Hon. Michael H. Michaud, Chairman, Subcommittee on Health

I would like to thank everyone for coming today.

Today’s legislative hearing is an opportunity for Members of Congress, veterans, the VA and other interested parties to provide their views on and discuss recently-introduced legislation within the Subcommittee’s jurisdiction in a clear and orderly process.   

I do not necessarily agree or disagree with the bills before us today, but I believe that this is an important part of the legislative process that will encourage frank discussions and new ideas. 

We have thirteen bills before us today.  Of this, eight bills have been introduced and cover a wide range of issues including homeless veterans, chiropractic care, physical therapy, screening for hearing loss, and automatic enrollment of veterans in the VA medical system.  The remaining five bills are drafts for discussion and would support the training of psychologists in the treatment of veterans with PTSD, TBI, and other combat-related disorders; create a pilot program using psychiatric service dogs; and build on the homeless bills which already have been introduced to provide additional assistance to homeless veterans. 

While today’s hearing covers a wide range of issues, it focuses on homeless veterans with seven of the thirteen bills before us today addressing issues of homelessness.  According to the VA, about one-third of the adult homeless population has served their country in the Armed Services.  Current population estimates suggest that about 130,000 veterans are homeless on any given night and twice as many experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year.  Given these staggering statistics, it is clear that we must do better by our veterans and this legislative hearing is a step in the right direction as it provides an opportunity to hear different points of views and ideas on how best to serve our homeless veterans. 

I look forward to hearing the views of our witnesses on these bills before us.