Political Quotes

“On May 26, 2011, during the NDAA debate, the House unanimously adopted an amendment to create a pilot program administered by the Department of Defense that would begin treating our troops coming back home from theater with TBI and PTSD. Today, Congress has the opportunity to appropriate funds that would be used to treat our active duty and veterans suffering from TBI and PTSD. My amendment specifically moves $10 million from the more than $19 billion in the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Defense Program to increase the defense health program by $10 million. Once again, this money will assist directly these soldiers and others in the military who have TBI-related injuries to be able to go to private sector facilities with the utilization of taxpayer dollars for them to get leading-edge treatments on these issues. In April 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs screened veterans who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 for symptoms associated with TBI. More than 19 percent of these veterans screened positive for TBI symptoms. This is a big issue. According to the U.S. Army, the number of soldiers leaving active duty service has increased by 64 percent from 2005 to 2009 due to brain health, whether it was TBI, PTSD, or a mental illness. A 2009 Rand study estimates that costs related to depression, PTSD, and TBI in our soldiers ranges from $4 billion to $6.2 billion over a 2-year period of time.…”