Courtney Welcomes Passage of Clay Hunt SAV Act to Address Veteran Suicides

WASHINGTON--Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) released the following statement after the House voted to pass the Clay Hunt SAV Act, a bill on which Courtney is an original cosponsor:

"Today the House took an important step forward on behalf of the men and women who have worn our nation's uniform. With an estimated 22 veterans taking their lives each day--including the tragic loss of veterans in Connecticut in recent weeks--it is clear that Congress, the VA and our veterans organizations need to continue to work together to address this critical problem. This bill is a start, not an end, and I will continue to work with veterans in eastern Connecticut and my colleagues in Congress to ensure that our veterans have the resources and support they need, when they need it.

"I want to particularly thank Congressman Tim Walz of Minnesota--a former master sergeant in the National Guard who offered this bill last year, which unfortunately stalled in the Senate last December--for his steadfast work on this important measure."

The bill, HR 203, takes a number of steps to improve mental health and suicide prevention support for veterans. It establishes a peer support and community outreach pilot program to assist transitioning servicemembers with accessing VA mental health care services, requires the VA to create a one-stop, interactive website to serve as a centralized information source regarding all mental health services for veterans, takes steps to address the shortage of mental health care professionals by authorizing the VA to conduct a student loan repayment pilot program aimed at recruiting and retaining psychiatrists, and requires independent third party evaluations of all mental health care and suicide prevention practices and programs at the VA.

###