US House sets funds for veterans' mental health

Mental-health care for American soldiers returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan would receive guaranteed funding under legislation approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday.

The initiative, which must also be approved by the Senate, would require that the Department of Veterans Affairs spend $2.2 billion on mental health care in fiscal year 2006. It would be the first time that Congress mandated a spending level for such care. The initiative also would double spending on mental health research.

The measure is part of an $85 billion spending bill for veterans programs and military construction.

"The odds are if you are in five firefights, you will have a 20 percent chance of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)," said Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat.

Untreated psychological problems such as PTSD have led to high levels of drug and alcohol abuse by veterans and homelessness, Kaptur said.

About 500,000 veterans experience homelessness every year, often because they suffer from untreated PTSD, said Linda Boone, executive director of the National Center for Homeless Veterans.

Members of Congress and veterans' organizations have worried that as American troops return from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, the problem might worsen if veterans' facilities have too little money and expertise to deal with mental disorders.

There are about 139,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and 19,000 in Afghanistan.

Veterans hospitals, Boone said, are seeing a 20 percent increase in people seeking help for mental health.

A provision Kaptur inserted into the spending bill would also lead to hiring more psychiatric nurses at veterans hospitals. That, she said, will result in better, quicker diagnosis of psychological problems in returning combat soldiers.

FUNDING SHORTAGES

Lawmakers and veterans' groups welcomed the added attention to combat-related psychological problems, but Democrats said overall funding for veterans health care was still too little.

The bill would provide about $1 billion more than President George W. Bush requested for veterans programs and military construction, and $6 billion more than fiscal 2005. It also rejects fee increases Bush proposed for some veterans seeking health care.

During House debate, Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin, the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said the veterans-spending bill fails to keep up with inflation.

Republicans countered that funding for veterans health care has risen over the past five years. The Republican-controlled House defeated a move by Obey to raise funding for health care by another $2.6 billion in the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1, and to pay for that by shaving tax cuts for wealthy Americans.