[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 198 (Wednesday, December 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6966-S6967]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  Suicide Prevention Coordinators Act

  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I rise today because far too many of our 
veterans feel like they have run out of options when it comes to 
dealing with the physical and mental scars of war. These are folks who 
have served in defense of our freedoms and who often suffer tremendous 
invisible wounds of war.
  I can't tell you the number of times I have heard from men and women 
in uniform, in Montana and across this country, who feel helpless, and 
they feel as though they have been abandoned by their own country. The 
facts tell us that we are not doing enough here in this body to help. 
The reality is that our country loses as many as 20 Active-Duty or 
veteran servicemembers each and every day due to suicide. Regardless of 
political party, we can all agree that one life lost to a suicide is 
too many.
  That is why, as ranking member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs 
Committee, I have been working with my colleagues across the aisle--
colleagues like Senator Sullivan--to make sure that our vets have the 
access to the help and the care they need.
  The bill that we are going to consider here shortly--our Support for 
Suicide Prevention Coordinators Act--is a bipartisan effort to help 
tackle the suicide epidemic by ensuring that we take a comprehensive 
approach to connecting veterans with urgent, lifesaving care. This bill 
starts by identifying and addressing staffing needs for VA employees 
and suicide prevention professionals who are our Nation's first line of 
defense when it comes to combating veteran suicide.
  It is clear that we have much more to do to prevent this national 
health epidemic, and it starts with understanding the scope of the 
problem. If we don't have the tools in place to take care of these 
folks when they return home, then, we should think twice before we send 
them in the first place.
  I urge the Senate to vote for this bill when it comes up and to get 
it passed out of this body quickly so the President can quickly sign it 
into law.
  It is not something that can solve our suicide problems among our 
veterans by itself, but it is certainly one of the tools in the toolbox 
that can help folks when they need help and to ensure that no veteran 
slips through the cracks.
  I want to thank the Senator from Alaska for everything he has done to 
make sure that this bill becomes a reality.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I want to thank my friend from the great 
State of Montana, Senator Tester. This is actually a bill that he and I 
have cosponsored out of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and it is a 
companion bill that we are going to be bringing over from the House to 
vote on here in a couple of minutes to hopefully get this on the 
President's desk very soon to get him to sign it.
  There is a lot of legislation that focuses on these kinds of issues: 
How do we address this growing problem of suicide in our country?
  The real tragedy is that all suicides are tragic, but there are very 
high numbers of suicides that impact our veterans.
  My State, the great State of Alaska, has more vets per capita than 
any State in the country. We are proud of that patriotic fact. Sadly, 
we also have some of the highest suicide rates in America.
  So since I have come to this body, I have had the privilege to serve 
my fellow Alaskans, and focusing on suicide has been a very, very 
important issue for me. It is a very important issue for my 
constituents, and it is a very important issue for America. As a matter 
of fact, the first bill I cosponsored as a U.S. Senator was called the 
Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act, which was named after a young marine 
who had a number of deployments, and, unfortunately, when he was 
seeking help, he couldn't really get it, and this young, brave hero 
took his own life.
  This should be a priority for the Senate. We have been prioritizing 
the veterans and the members of the military who are in crisis when we 
draft legislation that tries to address these challenges, but what we 
are doing today is also important.
  This bill actually focuses on the people who help our veterans. These 
are suicide prevention coordinators. They are specially trained 
employees at the VA medical centers who identify and connect high-risk 
veterans with the care they need.
  Across the Nation, these VA professionals conduct outreach, promote

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awareness, and disseminate suicide prevention best practices. They are, 
literally, on the frontlines.
  But, as you can imagine, this isn't an easy job. This is a hard job, 
and there are reports that many of these prevention coordinators 
throughout the VA system are overworked and unable to keep up with 
their many responsibilities. What we are focused on here is that we 
want to make sure that the people who are helping our veterans are also 
taken care of and adequately resourced so that they can do the best job 
in terms of helping our veterans.
  The VA must have a skilled and resourced workforce available, trained 
to recognize the warning signs of a veteran in crisis, and then be able 
to work with that veteran, hopefully successfully, to connect them with 
lifesaving resources before it is too late.
  That is what the Support for Suicide Prevention Coordinators Act 
requires. That is what Senator Tester and I worked on together to bring 
this out of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and, hopefully, if we get 
that right, then, it has a positive impact on lessening this high rate 
of suicide among our veterans.
  Senator Tester mentioned what is in this, but it is not just 
additional resources. It is also a comprehensive study by the GAO to 
make sure that our coordinators are resourced and have a strategy to 
make sure they can do their jobs most effectively to impact our 
veterans.
  It is an overall look at the VA system of preventing veteran suicide 
with a focus on these frontline coordinators who do really, really 
important work. They are not always recognized.
  For those who are doing that work, I commend you, the Senate commends 
you, and I think we are going to have an overwhelming vote here in a 
couple minutes that will make sure of your ability to do this really, 
really important job for our veterans and for our Nation and that you 
are going to be able to do it better.
  I applaud the leadership on both sides of the aisle for bringing this 
bill to the floor, and I encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of 
this legislation. Let's get it on the President's desk for his 
signature soon, and we can take another step--another step--to make 
sure that we are taking care of our veterans and are trying to address 
this horribly tragic situation where far too many veterans in America 
are taking their own lives.

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