[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1715]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              CLAY HUNT SAV ACT WILL SAVE VETERANS' LIVES

  (Mr. PAULSEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, those who sign up to serve and defend our 
country deserve our respect and support when they return home. Sadly, 
there is a crisis in our country when it comes to our veterans' health 
care. With an average of 22 veterans a day taking their own lives, we 
are failing them.
  That is why Congress took action to pass the Clay Hunt Suicide 
Prevention for American Veterans Act so as to improve mental health 
care services and suicide prevention programs at the VA and at the 
Department of Defense. By establishing pilot programs to recruit and 
keep psychiatrists and to establish support networks for veterans, the 
Clay Hunt SAV Act will help servicemembers transition to life after the 
military. The bill is named after Clay Hunt, a brave soldier who served 
in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Tragically, Clay took his own life when 
he returned home.
  I want to thank my Minnesota colleague, Tim Walz, for his leadership 
on this issue, and I encourage the President to quickly sign this 
legislation into law and get our veterans the support that they 
deserve.

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