[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 91 (Tuesday, June 9, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3960-S3961]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 1941. Mr. BLUNT submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to 
amendment SA 1463 proposed by Mr. McCain to the bill H.R. 1735, to 
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2016 for military activities 
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for 
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military 
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which 
was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle C of title VII, add the following:

     SEC. 738. REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF ANNUAL MENTAL HEALTH 
                   SCREENINGS FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

       (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the annual mental health assessment for members of the 
     Armed Forces provided under section 1074n of title 10, United 
     States Code, may be improved by providing members undergoing 
     such an assessment with a record of events, including non-
     combat related events, to substantiate latent mental health 
     issues that appear months or years after the causal incident;
       (2) some members may not know how to request help with 
     mental health concerns in connection with such assessment and 
     not all health care providers fully discuss mental health 
     concerns during such assessment;
       (3) the majority of mild traumatic brain injury inducing 
     incidents are not diagnosed during combat deployment, so when 
     symptoms do appear, there may be no mechanism for health care 
     providers to link the injury back to the causal incident;
       (4) the provision of such assessment may not recognize 
     incidents described in paragraph (3) unless the member 
     provides information regarding those incidents to a health 
     care provider;
       (5) when latent mental health symptoms appear after a 
     member is discharged, the

[[Page S3961]]

     member may not be eligible to receive treatment from the 
     Department of Veterans Affairs without a record of causal 
     justification;
       (6) the Secretary of Defense has an obligation to identify 
     as quickly and efficiently as possible without disrupting 
     military readiness the mental health concerns that persist 
     among members of the Armed Forces unbeknownst to those 
     members and the health care providers of those members; and
       (7) the Department of Defense and the Defense Health Agency 
     are currently developing a standardized periodic health 
     assessment tool that incorporates a screening for depression, 
     post-traumatic stress, substance use, and risk for suicide 
     through a person-to-person dialogue using the same question 
     set used for mental health assessments provided to members of 
     the Armed Forces undergoing deployment.
       (b) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit 
     to Congress a report on the implementation of mental health 
     assessments provided to members of the Armed Forces under 
     section 1074n of title 10, United States Code, that includes 
     a description of--
       (1) the reliability of such assessments;
       (2) any significant changes in mental health concerns among 
     members of the Armed Forces as a result of such assessments;
       (3) any areas in which the provision of such assessments to 
     members of the Armed Forces needs to improve; and
       (4) such additional information as the Secretary considers 
     necessary relating to mental health screening and treatment 
     of members of the Armed Forces.
                                 ______