Political Quotes

“Under this legislation, the VA would create a database to help match qualified job applicants to critical open positions in order to more quickly fill those vacancies. My amendment is simple. It requires the VA to include mental health positions in that database, allowing it to better serve veterans with critical needs by ensuring that the VA uses all available tools to recruit and hire qualified mental health professionals in a timely and effective manner. The VA faces a critical shortage of mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health counselors, and peer support specialists. These providers care for our veterans with behavioral health needs that include post-traumatic stress disorder, military sexual trauma, and substance use disorder. Too many of our veterans must wait to receive the mental health care we have promised to them, and some might never receive needed care at all. In my home State of New Hampshire, we are fighting a fentanyl, heroin, and prescription opioid crisis that is disproportionately affecting the veteran community. Rates of opioid-use disorder among veterans rose 55 percent between 2010 and 2015, and overdose rates for prescription opioids are twice as high as the national average among veterans getting care at the VA. Increasing mental health provider capacity will allow more of these veterans to enter treatment and, ultimately, recover.…”