HEALING THE INVISIBLE WOUNDS
Friday, June 20th, 2008Our nation recently celebrated Memorial Day, a day on which we recognize the service of so many brave American men and women. As we honor our veterans and current service members, it’s important that we maintain the promises the government made them in exchange for their service. Just as they have given life and limb in defense of our nation, so the government must honor our commitment to provide health care to those injured in their service.
Recent events have called into question the dedication that the Department of Veterans Affairs has to providing treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a serious psychiatric injury which is often difficult to diagnose. A soldier may develop PTSD in response to the traumatic events he or she often faces in a combat zone. While there are no clear physical symptoms, those affected have persistent frightening thoughts and memories of their ordeal and may even make themselves emotionally detached from their loved ones. While these wounds don’t leave physical scars on our soldiers, airmen, and marines; they are just as devastating.
One of my assignments as your Congressman is to help craft the legislation that provides funds for the Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2007 alone the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee provided an increase of over $11.8 billion to the veterans’ healthcare system. My colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, and I also took specific action to address the increasing cases of PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury. We required that at least $2.9 billion be spent explicitly on mental health care. We also found it necessary to build a Level 1 Polytrauma Center in San Antonio, supply the necessary funds to provide Polytrauma support clinic teams and additional Polytrauma points of contact, and require that existing Level 1 Polytrauma centers and Mental Health Centers of Excellence be fully staffed and operational in 2008.
My commitment to our soldiers and veterans is strong. I am proud to have worked with both Democrats and Republicans to have supported these and other important issues for our service men and women, both past and present. It is important that we continue to honor our commitment to them and not hamper their recovery efforts in an effort to save a penny here or there. As I begin to work with other members of the Appropriations Committee on the bills to fund your government for the next year, I will continue to fight to make sure that our veterans receive the care they deserve.