Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Agriculture, Rural Development, Energy and Water Development, Financial Services and General Government, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act, 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. BERGMAN. Mr. Speaker, I claim the time in opposition.

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Mr. BERGMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

We all know mental health is a major problem in our country. According to the National Institutes of Health, approximately 50 million Americans from all walks of life suffer from a mental health issue.

One such population extremely close to my heart is veterans. With around 20 veteran and servicemember suicides per day, I consider one death to be too many. The amendment before us, however, is trying to solve a problem that, frankly, just doesn't exist.

There is plenty of research already being conducted featuring the use of schedule I drugs to treat mental illness and addiction. The amendment will do nothing to change this, despite its claims to the contrary.

What the amendment will actually do is repeal an existing provision that limits the use of funds to promote legalization of schedule I drugs. The amendment also repeals a provision that specifically allows Federal funds to be used to research the therapeutic uses of these substances.

The stated purpose of this amendment, which is to support this research on behalf of those who suffer from critical diseases, is contradictory to the actual effect. Therefore, because of the disingenuous nature and intent of this amendment, I urge my colleagues to oppose it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the passion and the articulate response of my colleague. I have had the honor to serve with him, and we agree on the vulnerability of veterans. In fact, a year-plus ago, we tried to move the IMPROVE Act through the Committee on Veterans' Affairs to try to look at different ways to provide opportunities to bring veterans into the VA healthcare system so we could identify them and treat their addiction. It wasn't necessarily about the research of the product. It was the research of the veteran as a whole, the veteran's vulnerability.

Mr. Speaker, it was painful in the committee setting to have the IMPROVE Act disapproved when, at the same time, that same committee authorized equine therapy.

As Dr. Phil Roe said at the time, this a first for the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. We have not allowed people to treat veterans, but we are allowing horses to treat veterans.

The point is, we are looking to do something here via this amendment that does not solve an existing problem. We need to have the outreach, the research, but we also need to have the human side to make sure that we connect all the dots for the betterment of the veterans' mental health.

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Mr. BERGMAN. Mr. Speaker, the amendment before us, as it has been presented, is trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist, as stated. There is ample research already being conducted featuring the use of schedule I drugs to treat mental illness and addiction. The amendment, as presented, will do nothing to change this, despite the claims to the contrary.

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Mr. BERGMAN. Mr. Speaker, as a veteran and one who served the country for 40-plus years in uniform, the bond we have as veterans goes deeper than anyone could imagine. The worst thing that can happen, as has happened in my family, is to have a loved one and a veteran take their own life. I have decades, unfortunately, of family experience in this. Because of that, my passion for stating opposition to this amendment goes unabated.

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Mr. BERGMAN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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