A Victory for Our Veterans

Statement

This week marked a major victory for our veterans, our service members, and their families in Iowa and across the nation. Bipartisan legislation I introduced, the No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act (H.R. 5392), overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 357-0.

Earlier this year, I introduced the No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act after hearing from a constituent who had called the Veterans Crisis Line desperately seeking help, but who never was connected to a live person. As you may know, the Veterans Crisis Line is the confidential, toll free hotline for veterans seeking help and crisis resources from U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) responders.

What should be a reliable and effective tool to help our veterans in crisis has made headlines as veterans seeking help continue to receive busy signals, answering machines, or no answer at all. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), a government watchdog organization, released a report with similar findings, reporting nearly 30 percent of text messages sent as a test to the Veterans Crisis Line went unanswered.

My bipartisan legislation seeks to provide necessary improvements to the Veterans Crisis Line, by holding the VA accountable and requiring they put forth a plan to ensure communications to the Veterans Crisis Line or backup call centers are answered by a live person. My legislation also requires the VA to form and implement a quality assurance process to address responsiveness and performance of the Veterans Crisis Line and backup call centers; document improvements; and report back to Congress.

In Congress, I've been tremendously encouraged by the support I've received on this important bill. These practical fixes to the Veterans Crisis Line have received widespread support by Republicans and Democrats alike, and a companion version of the legislation was even introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator John Thune (R-SD) and cosponsored by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). While a bipartisan effort to get the bill passed this week in the U.S. Senate was unfortunately blocked by a senior member of that chamber who is retiring this year, I remain committed to making progress on this legislation so it may be someday soon signed into law.

The No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act is a necessary and commonsense step to ensure our veterans and service members have the best quality mental health care resources when they return home. Our bipartisan work illustrates that while politics as usual may cloud the airwaves and television screens, when Congress works together on behalf of the people, real change occurs.

I'm pleased to work with my colleagues to ensure we put our veterans, service members and their families first. After all, our veterans make great sacrifices on our behalf and they deserve our steadfast and unwavering support for all they do.

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