Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2027
Floor Speech
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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chairman, this amendment increases and decreases the amount appropriated in the medical services account in the MILCON-VA appropriations bill to furnish stellate ganglion blocks, or SGB, in every VA facility, not just some of them.
SGB therapy is an outpatient procedure that has been used since the 1920s. It is safe, effective, and affordable, especially in cases where other treatments have failed, and is proven to alleviate common PTSD or PTSI symptoms, such as exaggerated responses and anxiety, with almost no known side effects.
By injecting an anesthetic agent into the stellate ganglion, nerves in the neck that control the fight or flight reflex, it helps bring relief to regions of the cerebral cortex thought to be abnormally activated in sufferers of PTSD.
SGB changes the paradigm of treatment from the failing perception of simply a mental disorder to that of a treatable injury. With traditional therapies as needed, that can bring long-term relief to the injured veterans.
As of 2018, only 11 out of all of America's 170 VA facilities reported using SGB or making it available. Making matters worse, a veteran must fail all other traditional treatments before being considered for SGB therapy, which, anecdotally, is effective 85 percent of the time.
The time, distance, and monetary burdens demanded from finding SGB elsewhere frequently prove too much. I have heard stories of servicemembers getting in a van and traveling from Alabama on their last dime to come up north to try to get the treatment. It leaves far too many of our veterans with options like self-medicating, self-harm, and, too often, suicide as the outcome.
Our Nation suffers 20 veteran suicides every single day. Enough is enough. This has been way overdue way too long. Far too many of our veterans come home to find the war comes home with them. Our current PTSD treatments provide relief for only a fraction of our veterans, and some really encouraging treatments are either unavailable or offered at too few facilities.
We have a moral duty to do everything possible to ease the suffering of those who risked all to protect our freedoms, our way of life, and our country.
This is an incredible PTSD treatment, the results of which I have witnessed personally.
This amendment increases and decreases the amount appropriated to furnish SGB in every VA facility, so you don't have to go to just some. You can go to any. It directs the Secretary of the VA to expand SGB access to veterans upon PTSD diagnosis by making it a covered treatment under Federal law.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment.
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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chairman, while the deliberative process is playing out, this treatment has been used for over 100 years, without any known side effects, without any damage to anybody. It is 85 percent effective for the users that have used it. I have witnessed it. If it is invasive, Mr. Chairman, it takes 15 minutes of lying down on the table and getting an injection, and oftentimes sitting up, standing up, and being relieved of your PTSD right then.
While they are studying it, while they are fighting at the VA over turf about which treatment is best, which practitioners should have primacy, 20 veterans a day are taking their own lives while they can't get the treatment.
While they are studying it, it is offered in 11 facilities out of 170. Why, while they are studying it, why are they offering it at 11?
While they are studying it, all the other veterans have to fail every other paradigm before they can get it, and often they commit suicide before they ever get it.
I am tired of waiting on the bureaucracy at the VA and the turf wars between practitioners to do something to save our veterans, and I am going to keep on fighting.
I understand the gentlewoman's comments. I just completely disagree. It is time for us to act while they won't. It is our duty. Abraham Lincoln said it is our duty to take care of those who have borne the battle. We are not doing it. We are waiting on the VA, these different doctors and paradigms to discuss, well, maybe this works, maybe that works. These guys and gals are dying every day. We have got to do something about it.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chairman, I can appreciate the gentleman's passion. This treatment is being trialed and piloted in 11 facilities for a reason, because we have to make sure it is safe. He is not Dr. Perry. I am not Dr. Wasserman Schultz. In fact, it is important to note that in many instances when this treatment has been administered, while it might provide some immediate relief, oftentimes the PTSD symptoms come back.
This trial is being wrapped up in June, and then it will take about a year to analyze the data.
We are not medical experts. I have argued time and again on this House floor that Congress is not equipped to be making medical decisions, particularly specific medical decisions that affect a unique group of patients.
I certainly hope that this trial results in progress and relief and that it will be scientifically validated, but it is our responsibility to wait for the experts to provide us with those results before decisions are made and leave those decisions to the VA.
Mr. Chairman, with that, I oppose this amendment. We should use the process for expanding the use of emerging healthcare treatments, and we should let that process play out. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no,'' and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chairman, since 2018, 11 VA facilities out of 170 have been using it, not studying it, using it. The study happened after that, and every day that the study is occurring, 20 servicemembers take their lives.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates between 11 and 20 percent of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom veterans have PTSD in a given year, 12 percent of Gulf war veterans, 15 percent of Vietnam veterans. Sadly, only 40 percent of these heroes will find relief with current treatments.
I am tired of waiting on the VA and this study, which, quite honestly, is just prolonging the turf war between practitioners there. Some of them say they should have primacy and this shouldn't even be involved. Yet, again, it is an outpatient procedure, 15 minutes.
Mr. Chairman, I urge adoption. I yield back the balance of my time.
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