{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.donnelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press/donnelly-responds-to-trump-comments-on-military-suicide", "Donnelly Responds to Trump Comments on Military Suicide", "2016-10-03", "2016", "2016-10", "Democrat", "House", "IN", "Joe Donnelly", "D000607", "www.donnelly.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Donnelly Responds to Trump Comments on Military Suicide\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tSenator has fought to reduce the stigma around mental health care, expand access to mental health care for servicemembers and veterans\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tMonday, October 3, 2016\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tSouth Bend, Ind. \u2014 U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly today issued the following statement after Donald Trump suggested that servicemembers and veterans lost to suicide were not strong enough. Trump said during an event today, \u201cWhen you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat \u2014 and they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over and you\u2019re strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can\u2019t handle it.\u201d\r\nDonnelly said, \u201cThe stigma surrounding mental health issues is one of our biggest challenges in bringing down suicide rates among servicemembers and veterans. We need to dismiss the idea that mental health issues signify weakness, and reinforce that there is strength in seeking help, particularly among those who are battling the invisible wounds of war.\u201d\r\nSince joining the Senate in 2013, Donnelly has worked to find bipartisan solutions to combat military and veteran suicide and had several provisions signed into law to strengthen mental health care for servicemembers, veterans, and their families. Last year, provisions from his\u00a0\"Care Package,\"\u00a0were signed into law to help expand access to quality mental health care for servicemembers and veterans through the Department of Defense (DoD), as well as local community providers.\u00a0This followed his bipartisan legislation\u00a0the Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act\u00a0becoming law in 2014, which requires an annual mental health assessment for all servicemembers.\r\nDonnelly spoke on the Senate floor in September to call for more action to prevent military and veteran suicide.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.donnelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press/donnelly-responds-to-trump-comments-on-military-suicide"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5787510201334953, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}