Political Quotes

“Just a few minutes ago, I cast an affirmative vote for the National Defense Authorization Act for 2016. However, I do have great concern over an important measure which was all but removed from the legislation we voted on today. Earlier this year, I authored the Medical Evaluation Parity for Servicemembers, or MEPS, Act. The MEPS Act would improve military suicide prevention by instituting a mental health assessment for all incoming military recruits, which can be used as a baseline for evaluations throughout their military careers. The conferenced version of the NDAA merely calls for the Department of Defense to continue to study such a screening. Mr. Speaker, this issue has been studied thoroughly over the past several years. I strongly urge the Pentagon to act quickly to take steps in better assessing the mental health of our servicemen and - women with a commonsense baseline evaluation. A recent Army study found that nearly one in five Army soldiers enter the service with a psychiatric disorder, and nearly half of all soldiers who tried suicide first attempted it before enlisting. I call on the Pentagon to stop studying to death the death of our soldiers. Mr. Speaker, we need to act now. ____________________”