[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 83 (Friday, May 28, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E995]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011

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                               speech of

                        HON. TODD RUSSELL PLATTS

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 27, 2010

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5136) to 
     authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for military 
     activities of the Department of Defense, to prescribe 
     military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
     other purposes:

  Mr. PLATTS. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of this important amendment 
and I thank my friend from New Jersey, Bill Pascrell, for allowing me 
to work with him on this issue. The Department of Defense and the RAND 
Corporation have recently estimated that 20 percent of our military 
personnel who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan have suffered a 
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
  Because symptoms of TBI often go unnoticed, at least initially, it is 
difficult to know exactly how many troops are living with this 
disability. If not diagnosed early on, TBIs can lead to memory loss, 
severe headache disorders, and alcohol and drug abuse.
  Neurocognitive assessment has been proven to be an effective tool in 
detecting and measuring the severity of TBI. This is why the fiscal 
year 2008 National Defense Authorization required the Department of 
Defense to screen ALL military personnel for TBI both before and after 
deployment. Post-deployment screenings are to be compared with pre-
deployment (or baseline) assessments to determine whether or not the 
servicemember is suffering from a TBI.
  Unfortunately, too many of our men and women returning from the wars 
in Iraq and Afghanistan are still not being screened for TBI. 
Servicemembers that have been screened post-deployment are currently 
given a self-assessment checklist, in which the results are not even 
comparable to their pre-deployment neurocognitive screenings. Not to 
mention that because the checklist is self-administered, the results 
are typically inaccurate since these troops either do not realize or do 
not want to admit that they are living with a TBI.
  I am pleased that this year's Defense Authorization includes language 
requiring the Department of Defense to implement a comprehensive 
screening and assessment policy by the end of 2011. However, until this 
policy is fully implemented, thousands of our men and women in uniform 
are returning from combat without the necessary screenings to ensure 
that they receive proper treatment.
  This amendment, which I am proud of to have introduced with 
Congressmen Pascrell, Andrews, Cole, Ortiz, Coffman and Joe Wilson, 
will ensure that until the Department of Defense has put in place a 
comprehensive screening policy, all of our military personnel will 
receive neurocognitive assessments both before and after deployment. 
The amendment requires that the same neurocognitive tool used for pre-
deployment assessment also be used for post-deployment evaluation. 
Using the same test allows physicians to compare the baseline screening 
with the post-deployment results to determine whether a TBI does in 
fact exist. The current system of using different tools for pre and 
post deployment screenings is like comparing apples to oranges. It is 
essential that our men and women who put themselves in harm's way to 
protect us every day receive immediate and appropriate care.
  Though TBIs are difficult to detect because no one symptom exists, it 
is imperative that the Department of Defense take every possible 
measure to diagnose and treat our troops affected by TBI. This is why I 
strongly support this amendment and I encourage all of my colleagues to 
do the same.

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