Pelosi Statement on Senator Coburn Blocking House-Passed Veteran Suicide Bill

December 17, 2014

San Francisco – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement after retiring Senator Tom Coburn blocked passage of the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Congressman Tim Walz, that unanimously passed the House last week:

"Every day, 22 American veterans commit suicide. Their deaths are a daily tragedy – a moral challenge that demands we ensure that we are giving each and every one of our veterans the support and mental health services they deserve. The Clay Hunt SAV Act, unanimously passed by the House, represents an essential step forward for our veterans struggling with the seen and unseen scars of their time at war.

"Our veterans have cried out to our nation to act to help them. But this week, Senator Tom Coburn decided that our veterans are not worthy of our help. History will not remember kindly the man who spent his final days in the Senate denying our veterans the help they desperately need.

"We owe our veterans a sacred promise: that just as the military leaves no soldier behind on the battlefield, we will leave no veteran behind when they come home. In the name of the 8,000 veterans who take their lives every year, in the name of the millions of brave men and women who went to war, in the name of basic human decency, we will continue to fight to strengthen mental health services and meet our responsibility to our heroes. We commend Congressman Tim Walz for his unyielding leadership in addressing the epidemic of veteran suicide, and we continue to join in his determination to see his bill promptly passed by the 114th Congress."