Vets' suicide prevention aid imminent

WASHINGTON – A bill to reduce suicides among veterans stalled in the Senate last month despite its heart-rending cause and strong bipartisan support. Now it's on the verge of final passage thanks to the departure of its main critic.

Veterans were infuriated in December when retiring Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., used parliamentary tactics to single-handedly block a vote on the legislation, citing cost concerns. Projected to cost $22 million over five years, the bill includes language that explicitly prohibits the authorization of any additional funds to carry out its provisions.

Still, supporters of the legislation say extra funds aren't necessary to consolidate and improve the Department of Veterans Affairs' suicide prevention programs.

They expect the bill to get another chance at final passage in the Senate in the coming days. This time, they say, it will pass easily.

Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican and supporter of the bill, said it shouldn't be hard for the VA to shift resources around and find the necessary savings within its existing budget to pay for the bill.

"Twenty-two million over five years means $4.4 million over every year," Blunt said. "The department has a lot of money. They proved last year that they were not spending that money wisely."

Named for a 28-year-old Marine veteran from Houston who committed suicide in 2011, the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act would require the secretary of veterans affairs to arrange for annual independent reviews of the agency's mental health care and suicide prevention programs. It also would launch two three-year pilot programs.

Another provision of the bill would extend the eligibility of combat veterans who were discharged between 2009 and 2011, enabling them to qualify for VA medical services and nursing home care even if they haven't proven that their illnesses are linked to their military service.

In a speech on the Senate floor in December, Coburn said he had decided to block a vote on the bill because almost everything in it already had been approved with a $16 billion VA overhaul bill passed by Congress last year.

"Even the Department of Veterans Affairs says everything in this bill has already been authorized. So what is it really about? It is about addressing an issue without addressing the issue," he said.

"So, regrettably, I object to this bill, not because I don't want to help save suicides but because I don't think this bill is going to do the first thing to change what is happening," Coburn said.

Coburn came under withering attack from veterans, who flooded his office with phone calls and plastered his Facebook page with angry messages. But he succeeded in preventing a vote.

VA Secretary Robert McDonald has said the agency strongly supports the Clay Hunt Act.

"We believe this bill complements the president's executive actions and VA's ongoing, multifaceted efforts to improving mental health care for our nation's veterans," he said in a statement.

The department did not immediately respond to questions about how the new programs would be funded.

The Pentagon reported earlier this month that suicides among active-duty troops dropped from a record 319 in 2012 to 259 in 2013, bringing the military's suicide rate much closer to that of the civilian population.

But a study slated to be published in the February issue of the Annals of Epidemiology reveals that veterans who left the active-duty military between 2001 and 2007 committed suicide at a rate 50 percent higher than their civilian peers. VA statistics estimate that 22 veterans die from suicide every day.