Bob Filner: “Mr. Speaker, with all the huffing and puffing, I am glad the minority ranking member supports the bill. Let me remind…”

“Mr. Speaker, with all the huffing and puffing, I am glad the minority ranking member supports the bill. Let me remind people what this bill is all about. It is about our veterans. It is about our veterans. A DOD study after Vietnam found in fact that 15 percent of veterans with severe traumatic brain injury, TBI, developed epilepsy soon after their injury. We know how many TBI victims we have from Iraq and Afghanistan. So as more and more veterans move from DOD health care to the VA health care system, the VA must be prepared to treat TBI and epilepsy. The Epilepsy Centers of Excellence in this bill by Mr. Perlmutter of Colorado would function as centers of research on the diagnosis, treatment and long-term effects of epilepsy. It gives the VA the tools to provide to veterans with epilepsy the quality of care that they deserve. I join my ranking member in urging my colleagues to support H.R. 2818, as amended.”