Female veteran suicide prevention bill signed into law
On June 30, President Barack Obama signed into law the Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act (P.L. 114-188). The bipartisan legislation was introduced by Senators Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Congresswoman Julia Brownley, D-Calif. The legislation requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to identify the most effective programs and approaches in reducing suicide rates among female veterans. Researchers found women veterans are six times as likely as non-veteran women to commit suicide. And women veterans ages 18-29, many of whom served in Iraq and Afghanistan, are 12 times as likely.
“We lose 22 veterans to suicide each day and tragically, female veterans commit suicide at six times the rate of non-military females,” said Ernst, a combat veteran. “We must do more to help those who sacrificed so much for our freedoms. I am pleased that our legislation was signed into law, and thank my colleagues in the Senate and House for their hard work to make this initiative a reality.”
Senate passes FY 2017 NDAA
On June 14, the Senate approved S. 2943, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on an 85-13 vote with two senators not voting. The annual defense policy bill authorizes $602 billion in base defense and war spending. Procedural squabbles limited debate on nearly all amendments, (including an amendment the Legion supported to repeal the Disabled Veterans Tax).
Obama has threatened to veto the House and Senate versions of the NDAA bills — the House bill over its treatment of overseas contingency operations (OCO) funds, and the Senate bill over its acquisition reform provisions and limits it would place on the closure of the military detainment facility at Guantanamo, Cuba. The House last month passed its bill that shifts $18 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding to base budget requirements, and adds more troops, jet aircraft, shipbuilding and rotorcraft than the president’s request. The House bill also cuts off OCO after April 30, 2017, to force the next president to ask Congress for supplemental defense spending. The House also supported the House Armed Services Committee decision to refuse to repeal the Disabled Veterans Tax.
The Senate took action on Russian rocket engines purchases, passing by a voice vote an amendment to allow the military to continue to use Russian RD-180 rocket engines to launch national-security satellites until the end of 2022, though with a cap on the number at 18.
The House and Senate bills face significant differences to iron out in the NDAA conference committee which has not been started. Given Congress’ election-year calendar, it appears unlikely Congress will have the final version of the bill to the president before Sept 30, the end of the fiscal year.