National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010

Floor Speech

NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010 -- (House of Representatives - June 25, 2009)

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Mr. COSTA. Mr. Chair, I rise today asking my colleagues support an amendment to H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY10. This amendment would request the Secretary of Defense to carry out a study and submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the distribution of hemostatic agents to ensure each branch of the military is complying with their own policies on hemostatic agents.

Since the American Civil War, the percentage of our men and women that are killed in action has remained unchanged at approximately twenty percent, despite the numerous advances in battlefield equipment and treatment. The American Red Cross also estimates that half of all military deaths on the battlefield are a result of excessive blood loss. All branches of our Armed Services are using hemostatic agents, which are either surgical gauze with blood clotting agents or a granular powder, which have been proven to save the lives of soldiers and Marines.

In February 2003, the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care, an organization made up of over 30 military and civilian doctors, recommended that all combatants carry hemostatic dressings. Military Medicine published a report in January 2005 which stated that ``the use of effective hemostatic dressings will benefit most combat injuries (whether they are life threatening or not) because better hemorrhage control is always advantageous.''

It is clear that the men and women who are risking their lives in combat zones should have access to any and all life saving items, including hemostatic agents. Also, these combat zones can be extremely hostile and the terrain can be extreme, resulting in delays in evacuating injured soldiers or Marines. We need to ensure that not only field medical staff is supplied with these life saving items, but ensure that each solider and Marine has one in their individual first aid kit as well.

This amendment also includes a Sense of Congress that every member of the Armed Services deployed in a combat zone should carry a hemostatic agent and asks the Department of Defense to submit a report back to Congress on how these agents are distributued and where distribution problems may occur.

I want to thank Chairman SKELTON and Ranking Member MCKEON for accepting this amendment. Also, I want to thank both of them and their staff for their hard work on this authorization.

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