[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 21, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H4039-H4041]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            SUPPORT FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION COORDINATORS ACT

  Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2333) to direct the Comptroller General of the United States 
to conduct an assessment of the responsibilities, workload, and vacancy 
rates of Department of Veterans Affairs suicide prevention 
coordinators, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2333

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

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Support for Suicide 
     Prevention Coordinators Act''.

     SEC. 2. COMPTROLLER GENERAL ASSESSMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES, 
                   WORKLOAD, AND VACANCY RATES OF DEPARTMENT OF 
                   VETERANS AFFAIRS SUICIDE PREVENTION 
                   COORDINATORS.

       (a) Assessment Required.--The Comptroller General of the 
     United States shall conduct an assessment of the 
     responsibilities, workload, training, and vacancy rates of 
     Department of Veterans Affairs suicide prevention 
     coordinators. Such assessment shall include a determination 
     of--
       (1) the extent to which the use and staffing of suicide 
     prevention coordinators varies between Department facilities; 
     and
       (2) the extent to which the Secretary provides oversight of 
     suicide prevention coordinators.
       (b) Report to Congress.--Not later than one year after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 
     shall submit to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the 
     Senate and House of Representatives a report containing the 
     findings of the assessment required by subsection (a).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Takano) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. David P. 
Roe) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on H.R. 2333.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, according to the National Suicide Data Report for 
2005-2016, approximately 20 veterans, Active Duty servicemembers, and 
members of the National Guard and Reserves die by suicide each day.
  This rate is disproportionately higher than that of the civilian 
population. Of those 20 a day, 14 are not enrolled in the VA healthcare 
system. Part of the VA's effort to combat veteran suicide is by 
strengthening the role of the suicide prevention coordinator. The VA is 
the only healthcare system that has full-time employees dedicated to 
suicide prevention.
  Suicide prevention coordinators identify high-risk veterans and 
ensure they receive appropriate care, conduct outreach, and promote 
awareness and best practices within the VA system. As of April 2019, 
the VA had approximately 444 suicide prevention coordinators stationed 
at medical centers across the country.
  These coordinators manage care for almost 30,000 veterans who are 
high risk for suicide, in addition to managing their other duties as 
assigned.
  In fiscal year 2018, these coordinators conducted more than 20,000 
outreach events, reaching almost 2 million people. During the oversight 
trips to VA facilities, VA committee staff heard from coordinators who 
are overworked and struggled to keep up with their casework.
  Last week, I visited the Atlanta VA Medical Center and one of three 
Veterans Crisis Line call centers. Last year, the Atlanta VA crisis 
line received 3,600 referrals. The Atlanta suicide prevention team is 
staffed with only eight social workers and one employee for 
administrative support to respond to all crisis line referrals and 
approximately 200 veterans identified as high risk for suicide.
  Let me repeat that. They have eight social workers to manage 3,600 
referrals and 200 high-risk patients a year. This team does all it can 
to keep up with the staggering number of referrals, but they simply do 
not have the capacity to conduct outreach to veterans in the community 
who may need help.
  Suicide prevention team staffing shortages in Atlanta and at VA 
medical facilities across the country is why H.R. 2333, introduced by 
Congressman Brindisi, is so important.
  It would direct the Government Accountability Office to access the 
workload and vacancy rates of VA suicide prevention coordinators. This 
report is essential to better informing Congress of the current state 
of suicide prevention coordinators, the resources at the facilities 
where they work, and the challenges they face in addressing the needs 
of our most vulnerable veterans.
  The role of these coordinators is vital to combating veteran suicide, 
and this report will illustrate where the gaps in care delivery exists, 
especially for the clinicians, social workers, and suicide prevention 
coordinators working on the front lines.
  I fully support this bill and I really want to thank Mr. Brindisi for 
championing this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' 
on H.R. 2333.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such 
time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2333, the Support for 
Suicide Prevention Coordinators Act. This bill would require a 
Government Accountability Office report on the responsibilities, 
management, workload, training, and vacancy rates of Department of 
Veterans Affairs suicide prevention coordinators. The VA employs at 
least one suicide prevention coordinator in every VA medical center to 
coordinate, care for, and conduct outreach to servicemembers and 
veterans at risk of suicide.
  These men and women are on the front lines of the fight against the 
tragic loss of 20 of our Nation's servicemembers and veterans every day 
to self-harm. We must ensure that they are appropriately staffed, 
supported, and overseen as they go about their difficult and incredibly 
important work. Passage of the Support for Suicide Prevention 
Coordinators Act today will help us do just that.
  This is a bipartisan bill sponsored by several members of the 
Veterans' Affairs Committee, including Congressman   Jim Banks from 
Indiana, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Technology 
Modernization; Congressman   Mike Bost of Illinois, the ranking

[[Page H4040]]

member of the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial 
Affairs; Congressman Steube from Florida, a member of both the 
Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, and Health 
Subcommittee.
  I am grateful to each of them, as well as the bill's lead sponsor, 
Congressman Andy Brindisi from New York, for their efforts.
  Madam Speaker, I encourage all Members to join me in supporting H.R. 
2333, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Brindisi), my good friend and the author of H.R. 2333.
  Mr. BRINDISI. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2333 and 
taking action to address the crisis of veteran suicide.
  As we know too well, data from the Department of Veterans Affairs 
indicates that 20 veterans die from suicide every day. I want to thank 
Chairman Mark Takano, and Ranking Member Phil Roe for their 
bipartisanship and their commitment to addressing this crisis and 
bringing these bills to the floor today for a vote.

  One area we have to get right is the work of VA's suicide prevention 
coordinators. Suicide prevention coordinators are the face of the VA's 
efforts to combat veteran suicide. They identify high-risk veterans and 
ensure they receive appropriate care. They conduct outreach and promote 
awareness and suicide prevention best practices within the VA.
  However, many suicide prevention coordinators report being overworked 
and unable to keep up with their many responsibilities. In an effort to 
improve suicide prevention and mental health resources at the VA, I 
introduced H.R. 2333, the Support for Suicide Prevention Coordinators 
Act with my friends on the other side of the aisle, Congressman Banks, 
and Congressman Bost.
  Clear Path for Veterans, which is a veteran service organization in 
my district doing incredible work to engage with and support veterans 
after they return home from service described this bill very well.
  They said:

       In the last decade, a large number of bills and initiatives 
     have come out of Washington, D.C. aiming to combat veteran 
     suicide. While all great in concept, we have not seen a huge 
     change in suicide rates.
       H.R. 2333 is a great way to measure what is effective, what 
     is not, and how the VA should pivot on what they are 
     currently doing to better meet the mental health needs of the 
     veterans they serve.

  The Support for Suicide Prevention Coordinators Act would help ensure 
prevention coordinators have the resources they need to effectively 
provide veterans with critical mental health resources to prevent 
future veteran suicides.
  Specifically, this bill would require the Comptroller General of the 
United States to conduct an assessment of the responsibilities, 
workload, and vacancy rates of the Department of Veterans Affairs 
suicide prevention coordinators and submit a report to Congress within 
1 year.
  It is critically important that we provide our suicide prevention 
coordinators with the resources they need to successfully address the 
veteran suicide epidemic, and I believe this bill is a good step toward 
making sure that happens.
  Again, I thank the committee for their bipartisan work. Taking care 
of our veterans is the responsibility that belongs to each of us, and I 
urge my colleagues to support this important legislation and all of the 
veterans bills on the floor today.
  Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to 
the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost), my good friend, the previous 
chairman and now ranking member on the Disability Assistance and 
Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, and a Marine veteran. I have seen this 
Marine drink from the Devil Dog fountain in Belleau Wood.
  Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Roe and Chairman 
Takano for allowing this piece of legislation to move forward.
  As a veteran, first off, let me say this: I couldn't be prouder than 
to serve on the Veterans' Affairs Committee with the men and women we 
serve with because we get the opportunity to actually, hopefully, make 
a difference in those veterans' lives.
  Twenty veterans commit suicide every day, and as was mentioned a 
while ago, that number hasn't changed much. So clearly, the current 
situation is not good enough.
  We need to think differently about veteran suicide. President Trump 
recently took action on this issue. Now Congress is too, and it is 
vitally important that we do. We are acting in a bipartisan manner.
  I am honored to stand with the gentleman from New York in supporting 
this legislation to improve the VA's suicide prevention coordinators.
  Veteran suicide isn't a Republican or Democrat issue, and I am proud 
of the work we have been doing to try to help our veterans. They 
deserve our help, and, hopefully, with this bill, they are going to get 
it.
  We have to turn the tide on our veterans that are committing suicide 
around this Nation at the level that they are. We have to do everything 
we can.
  This bill, I believe, was a step in the right direction. I believe 
that we should pass it to the Senate as quickly as possible, and the 
Senate should then move forward, and then it should be implemented.
  Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  As I said in my remarks related to Mr. Brindisi's legislation, I 
visited the Atlanta VA Medical Center and it receives 3,600 referrals 
per year from the Veterans Crisis Line, which is the highest number of 
crisis line referrals any individual veteran medical center receives 
nationwide.
  I know that at the medical center itself that there is a 22 percent 
vacancy rate among mental health professionals. They have lost eight 
psychiatrists across their hospital and outpatient clinics since the 
beginning of the year. Staff who resigned have cited salaries and 
workload stress as their main reasons for leaving the VA.
  Mr. Brindisi's legislation goes to, however, the position of suicide 
prevention coordinators, and currently, the coordinators at this 
particular medical center are staffed up, but we are trying to figure 
out where these staff coordinator positions across the country may be 
vacant or insufficient because we know these crisis lines are being 
used. We have to make sure that we have the coordinators to respond to 
them.
  But in addition to that, we need coordinators to do the outreach 
events to reach those veterans who are not connected with the VA. So 
the VA medical center in Atlanta is just one example of the staffing 
shortages in VA hospitals and clinics throughout the country. We know 
that beyond the stress and strain of our psychiatrists and of our 
suicide prevention coordinators, which Mr. Brindisi's bill addresses, 
there are nearly 50,000 vacancies at VA.
  If we want to fully address the veteran suicide crisis in this 
country, we need to make sure that suicide prevention teams are 
sufficiently staffed and do more to address mental health clinician 
understaffing.
  Mr. Brindisi's legislation is a significant step in making sure all 
of this happens.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1630

  Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the 
balance of my time.
  Madam Speaker, I encourage all Members to support this piece of 
legislation.
  I, too, have visited Canandaigua, which is in New York, which is a 
call center, and I think this committee is doing everything it can in a 
bipartisan way to help lower this unbelievable rate of 20 suicides per 
day.
  Madam Speaker, I encourage all Members to support this piece of 
legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I certainly appreciate the partnership and 
the spirit of the ranking member of the committee in addressing this 
national crisis of veteran suicide, and H.R. 2333 is an essential and 
significant step that we are taking to address this crisis.
  Madam Speaker, I ask all my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 
2333, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, as a long-time advocate for veterans' 
well-being

[[Page H4041]]

and resources, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2333, the 
``Suicide Prevention Coordinators Act.''
  I support H.R. 2333 because this legislation will provide much needed 
assistance to the VA to reduce the incidence of suicide among our 
veterans. The ``SPCA'' provides DVA suicide prevention coordinators 
with the resources needed to effectively do their job of providing 
veterans with critical mental health resources to veterans in need.
  Madam Speaker, veteran suicide is a pervasive and critical issue, 
threatening, and in to many heartbreaking cases, taking the lives of 
many of our heroes.
  Although, the Department of Veterans Administration has screening 
protocols designed to aid veterans and to stage suicide interventions, 
about 6,000 veterans fall through the cracks of this system annually, 
finding themselves without the necessary aid and resources that were 
promised to them.
  Many suicide prevention coordinators and offices specializing in 
veterans affairs report being overworked and unable to keep up with the 
demand for their services.
  On average, about 20 veterans die every day by suicide and since 
2017, 25 veterans have taken their lives on the grounds of Veterans 
Affairs hospitals, including seven this year and at least four last 
month. These veterans were actively seeking help from an unprepared and 
under resourced agency before they took their lives.
  It is long past time for Congress to provide the help needed to 
address the troubling increase in veteran suicides and help improve 
suicide prevention and mental health resources at the at DVA.
  It is imperative that the DVA has the tools it needs to serve every 
veteran that walks through the door.
  The ``Suicide Prevention Coordinators Act'' would require the 
Comptroller General to assess the responsibilities, workload, and 
vacancy rates of the Department of Veterans Affairs Suicide Prevention 
Coordinators and report it to Congress within one year, on the ability 
of the DVA to detect and protect veterans from self-harm.
  It is critically important that we provide suicide prevention 
coordinators with the resources needed to successfully combat the 
troubling trend of veteran suicide, and I believe this bill is a 
necessary step in the right direction.
  Madam Speaker, it is unconscionable that a veteran will commit 
suicide every hour.
  The fact that veterans make up just 20 percent of the male 
population, yet veterans make up close to 32 percent of all male 
suicides is shocking and must spur our action.
  It does not have to be this way, Madam Speaker, and we can do 
something about it, starting with the passage of H.R. 2333, the 
``Suicide Prevention Coordinators Act.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Takano) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 2333.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________