[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 49 (Monday, March 23, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H3713-H3715]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 NATIONAL BRAIN INJURY AWARENESS MONTH

  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Res. 178) expressing the need for enhanced public 
awareness of traumatic brain injury and support for the designation of 
a National Brain Injury Awareness Month.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 178

       Whereas traumatic brain injury is a leading cause of death 
     and disability among children and young adults in the United 
     States;
       Whereas at least 1.4 million Americans sustain a traumatic 
     brain injury each year;
       Whereas each year, more than 125,000 of such Americans 
     sustain permanent life-long disabilities from a traumatic 
     brain injury, resulting in a life-altering experience that 
     can include the most serious physical, cognitive, and 
     emotional impairments;
       Whereas every 21 seconds, one person in the United States 
     sustains a traumatic brain injury;
       Whereas at least 3.17 million Americans currently live with 
     permanent disabilities resulting from a traumatic brain 
     injury;
       Whereas traumatic brain injuries may have a life-altering 
     impact on both Americans living with resultant disabilities 
     and their families;
       Whereas concussions are serious injuries to the brain and 
     multiple concussions can lead to lifelong disability and 
     death;
       Whereas most cases of traumatic brain injury are 
     preventable;
       Whereas traumatic brain injuries cost the nation $60 
     billion annually;
       Whereas the lack of public awareness is so vast that 
     traumatic brain injury is known in the disability community 
     as the Nation's ``silent epidemic'';
       Whereas traumatic brain injury is the signature wound of 
     the global war on terrorism as a result of roadside bombs and 
     blasts;
       Whereas the military personnel who have served in the Armed 
     Forces of the United States in such war and who return to the 
     United States with traumatic brain injuries will require 
     additional Federal, State, and local resources;
       Whereas there is a need for enhanced public awareness of 
     traumatic brain injury;
       Whereas the designation of a National Brain Injury 
     Awareness Month will work toward enhancing public awareness 
     of traumatic brain injury; and
       Whereas the Brain Injury Association of America has 
     recognized March as Brain Injury Awareness Month: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That House of Representatives--
       (1) supports the designation of an appropriate month as 
     National Brain Injury Awareness Month; and
       (2) urges the President to issue a proclamation calling on 
     the people of the United States, Federal departments and 
     agencies, States, localities, organizations, and media to 
     annually observe a National Brain Injury Awareness Month with 
     appropriate ceremonies and activities.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Akin) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I now yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, as a Member of the House Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform, I am joined by my colleagues in the consideration of 
House Resolution 178, which expresses support for enhanced public 
awareness of traumatic brain injury and for designation of National 
Brain Injury Awareness Month which, for years, has been commemorated 
annually during the month of March.
  House Resolution 178 was introduced by the great Representative Bill 
Pascrell of New Jersey, on February 13, 2009, and has the support and 
cosponsorship of over 90 Members of Congress. The reason for such 
generous congressional support is the fact that traumatic brain injury 
impacts nearly 1.5 million Americans a year.
  The measure was considered by the Oversight panel on March 10, 2009, 
and was passed by voice vote with unanimous support from myself and my 
fellow committee members.
  Mr. Speaker, each and every March the National Brain Injury 
Association of America and its State affiliates come together with 
other organizations, businesses, schools, and of course those who have 
survived or sustained

[[Page H3714]]

traumatic brain injury and their families, to promote greater awareness 
and understanding of brain injury.
  Mr. Speaker, before consideration of this resolution, how many of us 
were aware that every 21 seconds an individual in our country sustains 
a traumatic brain injury, or the fact that among our servicemen and 
women engaged in the Global War on Terrorism, brain injury has been 
identified as a ``signature wound,'' usually resulting from roadside 
bombs and explosive devices.
  Often described as a somewhat ``silent epidemic,'' brain injury, 
whether as a mild concussion or severe enough to result in comatose 
conditions, certainly deserves the attention of the Congress and the 
resources and research of this country.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, I'd like to again thank my colleague from 
New Jersey, Congressman Bill Pascrell, for working to make sure we 
recognize the need for greater public awareness of brain injury and for 
highlighting the National Brain Injury Awareness Month which, this 
year, I should add, will focus specifically on brain injury in sports 
and youth recreational activities.
  House Resolution 178 is certainly worthy of the support of this body, 
and I hope my colleagues will vote accordingly.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. AKIN. I yield such time as he may consume to a highly respected 
and distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Platts).
  Mr. PLATTS. I appreciate the distinguished gentleman from Missouri 
yielding to me. I am honored to join with the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch), as well as my good friend and colleague, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), in speaking in favor of this 
resolution to express the important need for increased public awareness 
of traumatic brain injury, and to designate March as National Traumatic 
Brain Injury Awareness Month.
  For the past 4 years, I have been honored to cochair the 
Congressional Traumatic Brain Injury Task Force with my good friend, 
Representative Pascrell from New Jersey. While it's been a pleasure to 
work with Bill for the last 4 years, I especially want to highlight his 
great leadership long before I joined the task force--for many years--
leading the cause and helping to raise awareness about this important 
issue.
  Together, we have worked to increase awareness of TBI, which many 
people do not realize is the leading cause of death and disability 
among children and young adults in the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, this year alone, over 1.4 million people will sustain a 
traumatic brain injury. Sadly, at least 80,000 of these individuals 
will remain permanently disabled from the trauma.
  Falls, motor vehicle crashes, sports injuries, and violence are among 
the major causes of TBI, leaving every individual susceptible. 
Additionally, TBIs can manifest themselves in various ways, from small 
behavioral changes to more tragic injuries, including complete physical 
disability and death.
  Brain injuries affect the whole family emotionally and financially, 
often resulting in huge medical and rehabilitation expenses. The recent 
tragic death of Natasha Richardson amplifies the importance of bringing 
awareness to this critical issue. Because Ms. Richardson appeared to be 
unaffected immediately after a skiing accident in which she hit her 
head, she did not receive medical treatment. Unfortunately, only hours 
later, after experiencing a severe headache, she was admitted to the 
hospital, lapsed into a coma and, tragically, died. Tragedies such as 
these happen every day and can often be prevented.
  TBI has also been named the ``signature wound'' of the war in Iraq, 
with approximately more than 20 percent of our deployed men and women 
returning with this injury. Thanks to the state-of-the-art body armor 
with which our men and women overseas are equipped, they are able to 
survive violent attacks while still receiving a blunt force to the 
head.
  Fortunately, in recent years, Congress and the administration have 
worked together to provide increased funding for military TBI screening 
and treatment programs. However, more still needs to be done.
  Mr. Speaker, because all of our fellow citizens have families, 
friends, and neighbors who could fall victim to TBI at any time, I 
strongly urge support from all of our colleagues for this resolution 
here today, and urge a ``yes'' vote.

                              {time}  1415

  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, at this time I take great pleasure in 
recognizing the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Massachusetts, 
and my good friend Todd Platts who is the co-chair of the Traumatic 
Brain Injury Task Force.
  Mr. Speaker, I learned about this injury about 10 years ago when I 
was approached by one of my constituents, Dennis Benigno, whose son was 
struck by a car, leaving him with severe cognitive and physical 
disabilities.
  In response, former Congressman Jim Greenwood from Pennsylvania and I 
formed the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force to further education 
and awareness of brain injuries and support funding for brain injury 
research. There wasn't too much at that time. In fact, most of the 
Members of Congress didn't know about the seriousness of the injury and 
how 1.5 million Americans are affected every year.
  I think people often wonder why we spend so much time talking about 
brain injury. Unfortunately, it took the war to crystallize what this 
entire issue is all about.
  Someone in America suffers a traumatic brain injury every 21 seconds. 
At least 1.5 million Americans sustain this injury, as I mentioned. 
That is more than breast cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis, and spinal 
cord injuries combined. Of those, 50,000 will die every year. An 
estimated 3.22 million Americans are currently living with a long-term 
disability because of TBI. As many as 20 percent of the 1.8 million 
deployed troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, that is 360,000 soldiers, have 
sustained TBIs in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is an astonishing figure.
  TBI is one of the rare afflictions that is widespread among both the 
civilian population and among our soldiers. There has been a weakness 
in the Defense health care system, and many injured soldiers weren't 
receiving the level of care that they deserved. The military has made 
great strides in the last several years to better prevent, identify, 
and treat brain injuries among our brave men and women in uniform, and 
Congress has been a willing partner in the effort to ensure sustained 
progress on this front.
  Mr. Speaker and my good friend from Massachusetts, just today on the 
USA Today front-page review: GI's at Risk By Fitness Practices. Many of 
the soldiers are not fit to go to the battlefield. Many of our football 
players in colleges and in high schools throughout America are not fit 
to go on to the field. If they are not screened, we are doing an 
injustice to the cause.
  Accordingly, the Brain Injury Task Force brought together experts 
from all over the world at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in 
Paterson, New Jersey, in October for the International Conference on 
Behavioral Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. These experts generated 
recommendations that were presented to the Congress 2 weeks ago.
  We cannot forget that, for these Wounded Warriors and their families, 
the war will not end when the last shots are fired. Despite the 
staggering statistics and heart-shattering stories that come to us from 
Iraq and Afghanistan, public awareness continues to lag and TBI remains 
a silent epidemic plaguing our Nation.
  Traumatic brain injury can strike anyone and leave devastating 
results. We probably all know someone or know the story of someone 
whose life was irreversibly changed because of a brain injury. Just 
last week we saw a flurry of media accounts of the tragic death of 
actress Natasha Richardson, who sustained a brain injury while skiing. 
If that tragedy taught us anything, it is that, as far as science has 
come, we still know relatively little about this pervasive injury.
  The Congressional Brain Injury Task Force continues to seek increased 
funding for the programs authorized by the Traumatic Brain Injury Act, 
after an unprecedented amount of congressional support in these recent 
years.

[[Page H3715]]

  Designating a month to recognize the prevalence and the seriousness 
of brain injuries among both civilians and military community will 
bring much needed public attention to this frequently forgotten malady.
  And I might add, Mr. Speaker, that this Wednesday throughout the day, 
from 10 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon, in the Rayburn 
building we will have a fair with twice as many displays, close to 50 
displays; and then we will have the leading folks from the military and 
civilian talk about it in the Cannon Building from 3:30 to 4:30, and 
then in the evening a reception. We are bringing the military and 
civilians together in order to help our soldiers and help Americans.
  This resolution will honor the families who, day in and day out, care 
for and love their family members who have afflictions, and do so 
without fanfare, without applause.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. LYNCH. I grant the gentleman an additional 1 minute.
  Mr. PASCRELL. They do it because they love their sons or daughters or 
brothers or sisters each day of every month. I invite all Members and 
the staff to join Wednesday in the Rayburn foyer to meet some of the 
folks as we recognize Brain Injury Awareness Month here on Capitol 
Hill. We are hosting a fair with hundreds of individuals from the brain 
injury community.
  Let's pass this resolution to confirm congressional commitment to 
promoting awareness, education, prevention, and research by reminding 
all Americans of those individuals and families who suffer from a brain 
injury.
  We have come a long way, Mr. Speaker, in ten years. We could have fit 
the amount of people in our caucus in a phone booth. That has all 
changed. We are now close to 125, 130 Members from both sides of the 
aisle. We are really seeing results, particularly in the last 3 or 4 
years.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts, and I want to thank 
my friend from Pennsylvania. Of course, this is only the beginning of a 
fight where we will respond, and our men and women who put their lives 
on the line will know that we really mean what we say, that we love 
them and we will do everything we can for them.
  Mr. AKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Last week, the devastation of traumatic brain injury was once again 
brought to our attention with the death of actress Natasha Richardson. 
This tragedy was but one type of traumatic brain injury that brings 
about death or physical debilitation to over 1.4 million people each 
year.
  While the leading cause of traumatic brain injury is the result of 
falls, they are followed by automobile accidents, being struck by or 
against a hard surface, and assault. Men are at the greatest risk of 
brain injury, and African Americans have the highest death rate from 
this injury. All of these cold, hard facts do not tell the story of 
shattered lives of the individual, if they survive, and untold 
heartache and lifelong impact on loved ones and friends of the injured. 
In America, there are 125,000 citizens living with life-long 
disabilities from traumatic brain injuries.
  These head injuries come about in many ways, not the least of which 
are the injuries sustained by our soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and 
Iraq. The cost in lives and the ongoing suffering is tragic for these 
brave men and women. Their injuries will continue to require costly 
medical assistance from State, Federal, and local agencies.
  Generally, a concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury that is 
caused by an injury to the head that many people underestimate. It is 
critical to recovery that any type of blow to the head, whether it is a 
child's fall from a swing to a teen sport or automobile accident, be 
taken seriously. Often, symptoms don't show up immediately, so keeping 
a close watch on the injured person is imperative so that medical 
attention can be sought, if needed.
  We are grateful for organizations such as the Brain Injury 
Association of America who are invaluable in generating understanding 
and awareness of brain injury. We join with all who wish to broadcast a 
message of hope and action of this often underestimated condition 
during March, which has been designated as the National Brain Injury 
Awareness Month.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I just want to point out the 
relentless work done on this issue of traumatic brain injury by Mr. 
Pascrell from New Jersey, who is the chair, and also by Mr. Todd Platts 
from Pennsylvania, who is the co-chair. I have accompanied both of 
those gentlemen, I have seen their work in Iraq and Afghanistan. They 
have seen the situation in Balad, in the field hospitals in Iraq, as 
well as the military hospital at Landstuhl, Germany, the military 
hospital there, as well as going back to Walter Reed Army Hospital. 
They know full well the extent of this. They are our most outspoken 
advocates on behalf of families whose loved ones have been affected 
with TBI, and we are all indebted to their hard work.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask all of my colleagues to support the measure of Mr. 
Pascrell of New Jersey and Mr. Platts of Pennsylvania and support House 
Resolution 178.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 178.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________