releases: https://www.donnelly.senate.gov/newsroom/article/winning-the-peace
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
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| https://www.donnelly.senate.gov/newsroom/article/winning-the-peace | Winning the Peace | 2014-12-16 | 2014 | 2014-12 | Democrat | House | IN | Joe Donnelly | D000607 | www.donnelly.senate.gov | legacy | The suicides of servicemen and servicewomen are just as tragic as the deaths on the uncertain battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. And as those conflicts have wound down, the suicide rates have remained high. Instead of collateral damage, they have become the main event: In 2013, 132 soldiers and Marines died in war; 475 took their own lives. Indiana Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly has been in the forefront of those fighting to draw attention to military suicide and prevent those pointless deaths. Now The Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Act of 2014, a second version of legislation Donnelly first introduced last year, is on its way to becoming law. ”It’s been a two-year journey for the senator,” said Elizabeth Shappell, Donnelly’s communications director. “We’re so excited to put out the good news.” But as Shappell emphasized, the bill Congress passed last week is just a beginning. The bill is named for a 21-year-old Indiana National Guardsman from Farmland, a small town near Muncie, who shot himself to death in a movie theater while he was home on leave in 2009. Sexton’s family saw no signs of distress in Jacob before the tragedy, but his father, Jeff, said they later learned that others in his unit had seen some problems. Often, those in the military have been reluctant to speak about problems, and their comrades have avoided flagging potentially suicidal behavior because of the stigma that mental health problems can carry. Donnelly, who plans a ceremony with the family in Indianapolis later this week, wrote the bill to make it easier for soldiers with problems to be identified and to receive help. The measure will require that every active-duty and reserve serviceman and servicewoman receive a mental health assessment every year. It sets strict privacy protections, so that military personnel who need help can seek and receive it without potentially derailing their careers. And the act directs the Pentagon to assess all the mental health and suicide-prevention programs now operating with the military and report to Congress within a year. “(Donnelly) wants to test what’s working, what’s not, what sort of programs should be expanded,” Shappell said. Donnelly also wants to take on the catastrophic problem of suicides by military veterans. More than 20 vets kill themselves every day. It’s a problem that may not get better without better solutions. The Sexton Act seemed to be on its way to passage after Donnelly managed to get it tied into the Defense Appropriations Act for the coming year. Even the current do-little Congress would not fail to pass that measure, though Donnelly still had to shepherd his act through final defense-spending negotiations between the House and Senate this month. The Clay Hunt Act, named for a 28-year-old Marine veteran from Houston who killed himself in 2011, may not fare as well. That act would help veterans get access to mental health services and require military agencies to assess the effectiveness of their programs for veterans. It passed the House, but it has been held back from a Senate vote because one senator objected to its $22 million pricetag. Congress, which customarily has no problems voting billions of dollars for war, needs to spend more of its time as Donnelly has, trying to see that our psychologically wounded warriors get the help they need. This is a battle that will not end when the last soldier leaves Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Syria. The veterans of our post-9/11 wars will be with us until near the end of this century, and they have earned not only our respect and gratitude, but the right to regain their psychological health. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |