Recognizing Efforts of Welcome Back Veterans

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 1746, as amended, a bill to recognize and support the efforts of the Welcome Back Veterans organization to augment the services provided by the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs in providing timely and world-class care for veterans and members of the Armed Forces suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and related psychiatric disorders.

Many of our veterans return from combat in need of assistance due to the symptoms related to PTSD. Welcome Back Veterans is engaged in a public-private partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, Major League Baseball, the McCormick Foundation and university hospitals of Weill Cornell, the University of Michigan, and Stanford University to help veterans by addressing the ongoing issue of PTSD.

Nearly 5,000 veterans and members of the Armed Forces are already receiving help through the Welcome Back Veterans program. To date, the program has raised over $10 million in funding to help improve the lives of our veterans and their families. Their Center of Excellence initiative looks to continue their commitment to veterans by creating a network of university hospitals that specialize in assisting veterans who suffer from PTSD.

House Resolution 1746 would resolve that the House of Representatives recognizes and supports the efforts of Welcome Back Veterans and encourages the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish innovative public-private partnerships for the treatment and research of posttraumatic stress disorder in teaching hospitals across this country.

Again, I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 1746.

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Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to commend Congressman Israel for introducing this much needed resolution and also as a veteran myself and as a physician, we need to be looking for public-private partnerships. I couldn't be happier with this because the VA is not meeting the entire need that we have of our veterans right now in treating PTSD. We need to look at innovative ways to put these young men and women back into the workforce and to help them. And certainly not just with the Iraq and Afghanistan war but through the Vietnam War and World War II. Many of our troops out there are dealing with this very, very serious problem. I want to thank these organizations privately for stepping up.

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