CONGRESSMAN MORELLE ANNOUNCES PROVISIONS HE AUTHORED TO HELP VETERANS IN CRISIS SIGNED INTO LAW

(Rochester, NY) – Today, Congressman Joe Morelle announced that provisions he authored to assist veterans in crisis and combat veteran suicide have been signed into law as part of the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act.

"Suicide claims the lives of over 7,000 veterans every single year – or 20 veterans every day," said Congressman Joe Morelle. "This is a crisis that is tearing apart families across America. These brave men and women put everything on the line for our country and we must ensure they have the tools they need to get the help they deserve."

The Hannon Act, sponsored by Senator Jon Tester (D-Montana), takes action to ensure our nation's veterans have access to critical mental health care resources. It is named after Commander John Scott Hannon, a Navy SEAL who served for 23 years before retiring. Commander Hannon died by suicide in 2018. The legislation includes provisions of Rep. Morelle's Reach Every Veteran in Crisis Act to combat veteran suicide.

Specifically, the provisions authored by Rep. Morelle included in the bill would:

• Ensure resources already allocated by Congress are used effectively and efficiently to ensure veterans have access to the support and healthcare services they need.
• Establish targets – based on industry-standard metrics such as impressions and engagement rate – to evaluate the efficacy of its mental health and suicide prevention outreach campaigns.
• Submit a report on expenditures and obligations of funds of Veterans Health Administration's Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention to the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and Appropriations Committees.

In 2019, Congressman Morelle introduced the Reach Every Veteran in Crisis Act after learning that the VA had only spent a fraction of its budget allocated for suicide prevention media outreach, and that the agency never established targets to evaluate the efficacy of its suicide prevention campaign. Since then, the VA has worked to correct these concerns and, because of the provisions of the Reach Every Veteran in Crisis Act were included in the Hannon Act, will now be held accountable to provide for our veterans.

"The mental health and well-being of Americans who so bravely defended our nation is critically important. And I am proud that we now have legislation on the books to ensure America's veterans can access the help they deserve," Rep. Morelle added.

"DAV is pleased that provisions from Representative Morelle's legislation The Reach Every Veteran in Crisis Act were included in the recently-passed Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019,"said Joy J Ilem, National Legislative Director of Disabled American Veterans. "Effective mental health and suicide prevention media outreach campaigns are an essential part of combating the crisis of veteran suicide. We thank Representative Morelle for his efforts to prevent veteran suicide and improve the lives of our nation's veterans through his legislation aimed at improved oversight and evaluation of VA's suicide prevention media outreach campaigns."

"As the Executive Director of the Veterans Outreach Center and a US Army veteran myself, I want to personally thank Congressman Morelle for his commitment to these issues," said Veterans Outreach Center Executive Director Laura Stradley. "He understands the very real struggles our veteran population faces and the resulting tragedies that ensue too often when these struggles are left untreated. Since he's been in office, the Congressman has shown an unwavering commitment to reducing the veteran suicide epidemic. And he knows how to do it. By bringing in the science behind the issues and requesting that VA join forces with community organizations, he's ensuring that no veteran will be left behind. From all of us at Veterans Outreach Center, thank you for holding government agencies accountable and thank you for insisting on coordination of efforts with private agencies. This will result in real help for our most vulnerable veterans."

The Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act passed in United States Senate on August 5^th, 2020; it passed the House of Representatives on September 23, 2020; the bill was signed into law on October 17, 2020.

Full text for the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act can be found here.

If you are a veteran in crisis or have concerns about a loved one, please call the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255, text 838255, or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net.