Bill Pascrell: “I would like to ask the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Chairman, to engage in a colloquy on the need for traumatic brain…”

“I would like to ask the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Chairman, to engage in a colloquy on the need for traumatic brain injury funding for post-acute guidelines for our returning troops. Mr. Chairman, it is my understanding that medical treatment guidelines for post-acute rehabilitation of moderate and severe TBI do not exist today. Recognizing this, Mr. Platts from Pennsylvania and Ms. Giffords from Arizona included an amendment in the National Defense Authorization for fiscal year 2012 that would require the Department of Defense to implement post-acute treatment guidelines for traumatic brain injury. This provision was supported by the cochairs of the Brain Injury Task Force--myself, Mr. Platts, bipartisan. It is my hope that the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences be able to begin the project as soon as possible. Over the years, the TBI Task Force has addressed many gaps for our servicemembers. I now yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Platts).”