[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 179 (Thursday, December 10, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8594-S8595]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUPPORING OUR VETERANS

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, 2 weeks ago most of us went home to our 
families to celebrate and give thanks for the many blessings we have in 
this country. We all look forward to spending more time with family 
during this holiday season, but for far too many Americans the holidays 
are just another time when they struggle to put food on the table or 
even to have a roof over their heads. This is sadly particularly true 
of our Nation's veterans.
  Again, to go back 15 years, we take people into war in this country--
sometimes for very good reason. Our sending troops to Afghanistan was 
exactly the right policy back in 2002 and 2003. Going into the war in 
Iraq was something very different.
  If we in this body are going to send people into war, it is time we 
think about the costs of war, not come to the Senate floor and make 
speeches about how tough we are as Senators, when most Senators don't 
have children--some do, but most don't have children who go off to war. 
We are willing to send people into combat, and then we too often turn 
our backs on those soldiers once they come home and become our Nation's 
veterans.
  The suicide rate is too high among veterans, many of them suffering 
from PTSD or traumatic brain injury or a host of other illnesses or 
afflictions. The suicide rate is too high, the unemployment rate for 
veterans is too high, and the drug addiction rate is too high. Yet, how 
often our colleagues come and talk about, let's send combat troops, 
let's go to war. How rarely they talk

[[Page S8595]]

about what we do with these men and women when they come home, whose 
lives have been changed dramatically. These are the costs of war, and 
they don't get nearly the attention on the Senate floor, in the media, 
or among policymakers as do the actually going to war and sending our 
troops.
  It is shameful that veterans have these rates of unemployment, 
addiction, suicide, and homelessness. We have made progress on 
homelessness through a combination of increased Federal investments and 
improved services. Over the past 5 years, homelessness among veterans 
has declined 36 percent, but too many remain on the streets.
  Veterans comprise 12 percent of the Nation's adult homeless 
population. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, some 48,000 veterans were homeless--including 1,200 in my 
State of Ohio--on a given night in January when a census, if you will, 
was taken about homelessness. That is 48,000 too many. It is a disgrace 
that they serve our country with honor, and thousands are left without 
a roof over their head. Think about that. We send them off to war. They 
are sometimes damaged by their time in combat or their time in the 
military, and we don't care enough to find them places to live and find 
them drug treatment and find them jobs and give the kind of help to 
them that they gave to our country.
  I met the veterans the organizations serve--organizations such as the 
VFW, American Legion, these groups and counties called veteran service 
organizations. My State is blessed to have one in each of our 88 
counties. I hear about their stories of perseverance. They are 
inspiring.
  I visited the Joseph House in Cincinnati, where Nathan Pelletier and 
his team of dedicated staff and volunteers provided addiction treatment 
and transitional housing to veterans. We heard from Britton Carter, who 
was formerly homeless. He completed the treatment program at Joseph 
House. He now works as a case manager helping other struggling 
veterans. He spoke about the trials he has overcome. He said:

       As a small youth I fell in love with playing army men. My 
     mom would buy me little army men, and I dreamed of one day 
     being a soldier.
       God had given me the gift of being a pretty good basketball 
     player and as such I became the first freshman to play and 
     start on any varsity team. With success came fans and 
     countless people, many of whom had an agenda that didn't 
     necessarily have my best interest at stake.
       From the early years of high school I found myself star 
     struck, and I would end up in the company of those who used 
     drugs--first pot and wine, later I was introduced to heroin 
     and cocaine.
       With the grace of God, I was given the opportunity to 
     attend college at New Mexico Military Institution in Roswell, 
     NM. There were other offers from schools, but I was attracted 
     to the opportunity of being able to play army man once again.
       I was caught with drugs and kicked out of school, and as a 
     result I lost the chance to become an officer in the United 
     States military. I went to another college--only to have my 
     drug addiction lead me to poor choices that brought my career 
     closer and closer to an end, where the only thing I felt I 
     had to hold onto would be a career in the Army.
       I enlisted, and discovered that being away from home . . . 
     left me face-to-face with those old demons, and once again I 
     was being discharged. . . . It wasn't long after my return . 
     . . that I found myself in and out of trouble. Having no 
     insurance to pay for the treatment I truly needed to address 
     my addiction, and nearly a life sentence on the installment 
     plan and years of struggle. . . .

  He goes on.

       [The Joseph House] was the one place that believed in never 
     leaving any soldier behind--the Joseph House.
       It was while at the Joseph House that I had the opportunity 
     to get the treatment I so badly needed. . . . Today, thanks 
     to God and his mercy. . . .

  He goes on to talk about some of the things he has done. He has 
written a play. He has produced a play. He has done wonderful things, 
especially for his fellow veterans. His story should serve as a 
reminder to all of us that we should not leave the men and women who 
serve this country.
  There are so many stories like his. In October I was in Dayton, where 
I met with Robert White at the Homefull organization--Homefull as 
opposed to the homeless. He served 4 years in the Army Reserves and 1 
year on Active Duty. He was honorably discharged in 1980 and spent 
years working, facing challenges that he said left him ``lower than 
low.'' He said, ``As soon as I left for basic training, I was 
homeless.'' He talked about his work, his time in shelters. He said the 
result was always the same. He said, ``I entered homeless, and no 
matter how good I did, I still left homeless.''
  Then, on the July Fourth weekend 7 years ago, he entered Homefull's 
VA per diem transitional supportive housing program. He became a model 
guest at Homefull. He got a job in Trotwood, a community near Dayton. 
He still has the same job. Homefull connected Mr. White with its 
partner organization, which helped him achieve home ownership. Today he 
has gone from homeless veteran to owner of his own home. That is 
because of his community in Dayton, because of this organization 
Homefull, and it is because of the partnership with the Veterans' 
Administration, whose funding is always under jeopardy because of many 
Members of the Senate and House who simply don't put the same effort 
into helping veterans as they do into funding the military.
  Last month I was in Cleveland. I visited the Supportive Housing Home 
for Veterans. I visited the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority in 
Youngstown. These organizations are providing work that is so 
important. We owe them our support.
  Even one veteran on the street means Congress isn't doing enough to 
tackle this problem. That is why I joined my colleagues in introducing 
the Veteran Housing Stability Act of 2015, which would make meaningful 
improvements to services for homeless veterans and give more veterans 
access to housing opportunities.
  President Kennedy, in his 1963 Thanksgiving proclamation--I believe 
the week before he died--said, ``As we express our gratitude, we must 
never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but 
to live by them.''
  Sure, we come to this floor. We send people off to battle. Surely we 
need to do that sometimes. Sure, we come to the floor and talk about 
veterans, but so often we don't live up to the obligations to help 
these veterans deal with their homelessness, to help veterans deal with 
suicide, with the threat of suicide, the likelihood of suicide for some 
of them, help our veterans deal with drug addiction, help our veterans 
deal with mental health issues. Often these are costs of war that we 
simply don't discuss on the Senate floor. It is so important that we 
do. I hope my colleagues will join me in ensuring every veteran has an 
opportunity to succeed.

                          ____________________