[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16473-16474]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              FUNDING FOR HEALTH CARE OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS

  (Mr. MAHONEY of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. MAHONEY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it's an unfortunate fact of war 
young American soldiers are not only losing their lives on the 
battlefield, but many soldiers who survive traumatic combat injuries 
are returning home with equally serious psychological wounds. 
Unfortunately, the Veterans Administration has not been given, by this 
administration, the personnel and the funding necessary to address the 
problem.
  A recent series of Washington Post articles followed the stories of 
several soldiers returning home from service in Iraq who suffer from 
post-traumatic stress disorder. The articles paint a harrowing picture 
of the challenges that face these veterans, suicidal patients left in 
waiting rooms, psychiatric wards with terrible odors and a 
disconcerting lack of therapy and treatment.
  Mr. Speaker, last week this House took action to help our military 
personnel who are suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. We 
passed the largest increase for funding for veterans health care in the 
VA's history. This includes treatment for PTSD.

[[Page 16474]]

  It is clear that these funds are desperately needed to provide better 
care for our men and women returning from serving our Nation.

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