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FIRST ON FOX: Several House Republicans sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calling on the agency to release the 2021 child suicide data.

Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., led the letter with 19 of his lower chamber GOP colleagues to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky asking the agency to publish the still-unreleased data.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated a worsening crisis in our society: our children’s mental health," Steil said in a press release first obtained by Fox News Digital. "The data on suicide rates among children is an important tool needed to strengthen our mental health infrastructure."

"As we approach the coming school year, this critical data will help us make informed decisions to support our children and improve their mental health," he continued.

In the letter, the lawmakers ask Walensky to "work with" the members of Congress "to address this long-standing problem that was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic."

"We understand the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not released data for suicide rates among children for 2021," they wrote. "While we note the provisional data has been released, we ask why the CDC has not released the final data that is a critical indicator of our nation’s mental health."

The lawmakers wrote that childhood "is a critical period to prevent and treat mental health" and that half "of all mental illness occurs before a person turns 14 years old."

Steil and the Republicans also said that the "number of children admitted to children’s hospitals for thoughts of suicide or self-harm has doubled since 2016."

"Clearly, even before the pandemic, America was experiencing a mental health crisis among children and adolescents," they wrote, continuing to write the COVID-19 pandemic "further exacerbated this problem and strained the healthcare system, leaving children to struggle with unmet mental health needs."

"During the pandemic, school closures, social restrictions, and disrupted routines placed considerable stress on children and their families," they wrote. "These developments limited access to many resources children rely on to cope with stress and anxiety."

The lawmakers called the statistics "frightening and breathtaking" and cited the CDC’s previous data from "mid-March 2020 into October of that year" that, when compared to the 2019 data, showed "mental health-related emergency department visits among children ages 5-11 years increased by 24%."

They also noted the 31% increase for "adolescent children aged 12-17" during the same time period.

"The suicide statistics are even more appalling," Steil and his colleagues wrote. "According to a May 2020 CDC study, emergency department visits for suicide attempts among adolescents ages 12-17 was 39% higher than the same period during 2019."

"The problem is compounded by the fact that in the United States suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among youth ages 15-24," they continued.

The Republicans concluded their letter saying the data "shows the scope of the crisis we are facing" and that the government "must take long overdue steps to strengthen our mental health infrastructure" if it is "to better meet the needs of our children."

"This must be a top priority," Steil and his colleagues concluded. "We stand ready to work with you to meet these challenges."

Joining Steil on the letter are Republicans from across the party’s spectrum, including Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, Greg Murphy of North Carolina, and Kat Cammack of Florida.

The CDC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the letter.

Connecticut Democrat Jim Himes is pessimistic about near-term relief from sky-high gas prices as the national average nears $5 a gallon. Rep. Himes, a supporter of President Biden, says the administration's options are limited.

"There's really almost nothing that the Biden administration could do today that would have an impact on near-term energy prices," said Himes, the chairman of the House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth. 

His Republican counterpart on the committee is ranking member Rep. Bryan Steil, Republican of Wisconsin, and the two joined CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett on "The Takeout" podcast this week.  Steil thinks the administration could do more to bring energy prices down.

"I think we need to change course on our energy policy and unleash American energy to lower those costs," Steil told Garrett. He argues that ramping up domestic oil and gas production and restarting the Keystone XL pipeline project could ease prices, even though it would be years before oil flowing through the pipeline would hit the market. 

Those moves, Steil argued, could give investors confidence. "They've pulled back because they're concerned about obtaining full permits to get from exploration into full production."

Himes fears such policies would just lead to environmental catastrophe. "If we just decided to do what some of my Republicans want to do, which is burn all the coal, burn all the gas, burn all the petroleum. Good luck for the next generation that'll be dealing with the problems of climate change."

Their committee was created by Nancy Pelosi in 2020 to tackle wealth disparities in the U.S. economy. A Wall Street Journal poll released earlier this week found that 83% of Americans are unsatisfied with the current state of the economy. 

The congressmen also touched on gun violence, after recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas. 

Himes, whose district borders the site of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, wants to see Congress take action on gun control. He'd like to see expanded background checks for gun purchases, an idea that is supported by a majority of Americans and currently under consideration in Congress. "Not only should we study it, by the way, let's have an honest conversation about this."

But Steil is skeptical of federally funded studies of gun violence. "I think the broad concern is whether or not we're going to see a biased report from a federal agency rather than an unbiased report."

Highlights from this week's episode

• Himes on long-term solutions to illegal immigration: "At the end of the day, what is going to solve the illegal immigration problem in the long run is going to be to do away with the economic incentive for people to come here. Right. That means cracking down on people who were hiring the undocumented illegally. It means it means and I know that this is dull and hard to talk about, but it's true. It means working with countries like El Salvador and Honduras to turn them into places that people want to stay in. In the long run. That's what's going to fix our border issue." 
• Steil on immigration: "The United States is always going to be a beacon of hope, pulling people in, having people wanting to come to the United States, that's positive. We have to be able to control who comes in a legal and orderly manner, and we have to hold businesses accountable that are hiring and employing illegal immigrants, as the chairman noted."
• Himes on the oil and gas industry: "The reality today is and this is not disputable, is that the energy companies who make their investment decisions, not based on what the guy in the Oval Office is doing, but based on their forecast of economic markets. They are sitting on unused leases. They are doing the same investment plans that they planned to do five years ago. They are making decisions based on the market, dropping away dividends."
• Steil on whether mass shootings are just something we have to live with: "We should not live with one mass shooting. The challenge is what are the policies we need to put in place to address it? I've offered three that I think we come together on to address this crisis. I think we could come together. I think there's areas of agreement and particulars relates to school resource officers. The relates to mental health and as relates to getting serious on gun crime writ large."

The office of U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil is accepting nominations for health care workers to be considered for the First Congressional District’s Health Care Worker of the Year Award, according to a news release.

Steil’s office is looking to recognize an “unsung hero” who has gone above and beyond to care for Wisconsin families.

Our doctors, nurses, and health care providers have continued to provide our community with the utmost care and compassion,” Steil said in the release. “It’s important to thank and recognize our healthcare workers for the services they provide. I look forward to recognizing this year’s heroes.”

The award winner will be selected based on this criteria:

• Displaying exemplary service and performance on the job.
• Upholding the standard of providing unsurpassed care and treatment for patients.
• Going above and beyond the call of duty.
• Displaying self-sacrifice and selflessness in caring for others.

Nominees must live in the First District and be a licensed health care professional (they can work at a facility outside the district).

To nominate a health care worker for the award, go to steil.house.gov/health care-worker-award