Vital Assessment Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. ELLZEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Bost for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to be addressing the House today as we are just days removed from Veterans Day, when our Nation recognizes those who honorably served to protect our precious, God-given liberties and freedoms. We have a duty and responsibility to help the veterans of our Armed Forces who have fought to preserve our freedoms and liberties.

In 2011, VA launched the Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership program, or the VITAL program, to provide mental health services to student veterans on college campuses.

Hundreds of thousands of veterans attend college every year. They often have difficulty adjusting from the military to an academic campus culture and relating to nonveteran peers.

As someone who has personally gone through the transition back to civilian life, I can say my experiences in combat and leadership were vastly different than the experiences of my fellow students. I was much older than my fellow students; much older. I was no longer surrounded by my fellow warriors; and I was a stranger in a strange academic land. For these reasons, I understand why the VITAL program is so important.

Since its inception in 2011, it has grown to support student veterans at 183 locations. VITAL program services are locally managed, staffed, and evaluated by VA medical centers working with area schools, which allows for independence and flexibility. It connects student veterans with needed care and services, and helps prevent veteran suicide.

The VITAL Assessment Act will ensure critical information about the VITAL program is gathered, improvements are made, and will help provide mental healthcare and support to student veterans.

This act adds accountability and transparency. It will require the VA to report to Congress about the program's management, operations, and effectiveness in support of student veterans' mental health and educational goals.

It also requires the VA to use information gathered to create best new practices, goals, and performance measures for the program.

In conclusion, I thank the many veterans' groups supporting this bill.

I am grateful to House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Ranking Member Bost for being an original cosponsor of this bill.

And I thank Chairman Takano for supporting this bill and speaking favorably during the committee hearing; Health Subcommittee Chair Brownley, and the members of the Veterans' Affairs Committee for their unanimous support of this bill.

This will help student veterans achieve their goals and dreams. And just as the VITAL program has a proven record of saving lives, this bill will further improve the program and help save even more lives of veterans.

I ask all Members of the House to please support H.R. 5516.

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