[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9123-9124]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       MENTAL HEALTH ASSESSMENTS

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, today the House will be 
voting on the National Defense Authorization Act, known as the NDAA. 
The NDAA's purpose is to ensure that our brave sons and daughters who 
serve this country will have what they need to be trained and resourced 
to do their jobs effectively and safely.
  This authorization is one of the few policy matters in Washington not 
viewed through a partisan lens. As a father of a son and daughter-in-
law currently serving our country in Afghanistan, I'm proud to say that 
that is the case.
  Today's NDAA includes an amendment I added that would mandate the

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Department of Defense implement a preliminary mental health assessment 
before individuals join the military. The goal is to assure mental 
health resiliency for those who will be facing the combat realities of 
war. The suicide rate among our military is unacceptable, and this 
amendment will help reduce it.
  The Department of Defense has done medical assessments for many 
years. It is time we bring mental health to parity in preliminary 
assessments. We must focus on the overall well-being of the force.

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