Military Construction, Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2007

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, MILITARY QUALITY OF LIFE AND VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007 -- (House of Representatives - May 19, 2006)

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, after discussing this amendment with the chairman and the ranking member of the subcommittee, I intend to withdraw the amendment. So I will not seek a vote. And I thank my colleagues for giving me a few minutes to discuss a very important issue.

I believe that the issue of mental health services for our troops deploying or returning from combat is one that demands the attention of this body, if only for a few minutes today. And I know my colleague, Congresswoman BARBARA LEE, addressed this issue as well.

My amendment would increase funding for the Defense Health Program by $10 million to establish a pilot program to provide in-person mental health assessments to servicemen when they deploy or return from combat. The offset is a reduction of $10 million in the 1990 BRAC account.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment is about ensuring that we do a better job for those men and women in our military in need of mental health services. Currently, upon the return from combat, our troops are given only a paper questionnaire with just seven questions about their mental health, and that is supposed to be enough to determine their mental health status. This is hardly sufficient for people who, for 12 or 18 months, have been constantly subjected to insurgent violence or the threat of insurgents attacks, or witnesses to horrific devastation and loss of life and, in many cases, will have to go back for a second or third tour.

According to both veterans and mental health experts, this screening process leads to an under reporting of mental health problems. As the Surgeon General Kevin Kiley put it recently, and I quote, ``There's only so much we can do for large numbers of troops, and it is not like we wouldn't want to do more.''

That is what is so important is to be able to give the Defense Department the needed resources to do right by our troops. As General Kiley says, do more than a seven question paper questionnaire.

With the number of Army suicides on the rise, the Army suicide rate last year was nearly 13 per 100,000 soldiers, the highest since 1999.

We are simply are not reaching all those men and women in uniform who need our help. In fact, the GAO recently reported that only 22 percent of the servicemembers who might have been at risk for suffering PTSD were ever referred for further mental health evaluation. The report also found that ``DOD cannot provide reasonable assurance that OEF and OIF servicemembers who need referrals receive them.''

Given that, we should allow the Defense Department to test whether an in-person screening will make the screening process more effective and improve the likelihood of their receiving a referral to receive the mental health services they need.

Recently, the Hartford Courant ran a series of mental health concerns facing our troops today, and I have distributed the series to every single office today. I strongly urge my colleagues to take the time to read it. The stories are poignant as well as tragic. It includes serious allegations that the Defense Department has deployed troops who are mentally unprepared for combat and that all too often antidepressant medication is the only form of treatment that fragile servicemembers can get while they are on the front lines.

We must take the time to assess the emotional well-being of our troops. Would we send a young man or woman into combat if they have suffered severe physical wounds? We would not. By the same token, we should not send them to fight if they are suffering severe emotional wounds. The Defense Department has made great strides in the past 30 years in testing and understanding PTSD and other forms of combat stress. We need to do more. I hope someday this body will get the opportunity to provide the Pentagon with the adequate resources to continue to improve its mental health awareness.

I thank Chairman Walsh and I thank Mr. Edwards for their willingness to let me speak on this amendment. They are among the strongest supporters of our military that we have in this Congress. I know they share the concerns, the concerns of so many in this body about this issue. I look forward to continuing my work with them on this important issue.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

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