[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 116 (Wednesday, June 24, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S3246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 1736. Mr. BENNET submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill S. 4049, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2021 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 appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. ___. REPORT ON THE EFFECTS OF COVID-19 MOBILIZATION ON 
                   THE BEHAVIORAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH OF THE 
                   NATIONAL GUARD.

       (a) In General.--The Chief of the National Guard Bureau 
     shall submit a report to Congress on the effects of COVID-19 
     mobilization on the behavioral and physical health of the 
     National Guard.
       (b) Content of Report.--The report described in subsection 
     (a) shall--
       (1) include results of a thorough analysis of COVID-19 
     surveillance efforts, psychological health, and prevention 
     programming data to describe the impact of COVID-19 on 
     National Guard members' mental health, including any changes 
     in reported anxiety, depression, mood disorders, or risky 
     behaviors;
       (2) include an analysis of National Guard members who 
     contracted COVID-19 and what accommodations or access to care 
     they received;
       (3) take into account the degree to which employment and 
     economic stressors, reductions in pay, and workplace-induced 
     precarity increased stress on National Guard members during 
     COVID-19;
       (4) describe an evidence-based leadership response model 
     for the National Guard that includes a summary of resources 
     available to National Guard members during deployment to the 
     COVID-19 pandemic;
       (5) examine potential increases in substance misuse and 
     risky behaviors that may increase under COVID-19 
     mobilization;
       (6) identify barriers to access to healthcare, including 
     physical and behavioral health care, during a member's COVID-
     19 deployment such as--
       (A) lack of TRICARE providers near a service member's or 
     eligible dependent's location;
       (B) lack of appointments available with TRICARE providers 
     in the service member's or eligible dependent's location;
       (C) barriers to receiving healthcare, including 
     appointments for behavioral health, for service members and 
     their eligible dependents, in an area served by a military 
     medical treatment facility; and
       (D) lack of availability of telehealth and other technology 
     enabled options; and
       (7) identify increases to access to healthcare and use of 
     healthcare, including physical and behavioral health, for 
     service members and their eligible family members, such as--
       (A) the number of service members and eligible dependents 
     who, as a result of orders in response to the COVID-19 
     pandemic, became TRICARE eligible;
       (B) the rate of utilization of TRICARE benefits to obtain 
     healthcare during their time of eligibility;
       (C) receiving healthcare, to include physical and 
     behavioral health, at a military medical treatment facility 
     during their time as eligible beneficiaries; and
       (D) the rate of utilization of telehealth and other 
     technologies to receive healthcare, to include physical and 
     behavioral health, during their time of eligibility.
                                 ______