Rep. Zeldin's Legislative Fix for VA's Suicide Hotline Passes House

Press Release

Congressman Lee Zeldin (R, NY-1) member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, announced today that a legislative fix he proposed to a VA funding bill to ensure that veterans receive immediate assistance from a trained professional when they call the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) passed the House of Representatives on May 19, 2016. Congressman Zeldin's language was added to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2017 (H.R. 4974), which passed 295 to 129.

Congressman Zeldin's effort, which he led with other members of Congress, was launched in March of 2016, following the release of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General report that found that calls to the Veterans Crisis Line operated by the VA in 2014 were transferred to a backup call center voicemail system and never returned.

The language proposed reads as follows, "The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall ensure that the toll-free suicide hotline under section 1720F(h) of title 38, United States Code -- (1) provides to individuals who contact the hotline immediate assistance from a trained professional; and (2) adheres to all requirements of the American Association of Suicidology." The American Association of Suicidology standards mandate that crisis center responders "be available to answer a dedicated phone number 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." Currently a loophole allows for calls to be transferred to a backup center, which are allowed to place callers on hold and utilize voicemail. Passage of this bill, with Congressman Zeldin's language, would close this loophole, requiring immediate assistance for any veteran who calls the VCL or a backup center.

Congressman Zeldin said, "Reports that were recently released from the VA Office of Inspector General (IG) showed that calls from suffering veterans who contacted the suicide hotline at the VA were not only being sent to voicemail, but some were never even returned. Each and every veteran who calls the suicide hotline should receive immediate support from a trained VA responder. The legislation that passed today, with my proposed language, clarifies that within the funding the VA will receive, a trained professional must be available to take an incoming call on the suicide hotline from a struggling veteran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is absolutely no justifiable reason that a veteran who calls the suicide hotline should ever be sent to voicemail."

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