Rep. Holt: Sen. McCain Objected To My Military Suicide Prevention Bill

[unhappycamper]

Rep. Holt: Sen. McCain Objected To My Military Suicide Prevention Bill
Amanda Terkel
[e-mail] | HuffPost Reporting

WASHINGTON — In 2008, a young sergeant named Coleman S. Bean took his life. After completing his first tour of duty in Iraq, he had come home and been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Nevertheless, he was deployed to Iraq a second time. Bean had sought treatment for PTSD but as a member of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), he found fewer resources available to him than to veterans and active-duty members.

In April, Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) introduced legislation named after the late soldier meant to provide more resources for suicide prevention to Reserve members. The House in May incorporated it into the National Defense Authorization Act for 2011, but it was stripped from the final version, and Holt is pointing the finger at the lead Republican negotiator on the Senate legislation, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

"Twice now, the Senate has stripped this legislation from our defense bill," Holt told The Huffington Post Tuesday. "It's hard to understand why. I know for a fact, because he told me, that Sen. McCain doesn't support it. Whether he's the only one, I don't know. But there was no effort to try to improve the language or negotiate changes; it was just rejected, and I think that is not only bad policy, but it's cruel. It's cruel to the families that are struggling with catastrophic mental health problems."

"He (McCain) said having these counselors check in with the Reservists every few months this way overreaching," continued Holt, relaying a phone conversation he had had with the senator. "I asked him in what sense it was overreaching. Surely he didn't think there wasn't a problem, did he? I must say I don't understand it."

The major piece of Holt's amendment would require the Defense Department to ensure that every member of the Reserves who completes at least one tour of duty in either Iraq or Afghanistan receives "a counseling call from properly trained personnel not less than once every 90 days so long as the servicemember remains a member of the IRR." If they were determined to be at risk, they would receive counseling or mental health treatment.



unhappycamper comment: When a bitter old man tells veterans to go fuck themselves, I must object. :(

[old mark]

1. John McCain no longer belongs in the Senate...he should be in a

retirement home somewhere, watching TV in the dayroom with a lot of meds in his system.


mark

[Botany]

2. If McCain's dad was not an admiral the Navy would have "washed him out"

for all the plane accidents and an air craft carrier disaster he was involved in before he became
a POW. The man is a walking bag of hate and venom who has treated people and his family
to very real abuse and so to expect him to show decency now is kind of doubtful.

W/out John McCain the Keating 5 would have been the Keating 4.

[Flubadubya]

3. McCain's reaction to a 9-11 first responder...

I saw an interview a couple of days ago (either on Hardball or Countdown) where one of the ill 9-11 responders told of his encounter with John McCain getting off an elevator in the Capitol. He approached McCain, told him of his plight, and asked that he support the upcoming bill. All McCain apparently said was, "Thank you for your service, but I can't help you". He then quickly turned and walked away.

Good old John McCain... full of mercy and compassion!! :sarcasm:

[no_hypocrisy]

4. McCain was a POW. Was he offered or did he refuse therapy when he was released?

[vssmith]

5. He certainly needs therapy