Michael Waltz: “Today I rise in support of this important legislation, H.R. 4305, the PAWS Act. As a combat veteran, I have personally…”

“Today I rise in support of this important legislation, H.R. 4305, the PAWS Act. As a combat veteran, I have personally relied on service dogs in battle. We all recently witnessed the important role that service dogs play in combat roles and in national security when we saw Conan, the Belgian Malinois, who participated in the raid that killed ISIS leader al-Baghdadi. Service dogs also play an important role in transitioning veterans back to civilian life. There is no denying these connections. The support they provide our veterans puts that connection on an entirely different level of importance. Many of our veterans return back from their service not the same as when they left, and I can personally attest to that. They have three bad choices: either they don't come home, they come home missing limbs, or they certainly come home--when you have been in combat--different mentally than when they left. These invisible wounds often make life very difficult for our veterans who have served. We owe them. The least we can do is to provide a full menu of options to their medical providers when they need help, whether those are medicines, whether those are unconventional treatments like hyperbaric chambers, or whether they are service dogs. That should be one of the options that our providers can provide.…”