting college in the spring and wants to be a physician one day.

Thank you so much for being here, Valeria and Emma. I deeply admire your courage and perseverance. Your stories give me great hope that we can and must do more to support other teens like you.

The statistics revealing the scope of suffering among our next generation are unconscionable and unacceptable. We need far more support for American youth in acute crisis. To that end, I am co-sponsoring the Supporting All Students Act. The bill will create a peer support line to provide the critical support youth need during moments of crisis. The bill will also allocate funding for more professionals who can support youth.

Among LGBTQIA+ youth, the numbers are even more dire, with nearly 40 percent having contemplated suicide, with one-in-ten having attempted to take their own lives. That statistic should break all of our hearts. I have signed onto a bill with my colleagues, including my mentor and friend Senator Booker, called the Pride in Mental Health Act.

I would be remiss not to acknowledge the Senior Senator from New Jersey, Senator Booker, who is seated here next to me today. I am in awe of the relentless fight he has undertaken for the voiceless and marginalized, both back at home in his beloved city of Newark, throughout the entire state of New Jersey, the nation, and beyond. Senator Booker, your work ethic and compassion inspire me every day, and I am beyond blessed to have you in my corner. Both Cory and I, given our upbringing, like to say we stand on the shoulders of giants. Well, let me say, from the moment I met Cory in 2012, up to this very moment, I stand on his.

I am excited to partner with Senator Booker and others on the Pride in Mental Health Act, which will enhance mental health support for LGBTQIA+ youth by providing grants to improve mental health and substance use outcomes, in addition to mandating cultural competency training for caregivers.

We can point to numerous stressors which are feeding this crisis. And I think all parents like me know them well. Social media lands at the top of the list. Social media has altered not only the way our young people interact but the way they see themselves, and even the way their brains develop. Just last year, the Surgeon General issued a historic and alarming report recognizing the detrimental impacts of social media on our youth. Like the warning linking cigarettes to cancer and mortality, the Surgeon General issued an unprecedented warning last year confirming the serious risks to our youth from social media.

There has been an unprecedented shift in how our young people are spending time with each other and alone.

Over half of U.S. teenagers spend at least four hours per day on social media. Frequent users of social media are twice as likely to experience mental health challenges, including suicidal ideations.

The isolation forced upon our youth from the pandemic and then compounded by social media has further exacerbated stress in their lives and on their families. And the daily beat of news stories practically every teen sees almost every minute on their phones — school shootings, climate change, political division and animosity, the opioid and fentanyl epidemic, anti-Arab rhetoric and antisemitism, and on and on — has only aided in creating a hopelessness feedback loop.

I have also co-sponsored the Youth Mental Health Data Act which aims to establish a federal task force focused on improving data systems related to youth mental health. We desperately need this task force to better understand the nature and scope of this epidemic.

Now, it can be easy for some to just sit back and say counseling is all our kids need. And yes, resources have been poured into some communities to provide more and better counseling for at-risk youth. However, serious disparities remain. And even in areas where access has been enhanced — particularly those lower-income and immigrant communities which have received funding to address these issues — the utilization of these services remains low. To tackle this problem we must first fully understand why, for example, at-risk youth are not availing themselves of available services and resources.

I am committed to breaking this negative cycle. I am committed to preventing our most precious national asset — the next generation — from falling further into this downward spiral.

Yet here, amidst all this despair, is where I see opportunities. And opportunity means hope.

I am hopeful because I know my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, led by our Majority Leader Senator Schumer, see these opportunities, too, from my neighbor-colleague representing Pennsylvania, Senator Bob Casey, to another friend and staffer-turned-member from Alabama, Senator Katie Britt. I am inspired by the conversations I have had with members and others about protecting our children. And I am hopeful about continuing to find common ground that both parties can stand on to address this universe of issues.

The youth mental health crisis is not a Democratic or a Republican issue – it must be an American priority.

We need not reinvent the wheel, either. As I mentioned, there are numerous good pieces of legislation currently before the Senate, and I have proudly put my name as a co-sponsor on three of them.

We should also look to our states, the true laboratories of our democracy, for policy solutions that have worked to chip away at this crisis.

During my time serving as chief-of-staff for Governor Murphy, he led the National Governors Association, and committed his one-year term to building a national playbook for tackling the youth mental health crisis.

And I should note that his co-chair, whose staff I worked closely with, was Governor Spencer Cox of Utah. No one is ever going to confuse Governor Murphy and Governor Cox politically. But together, our teams proved the power of bipartisanship in taking on seemingly intractable issues.

But let’s be clear-eyed about one thing. Even if we are successful in getting at least one measure to the President’s desk and seeing it become law, it will not mean the end of our effort to address the youth mental health crisis in our country. There will always be more work for us to do, together.

And as I conclude my remarks today, Madam President, it is in this spirit — the spirit of bipartisanship, of partnership, and of collaboration for the greater good — upon which I wish to land.

I had no intention of ever seeking this office. I guess for me, once a staffer, always a staffer. However, duty called to continue my service to the people of New Jersey.

I have had the great privilege of directly serving two honorable United States Senators and a Governor, all of whom embody the term public servant. These jobs have afforded me the ability to work alongside many more elected officials, from local council and school board members all the way up to the President of the United States.

I draw great inspiration from one of my most esteemed former New Jersey colleagues, our late Lieutenant Governor, Sheila Oliver. She was the first Black woman to serve as Speaker of the New Jersey State Assembly and the first Black woman in our state’s history to be elected to statewide office. She was smart. She was funny. And, you bet she was Jersey tough.

In her first inauguration, in January 2018, Sheila said, “We make history not in the moment, but in what we do with it.” During my time in this capacity, I am dedicated to making a lasting impact that will benefit our nation’s youth.

When I accepted this position, I told the people of New Jersey that part of my job, aside from representing them here on the floor of the United States Senate and through the casework undertaken by my office, would be to begin to restore their faith in our democracy and their trust in this office. If I can do that, even just a little bit, in my remaining time, then I will have done my job.

I want to thank my colleagues who are here on the floor or tuning into my maiden speech. And I want to thank my dedicated team here on the floor, in the gallery, and in our offices back home for being by my side as we continue to serve the people of New Jersey.

In regard to my short time here, I channel the late, great Robert F. Kennedy: “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

I pray that I will be remembered as a ripple of hope.

I look forward to the next few months in which I will be a member of the United States Senate. And I intend to use every moment to its fullest. Working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I hope and pray that we can make history by what we do with this brief moment I have here in the Senate.

I yield the floor.