National Defense Authorization and Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Bills

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it was encouraging to see the Senate vote to advance the National Defense Authorization Act this morning. It reflects a recognition by this body of the importance of the bill and the moment. The defense authorization act will promote defense innovation and research, it will modernize retirement benefits for our men and women in uniform, and authorize the pay raises they deserve. It will help prepare our country for the threats of today and the challenges of tomorrow, and it will better enable the next Commander in Chief, regardless of party, to deal with them as well. That is critical given that the next President is about to inherit an array of threats and troubling instability in the Middle East.

Yesterday Senators laid out many ways in which President Obama's foreign policy has fallen short. One was lack of strategic vision. Take for instance his unnecessary threat to veto this very bill. He doesn't like bipartisan prohibitions on transferring hardcore terrorists from Guantanamo's secure facilities to American communities or unstable countries. We include similar bipartisan provisions year after year after year. He makes similar threats year after year after year, but he signs the bill year after year, so it is time to quit that.

This bill just advanced in the Senate by a bipartisan vote of 68 to 23. The funding levels this bill authorizes is exactly the same as what President Obama requested in his budget, and unless the President is actually more concerned about a campaign slogan from back in 2008 than he is about grave threats we face in 2016, he will sign it.

I thank colleagues on both sides for their hard work on this legislation, particularly Chairman McCain. He is always on guard for our men and women in uniform, and he is always standing up for our national security. This bill is a reflection of his commitment. It is an important step for the American people, but it is not the only one we took this past week.

It has been reported that we lose over 20 veterans each day to suicide, and one study has revealed that suicide rates among female veterans grew by 40 percent between 2000 and 2010. This is heartbreaking, and it underlines the importance of the Female Veterans Suicide Prevention Act that the Senate passed earlier this week. This legislation will require the VA to take a closer look at this issue and assess which mental health care and veteran suicide prevention programs are most successful for our female veterans. It builds upon the progress of the Clay Hunt Act, an important law we passed last year that provides more of the suicide prevention and mental health support our veterans deserve.

As Senator Ernst recently reminded us, our servicemembers have selflessly sacrificed in defense of our freedoms, and we should help ensure that they are prepared to transition back to civilian life, which includes access to quality and timely mental health care they deserve. Senator Ernst knows what it means to serve. I thank her for her continued leadership for Iowa and for her work on this bill with Senators Boxer, Blumenthal, and Brown.

This veterans mental health legislation is another example of what we can accomplish when we work together to find solutions for the American people, and it is another example of a Senate that is back to work.

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