Buchanan seeks increased federal funds for U.S. military veterans’ suicide prevention

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), who represents more than 88,000 veterans in his southwest Florida district, called on the president to make a “significant increase” in suicide prevention funding at both the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Defense for the nation’s military veterans.

President Donald Trump soon will present to Congress his fiscal year (FY) 2020 budget. Rep. Buchanan wants to see included a steep rise in federal funds allocated to the VA’s Suicide Prevention Program, which in FY 2018 received $41 million.

“There has been an alarming increase in suicide among our nation’s veterans and members of the armed forces across the nation,” Rep. Buchanan wrote in a letter this week sent to Trump. “I hope you will dedicate more resources for suicide prevention efforts within the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.”

Overall, the United States military reported the highest number of suicides among active-duty personnel in at least six years, according to the congressman’s letter, which pointed out that 20 veterans and active-duty service members commit suicide daily, accounting for 18 percent of all suicides nationwide.

“These statistics are not only heartbreaking; they are downright inexcusable,” he wrote. “These numbers clearly indicate that much more needs to be done.”

Rep. Buchanan also noted he was “extremely disturbed” in December 2018 to find out that the VA had not spent millions in federal funding allocated for suicide prevention efforts. The VA also reportedly has had limited prior contact with the majority of those veterans who die daily by suicide, he added. 

“This demonstrates that the VA must dramatically improve its outreach to veterans who are in need of the department’s mental health services,” Rep. Buchanan wrote.

The increased suicide rates among veterans, wrote Rep. Buchanan, has impacted every branch of the U.S. military. The U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy, for example, have experienced “decades-high suicide rates” while those among special operations units have tripled in the last year, he wrote. 

“At a time when a veteran commits suicide every 72 minutes in the United States and suicide rates among active-duty service members continue to skyrocket, we need to do everything in our power to combat this tragic epidemic,” Rep. Buchanan wrote.