Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. LAMB. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for his hard work bringing us this bipartisan, bicameral compromise that will get things done for our Nation's veterans.

Madam Speaker, my contributions to today's bill are sort of a mix of old and new. We are dramatically increasing the investments and availability of age-old practices like acupuncture, meditation, yoga, nutritional counseling, things that, when you talk to the veterans themselves, whether younger millennial-age veterans or grizzled Vietnam war veterans, they will tell you these are some of their favorite offerings at the local VA and some of the practices that make the biggest differences for people with chronic pain, stress, and anxiety.

I have heard my Republican colleagues make the point many times that we have increased the VA's budget without seeing much progress on the suicide rate. I agree. That is unacceptable.

These are some of the least costly offerings that the VA has to make: acupuncture and chiropractor. They come up again and again, and they are a minuscule part of the VA's budget. We can make a small increase and make an enormous difference.

We are also investing in another great opportunity to do research for biomarkers, precision medicine that will tell us how we can better treat the invisible wounds of war with new technologies; again, a small down payment today for the possibility of much more effective and much more cost-effective treatment going forward.

The other important mix of old and new that we see today, Madam Speaker, is that we are making new investments--investing in new technology, offering new services to veterans--but we have done it in an old-fashioned way, which is that both sides work together.

This will probably be my last chance to recognize our ranking member, Dr. Roe, before he leaves us at the end of this Congress. I just want to say, when I came to this Congress 2\1/2\ years ago, my first committee assignment was on the Veterans' Affairs Committee when he was chairman. Dr. Roe was kind to me from beginning to end, taught me a lot about the needs of our Nation's veterans from the standpoint of a practicing physician, always with an eye on cost, but, above all, on veterans' well-being.

We thank Dr. Roe for his service, and our Nation's veterans are better off for it.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), my good friend, who has served together with me for 12 years on the Veterans' Affairs Committee and vice chairs the committee. There is no greater advocate for veterans in this country than Gus Bilirakis.

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