As you know, during my time in Congress, I have focused a significant portion of my efforts on serving our veterans and our service members.  As part of that focus this week, I am writing to tell you more about H.R. 918, known as, the Veteran Urgent Access to Mental Healthcare Act, a bill which I introduced last Tuesday. 

This bipartisan bill has already garnered the support of over a dozen Members of Congress and a number of veteran service organizations. If enacted, this bill will provide combat veterans who left the service with an “other than honorable” discharge limited access to mental healthcare services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).  Under the existing rules, veteran benefits, including mental health care, are only available to those veterans who received discharges under honorable conditions. The services these veterans with other than honorable discharges could gain access to, include initial mental health assessments, as well as urgent mental healthcare services.

Why is this important? Well it matters because so many of our combat veterans have received other than honorable discharges. For example, since 2009, the Army has separated over 22,000 combat veterans diagnosed with mental health disabilities or traumatic brain injury (TBI) for minor forms of misconduct[i]. In all too many recent instances, however, this misconduct is a result of behavioral problems largely caused by the service member’s experiences during combat deployment. The Army has quickly discharged these combat veterans with less than honorable discharges despite efforts to reform the administrative discharge process to prevent the Army from doing so. 

A key reason I think this is so important is the unfortunate reality that all too often service members suffering from mental health conditions commit suicide. Veteran suicide is a very real issue and something we must make every effort to prevent. One of the best means to avoid these tragedies is to make mental healthcare available to those veterans who need it most, and veterans such as the ones this bill is meant to assist, are some of the most vulnerable of our veterans. A 2016 VA report, reported that up to 20 veterans commit suicide daily. Moreover, there is evidence of a decrease in the risk of suicide among veterans when they receive VA mental health services. Finally, my proposed bill also calls for a third-party study of veteran suicide, which would not only help us to better understand the issue, but properly address it in hope of preventing future loss of life.

I will continue to fight for providing the necessary mental health services for our combat veterans.

Additionally, this week in Washington, D.C. as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I participated in a hearing titled ‘The State of the Military’. You can catch the hearing HERE. I listened to presentations by each of the military branches Vice-Chief’s about current challenges faced by our military, and to ask them questions on how Congress can help them to properly address them. As chair of the subcommittee on military personnel, I will do my part to further ensure our nation’s security is not imperiled.