Ernst’s bipartisan bill would improve DOD data on service members’ traumatic brain injuries

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) is cosponsoring bipartisan legislation that would enhance how the U.S. Department of Defense gathers data on traumatic brain injury (TBI) among America’s service members.

“During combat and in training, many of our men and women in uniform are exposed to blasts which can lead to conditions like TBI,” said Sen. Ernst, chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.

Sen. Ernst introduced the Blast Pressure Exposure Study Improvement Act, S. 1501, with bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). The measure would modify the requirements for the Department of Defense’s (DOD) longitudinal medical study on blast pressure exposure to U.S. service members to assess whether uploading and sharing the data is feasible, according to the congressional record.

S. 1501 would build upon legislation introduced by Sen. Ernst during the previous congressional session, the Blast Exposure and Brain Injury Prevention Act of 2018, S. 2883. The bill, much of which is included in the enacted fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, provides protections to service members from brain damage during combat and training.

“Last year, Senator Warren and I asked DOD to take a hard look at the effects of blast pressure exposure,” Sen. Ernst said. “We’re building on our effort to ensure we have the necessary information to better care for our service members and help mitigate these types of injuries.”

The newly introduced S. 1501 would require more frequent progress reports from DOD on its ongoing study and would add two feasibility assessments to the study, according to a summary provided by Sen. Ernst’s office.

One would determine if the Defense Occupational and Environmental Health Readiness System – Industrial Hygiene would be an appropriate system to house the compiled study data; and the other would determine if both DOD and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) personnel could access the data, according to the summary.

S. 1501 has been referred to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee for consideration.