Veteran suicide bill gets fast lane to House floor

Legislation meant to help prevent suicides among veterans will likely reach the House floor next week, far sooner than lawmakers had predicted.

Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) and ranking member Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), decided, along with House leadership, “that given the importance of the issue and the fact that the House just considered it in December that the bill ought to go straight to the floor,” according to a House aide Friday.

{mosads}The bill, titled the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, sailed through the House near the end of the 113th Congress but was blocked in the Senate by then-Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

The notorious fiscal hawk balked over the bill’s $22 million price tag and argued the program would overlap other efforts at the Veterans Affairs Department.

The last-minute move angered advocates of the bill, which is named after a young Iraq veteran who took his own life.

Many promised to bring the measure back in the new Congress, though consideration next week marks a considerable leap forward.

On Wednesday, Miller had said he thought the soonest his committee, let alone the full House, could take up the measure would be sometime in February.

Miller, along with Democratic Reps. Tim Walz (Minn.) and Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), reintroduced the bill on Wednesday afternoon.

It is unclear if the bill will actually receive a vote next week, and it remains to be seen when the Senate might move on the legislation.

“I’m sure that’ll be one of the issues that’s early on dealt with in the committee,” new Senate Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) told reporters on Thursday.

The VA estimates that as many as 22 veterans commit suicide each day, more than 8,000 every year.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), an advocacy group that labored for months to get the bill passed in last Congress, welcomed the movement on the bill.

“After last year’s overwhelming bipartisan support, we are encouraged that the House is moving quickly in passing this bill, which will help curb the veteran suicide rate,” Paul Rieckhoff, IAVA’s CEO and founder, said in a statement.

“No veteran should have to cut through bureaucratic red tape to access the mental health care they earned. As Congress begins a new year, veterans and their families are watching Washington closely to see who has our back,” he said.

— This story was updated at 4:50 p.m.