[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 46 (Tuesday, April 23, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S3168]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                          By Mr. ROCKEFELLER:

  S. 2228. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to operate up to 15 centers for 
mental illness research, education, and clinical activities; to the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I introduce legislation today to 
allow researchers and clinicians in the Department of Veterans Affairs 
to establish up to ten more centers to study and treat mental 
illnesses.
  Historically, as many as one-third of veterans seeking care at VA 
have received mental health treatment, and research suggests that 
serious mental illnesses affect at least one-fifth of veterans who use 
the VA health care system. About 450,000 of the approximately 2.3 
million veterans who receive compensation from VA have service-
connected psychiatric and neurological disorders. These statistics do 
not reflect problems that affect veterans alone: in 1999, the Surgeon 
General of the United States reported that mental disorders account for 
more than 15 percent of the overall burden of disease from all causes, 
slightly more than all forms of cancer. Major depression alone ranked 
second only to heart disease in impact.
  In 1996, Congress authorized VA to establish five centers dedicated 
to mental illness research, education, and clinical activities. These 
Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Centers, called 
``MIRECCs'' by VA, integrate basic and clinical research with a 
training mission that allows VA to translate new findings into improved 
patient care. Research undertaken within these centers has helped to 
increase our fundamental understanding of mental illnesses, and has 
given VA caregivers more and better tools to treat patients with mental 
disorders so they can function more easily within their communities.
  Because they have proved so effective at fostering scientific, 
clinical, and educational improvements in mental health care, I have 
introduced legislation today that would allow VA to expand the number 
of these centers from the five authorized programs to a possible total 
of fifteen. Based on the programs' success, VA researchers have already 
started three more centers, expanding the number of existing programs 
to eight, and have demonstrated their willingness to open more in the 
near future. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the 
expansion of this program, which benefits not only veterans but the 
entire mental health care community.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2228

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO 
                   OPERATE ADDITIONAL CENTERS FOR MENTAL ILLNESS 
                   RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND CLINICAL ACTIVITIES.

       Section 7320(b)(3) of title 38, United States Code, is 
     amended by striking ``five centers'' and inserting ``15 
     centers''.
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