Love Lives On Act of 2016

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for your support of this important piece of legislation.

As you heard, we are here once again. We had a piece of legislation that attempted to, as I think the chairman spoke about, address an issue that cuts to the heart and the soul of this Nation: When our warriors come home, how can we reintegrate them?

And I think it is important, and I want to thank the chairman, one, for working so diligently on many numerous issues, but on this piece of legislation, and for bringing it back up again, but I think also for setting an example.

The Nation expects us to do what is right by our warriors. They expect us to work together to find solutions. Something that we do in the committee is looking and seeing where we can improve and pointing out where there are faults.

But that is not good enough. Pointing out the faults is one thing, and it is important. Finding solutions is what really matters, and this piece of legislation, I think, starts to do that.

To my colleagues who are here, I would say this. We can certainly disagree and disagree strongly and passionately. But I think if the public knew and they could feel it and, I think, in this piece of legislation see it, there are many more things that bind us together, and our care and our commitment for our warriors is one of those.

This is a piece of legislation that wasn't just written here in the Halls of Congress. It was written by the families, Susan and Richard Selke, Clay's parents; by the Houghtalings in Minnesota; and the Kellys in New Ulm, Minnesota; and each of these Members that you hear speak about it.

Since we passed this legislation, and it failed in the Senate, over 750 veterans have taken their lives.

Many times down here, we feel like everything we do is the most important thing that needs to happen now. Rarely is that true. In this case, it is.

We can't wait another day. We can't pass this problem forward because it is not only ripping at families, it is ripping at our Nation. These are our best and brightest.

You heard about Clay. Clay's a Marine who went to Iraq. He got shot by a sniper and, as a Marine, that irritated him. It didn't hurt him. He came back. He had his Purple Heart, and he could have come back and taken our thank yous. He didn't. He went to Afghanistan to continue on.

He knew the extremism that was threatening Iraq and Afghanistan would some day threaten this Nation, so he was forward. He did his time.

After he came back, that wasn't enough. He went to Haiti to help. After that, that wasn't enough. He sat in our offices on numerous occasions working on everything from access to the VA to the things you heard the gentlelady talk about in Indiana that were causing frustration amongst our veterans.

And I think for me the thing is, like for so many of us, Clay appeared to have everything. He appeared that he knew and was competent and had it there, but we all know that they have demons, and Clay had demons.

So what this piece of legislation does--you heard the specifics, and it does do specific things, and no one is claiming that this is going to be the fix.

But I would make the case that what the Clay Hunt bill has done and what it has done amongst our partners in the veterans service organizations is made it absolutely clear we will not leave anyone behind. We will not turn a blind eye to this, and we will not rest until we at least make the attempt to get that number down to zero. We may never get there, but this piece of legislation starts to address it.

So I think it is important, and I want to thank the ranking member for being on this bill and putting it forward, and the chairman, who was an original author of this and has been instrumental in making it happen.

What we are doing here is not just passing legislation. What we are doing here is changing the attitudes, focusing the Nation's attention on this, because I don't care if it is Elkhart, Indiana, if it is Pensacola, Florida, or if it is Mankato, Minnesota.

When we go to talk to our constituents, regardless of their political leanings, they tell us, take care of our warriors, do what is right. Fix the system.

This piece of legislation does that. It does it in a cost-effective, smart manner, and we have got the opportunity to start moving forward.

I would say and encourage my colleagues, let's pass this thing, but let's not see it as an end result of a process we have been working on. Let's see it as the first of many things to try and make changes to be smarter about how we use taxpayer dollars, but also to demand effectiveness, because Clay's parents deserve that. Thousands of others across this Nation deserve that.

The more than 1 million veterans that will return over the next few years are counting on us to put everything in place to provide that help.

So I encourage my colleagues, support this legislation. I encourage my colleagues, take this as an example.

I want to thank Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader McCarthy for making it a priority. I think it speaks volumes. This piece of legislation is on the floor in the first week. That says something, that there is a commitment to getting it right, there is a commitment to working together, and there is a commitment to showing effectiveness for the American people.

So, we have got that opportunity. I ask my colleagues to support this legislation, get engaged with what is happening with our veterans, and let's prove that their service was not in vain, that this democracy is strong, that our commitment to them is unwavering and that, at the end of the day, that is what really matters.

Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful for the opportunity to again tell you about a very important piece of legislation that will help in our fight to improve mental health care for our returning warriors: H.R. 203, the Clay Hunt SAV Act. I'd like to thank the Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Mr. Miller, and Rep. Duckworth for continuing to be my partners in this effort. I'd also like to thank Speaker Boehner for bringing this to the floor swiftly. And, a big thank you to Senators McCain, Burr, Blumenthal, and Isakson for all their work on the SAV Act. Most importantly, I'd like to thank Clay's parents, Susan and Richard Selke. They are holding Congress' feet to the fire to make sure we get this done and to prevent another family from going through what they continue to go

through each and every day. We cannot let them down.

H.R. 203, the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, is an example of how we can work together on Capitol Hill. The legislation is named in honor of Iraq and Afghanistan War Veteran and suicide prevention advocate, Clay Hunt. Clay epitomized what it meant to live a life of service, both in and out of uniform. He helped countless veterans overcome their demons but tragically took his own life in March of 2011. The legacy he left behind, however, will live on for generations to come.

The bill you see before you was the result of strong partnerships with our veteran service organizations, strong bipartisan efforts here in Congress, and the resolve of Clay's parents pushing and pushing and pushing to get this thing done. This bill is what you get when you have folks sitting around the table, trusting one another, and working together to get it right for our nation's veterans.

Our premise for this bill was simple: suicide occurs because many vets return to their community and then disconnect from it. So, we wanted to create a bill that would get the communities involved and coordinated. We also knew it would be important to increase both oversight of the VA and their capacity to deal with over a million veterans returning from war.

Specifically, the bill:

1. Establishes a peer support and community outreach pilot program to assist transitioning servicemembers with accessing VA mental health care services.

2. Requires the VA to create a one-stop, interactive website to serve as a centralized source of information regarding all mental health services for veterans.

3. Addresses the shortage of mental health care professionals by authorizing the VA to conduct a student loan repayment pilot program aimed at recruiting and retaining psychiatrists.

4. Requires yearly evaluations--with interim reports due in the first two years and a final report due the third year and every year after-- conducted by a third party, of all mental health care and suicide prevention practices and programs at the VA to find out what is working and what's not working and to make recommendations to improve care. Authorizes a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the transition of care for PTSD and TBI between the DoD and the VA.

One veteran lost to suicide is one too many. With many of our warriors returning from war, all too often our heroes return only to face a war of their own at home. While there is no bill that will completely end veteran suicide, this bipartisan measure is a step in the right direction. In short, it's a start towards fixing a problem, but we must not lose focus on this problem after passing this bill. We must continue working to improve care for our veterans. I urge my colleagues to support this measure so that we can send it over to the Senate and onto the President swiftly.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 203) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide for the conduct of annual evaluations of mental health care and suicide prevention programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs, to require a pilot program on loan repayment for psychiatrists who agree to serve in the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in proud support of H.R. 203, the Clay Hunt SAV Act. This bill was introduced by my good friend and a very important member of the Veterans Affairs' Committee, Congressman Tim Walz from Minnesota. I am honored to join him and Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth from Illinois as an original cosponsor of this legislation. I am also grateful for the support of several of our military veterans' service organizations, including the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans, the Military Officers Association of America, and the Wounded Warrior Project.

H.R. 203 is named after a true American hero, Clay Hunt. Clay was a Marine Corps veteran who served honorably in both Afghanistan and Iraq, where he was wounded in battle. Clay returned home grappling with posttraumatic stress disorder but refused to let his personal struggles prevent him from devoting his time to humanitarian work and advocacy on behalf of his fellow veterans. However, in March of 2011, at just 28 years of age, Clay took his own life.

With an average of 22 veterans committing suicide each day, Clay was far from alone in his pain, and his family and friends are far from alone in their heartbreak over his loss. The last several years have seen significant increases in the Department of Veterans Affairs' mental health and suicide prevention budget, staff, and programs; however, we have not seen a corresponding decrease in the number of our Nation's heroes who take their own lives. What is more, for some groups of veterans, including female veterans and veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, suicide rates are actually getting worse.

Mr. Speaker, we have got to do more to help these veterans access the supportive services and mental health care that they need to save their lives. With the passage of H.R. 203, we will.

To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of VA programs and increase awareness of available services, H.R. 203 would require an annual third-party evaluation of VA's mental health care and suicide prevention programs and require that VA publish an interactive Web site to serve as a central source of information regarding VA mental health services.

To increase VA's capacity to meet the mental health care needs of our veterans, it would establish a pilot program that would repay education loans for individuals who have received a degree in psychiatric medicine and who agree to work at the VA for at least 2 years.

To create a seamless transition from Active Duty to veteran status and increased community support for those in need, it would establish another pilot program to assist veterans during transition and require VA to collaborate with nonprofit mental health organizations in the community.

Importantly, H.R. 203 would extend an additional 1 year of eligibility for VA health care services for certain combat veterans who have not yet enrolled and whose 5-year combat eligibility period recently expired.

Before I yield, I want to take a moment to once again express my condolences to Clay's family and friends as well as the families and friends of our honored veterans who have lost their lives to suicide. I want to offer them my personal commitment to continue the aggressive pursuit to end veteran suicide.

The passage of this bill today is just the first in what will be a continuing series of legislative and oversight efforts that our committee is going to undertake throughout the 114th Congress to improve access to mental health care for veterans in need, increase the efficiency and effectiveness of VA's mental health and suicide prevention programs, and increase meaningful partnerships with community providers who are often the first line of defense for their struggling veterans and the families of those veterans.

This bill, which passed the House last Congress, will not single- handedly halt the scourge of veteran suicide, but it is an important step, and it is a step that we owe Clay and those like him who desperately need and certainly deserve our help.

With that, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 203.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the new ranking member for her words. I look forward to working with her on legislation in the future.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from the Second District of Indiana, from Elkhart, Indiana (Mrs. Walorski).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from the Sixth District of Pennsylvania (Mr. Costello), a new member of the committee, who, in his first week, has already jumped in with both feet. Mr. Costello has been to my office and started looking closely at the oversight agenda that we have.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inquire of the ranking member how many speakers she has left.

We have no additional speakers either, so we are prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I appreciate the comments from both sides of the aisle, and I look forward to working with all of our colleagues on future issues as they relate to the Department of Veterans Affairs and, in particular, the SAV Act.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 203, the Clay Hunt SAV Act. This legislation passed the House last month in the closing days of the 113th Congress. I am pleased that we were able to act on this measure as one of the first items of business in the 114th Congress.

Providing the mental health care that veterans need and effectively dealing with the crisis of veteran suicides have been longstanding concerns of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. War is indeed terrible, and the effects of combat and service on our veterans lasts a lifetime. For far too long, society--and the military culture itself--has acted as if the need for mental health care treatment is a weakness and has discouraged adequate treatment. This attitude is changing, but it cannot change fast enough. In the area of mental health for our veterans and returning servicemembers, there is no easy answer or quick fix.

I appreciate the work of my friend from Minnesota, Tim Walz; Chairman Miller; and all of my colleagues on the committee in fashioning a bill that I believe will make a difference in the lives of our veterans.

H.R. 203 takes a number of important steps, including improving the safety net for at-risk veterans, while also introducing some accountability into the VA mental health care and suicide prevention program, using a third-party evaluation. It will provide veterans with a Web site that will serve as a centralized source of information on mental health services.

H.R. 203 initiates a program to help address some of the glaring mental health personnel shortages at the VA. While the incentives in this bill are limited to the psychiatry field, I would like to see this effort expanded in the future to all the mental health professional shortfalls.

H.R. 203 would expand peer support networks, which we have heard are quite effectively used. And I believe the reporting requirement in this bill will confirm that additional resources should be permanently dedicated to fully utilizing peer support.

H.R. 203 would also provide an additional window of eligibility for combat veterans who may have missed the window of opportunity to sign up for VA health care. This extra time will help to ensure that veterans receive the health care, including mental health care, that they need.

I thank the chairman for working to bring this bill up quickly so that the House can act and send this important measure to the Senate. I look forward to working with Chairman Miller, and with Florida being the State with the second-largest population of veterans and the most senior population, I know that the committee will do a good job having two of the leadership team from Florida.

But let me be clear: there are 435 Members of Congress, and each of them have veterans in their district, and we will work to make sure that all veterans get the care that they have earned and deserve.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining?

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

(Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas.

The last speaker just finished. I have no additional speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

It is unacceptable that 22 veterans are dying by suicide every day. We need to pull all stakeholders together to work as a group to solve the problem. There is not one cause and not one answer. There are a multitude of answers and a multitude of causes and solutions.

The Department of Defense, the VA, and the veterans service organizations need to work together to come up with many solutions that will meet the needs. There is not one solution but many. I pledge to work with my colleague from Minnesota and Chairman Miller to address the issues in the upcoming session.

Access to mental health care and benefits for our veterans is an issue I plan to focus on in the months ahead, and I look forward to working with all of my colleagues to ensure that veterans are given the benefits and services that they have earned.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, this is an appropriate and wonderful statement of two distinguished Members of Congress, the chairman and ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and I associate myself with their words on how crucial this legislation is, and what an important statement the Veterans' Affairs Committee is making: that there is no party affiliation when it comes to saving the lives of our men and women who put on the uniform.

To the author of this bill, Mr. Walz, as I chatted with him on the floor, I indicated to him that just this weekend I met for hours with two wounded warriors, both of them having experience with PTSD, both of them being challenged about the transition into civilian life, both of them knowing of this legislation, feeling left out and deprived that it did not, despite the valiant effort of this House, pass in the last Congress.

So let me congratulate all of you for recognizing that this is a crucial, lifesaving element of the men and women that we stand and admire and love. Every day, 22 veterans take their lives, but it is 8,000 a year.

And if I might say, Texas walks alongside of Florida and other States in having the highest number of returning vets. Two million served in Iraq and Afghanistan across the Nation. Now, one-third, 600,000, have experienced traumatic brain injury and PTSD.

From the early years of working with then-Chairman and Ranking Member Murtha, I was privileged to bring $1 million to my district for PTSD, but that is not the heart of it.

The bleeding and the sorrow of these men and women is not befitting of the service and the uniform that they put on. Not one moment should they wait at a veterans hospital for treatment for PTSD that should keep them grounded. Not one moment should they be alone contemplating suicide, without treatment and friends and family having assistance.

This bill makes that statement, H.R. 203, the Clay Hunt SAV Act. It says that you are not alone and that we have put our actions where our words are. We have walked the walk.

So I want to say to those wounded warriors who shared their heart with me, proudly come back and say: This bill is moving, and as it moves to the United States Senate, this bill is moving. And as we look to the President's desk, a signature will allow this bill to be in place.

To those who missed the deadline, this law will allow you to still be able to receive that treatment because it allows an extended time for those who have missed the deadline.

I know as I go back home to Texas and meet families that they are looking for action when it comes to our beloved veterans and those who have put on the uniform to serve this Nation as they watched their comrades die. This is a bill that says, God bless America.

This is a bill that reflects the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and our wonderful Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

I want to say to my friends at Ellington Field, which is just down the road

from my congressional district, and to the many bases across the State of Texas that have amongst their ranks veterans who have served in Active Duty and who are still pressing forward in spite of conditions that they face, this is the bill that provides the answer and the love and affection for the veterans and military personnel who have put on the uniform every day and who have never--never once--shied away from their duty and decided that their lives and their ills were greater than their commitment to this Nation.

We owe them this. This is a ``God bless America'' bill. I thank the proponents of it.

I thank the distinguished gentleman from Florida for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I stand here today to express my support of Congressman Tim Walz's Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act.

It is a privilege to serve on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and in this Congress, to work to improve the quality of life for our Nation's veterans, their families, and their caregivers.

In the coming months, I look forward to working in a bipartisan, commonsense manner with dedicated Members and veterans like my colleague from Minnesota (Mr. Walz) to find solutions to help our Nation's veterans transition to civilian life.

One of the most critical areas that we as a committee and Congress must work to establish is comprehensive, timely, responsive, and effective mental health care services for our post- 9/11 veterans, many of whom have served our country for multiple deployments in conditions not witnessed or experienced by any other generation of soldier.

This bill first prioritizes bringing accountability to the VA. By bringing in a third party to conduct an annual evaluation within the Department of Veterans Affairs, we can better provide agency accountability by doing just this.

Second, we must provide better access to mental health services for our veterans and their families. This bill does just that.

Finally, it helps facilitate and increase awareness for peer and community support providers for our veterans and their families.

This commonsense legislation works towards those priorities of providing an accountable and supportive VA for our veterans, in furtherance of helping veterans get the best treatment possible.

So, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this commonsense legislation to promote mental health support for our Nation's heroes and thank Congressman Walz for his leadership on this important legislation.