{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.donnelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press/donnelly-we-must-do-more-to-help-prevent-military-and-veteran-suicide", "Donnelly: ‘We Must Do More to Help Prevent Military and Veteran Suicide’", "2016-09-21", "2016", "2016-09", "Democrat", "House", "IN", "Joe Donnelly", "D000607", "www.donnelly.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Donnelly: \u2018We Must Do More to Help Prevent Military and Veteran Suicide\u2019\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tDuring floor speech, Senator recognizes Suicide Prevention Month and efforts to combat military suicide\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWednesday, September 21, 2016\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly spoke on the Senate floor in recognition of Suicide Prevention Month and called on Congress to continue working to combat military and veteran suicide and improve mental health care for servicemembers and veterans. Donnelly spoke about the need for Congress to finalize the national defense bill, which includes the third and final provision from his bipartisan \u201cServicemembers and Veteran Mental Health Care Package.\u201d The Senate passed the national defense bill earlier this year, including Donnelly\u2019s Frontline Mental Health Provider Training Act,\u00a0which would establish a pilot program to expand the use of physician assistants specializing in psychiatric care to help address the mental health provider shortage.\r\n\r\nTo see Senator Donnelly\u2019s speech click the image above or click here.\r\nDonnelly said, in part, during his speech, \u201cIt will take a consistent, concerted effort to bring the number of servicemember suicides down to zero\u2026We need to ensure the laws we\u2019ve passed, including the Sexton Act and the \u2018Care Package,\u2019 are implemented correctly, so these services reach the troops and veterans who need them most.\r\n\u201cThis year, the final provision of my bipartisan \u2018Care Package\u2019 passed the Senate as part of the national defense bill. This legislation can help make a difference for our servicemembers\u2026and I urge Congress to come together on a final defense bill that can be sent to the President and signed into law.\r\n\u201cWe must do more to help prevent military and veteran suicide.\u201d\r\nLast year, for the fourth year in a row, more U.S. troops were lost to suicide than in combat and on average an estimated 20 veterans a day take their own lives. In 2015, 475 servicemembers took their own lives. Prior to that we lost 443 servicemembers in 2014 and 474 servicemembers in 2013 to suicide.\r\nSince joining the Senate in 2013, Donnelly has worked to find bipartisan solutions to combat military suicide and had several provisions signed into law to strengthen mental health care for servicemembers 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 the Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act becoming law in 2014, which requires an annual mental health assessment for all servicemembers.\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-we-must-do-more-to-help-prevent-military-and-veteran-suicide"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7014330476522446, "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"}