Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Chair, let me first thank the distinguished chairman as well as the distinguished ranking member for their great work with respect to this legislation.

This amendment makes a modest adjustment to the bill that would increase funding for the Defense Health Program by $10 million. It is budget neutral by reducing the Department of Defense's departmentwide operation and maintenance funds by a corresponding amount.

Let me first take this opportunity to express my strong support for the critical work of the Defense Department overall. The adjustment made by this amendment will still leave the Department with an extremely robust amount of operation and maintenance funding while ensuring that necessary resources are available for vital research and development that will aid both servicemembers and civilians alike.

The Defense Health Program oversees all medical and health care programs for the Defense Department. DHP's research and development activities help advance medical research to provide innovative solutions for servicemembers and their families facing medical trauma as well as advance the state of medical science in areas that benefit our broader society.

Over the last 10 years, there has been a significant increase in the amount of reported cases of PTSD in servicemembers. These increases are seen in both those deployed overseas as well as in nondeployed servicemembers. For those servicemembers who are deployed, the number of incidents of PTSD has increased twelvefold over the last 10 years. For those not deployed, the number of reported incident cases has nearly doubled. The annual total for reported PTSD cases has remained at unprecedentedly high levels over the last 5 years.

While we are currently winding down the war in Afghanistan, American troops continue to see action on the battlefield. With more of these troops returning from deployments over the next several years, it is likely that the number of PTSD cases will hold steady, if not increase. Furthermore, increased international unrest and uncertainty may result in future troop deployments to other parts of world, making it likely that the number of reported PTSD cases will remain at a high level. This amendment will invest resources to help inform health professionals on how best to treat our military personnel moving forward.

Furthermore, the need for increased research concerning PTSD is not limited to our military. High levels of violence in many communities throughout America have induced PTSD-like conditions for some trapped in these unfortunate circumstances. Research undertaken by the Department of Defense can benefit families and community health professionals in treating our children and others impacted in this way. I, therefore, urge my colleagues to support additional medical research to help the military victims of PTSD and our broader society.

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