I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2454
To direct the Secretary of Defense to carry out a grant program to increase
cooperation on post-traumatic stress disorder research between the
United States and Israel.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH30, 2023
Mr. W
ALTZ(for himself and Mr. RYAN) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Defense to carry out a grant
program to increase cooperation on post-traumatic stress
disorder research between the United States and Israel.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States-Israel 4
PTSD Collaborative Research Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress makes the following findings: 7
(1) The Department of Veterans Affairs reports 8
that between 11 and 20 percent of veterans who 9
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•HR 2454 IH
served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation 1
Enduring Freedom have post-traumatic stress dis-2
order (PTSD) in a given year. In addition, that fig-3
ure amounts to about 12 percent of Gulf War vet-4
erans and up to 30 percent of Vietnam veterans. 5
(2) The Department of Veterans Affairs reports 6
that among women veterans of the conflicts in Iraq 7
and Afghanistan, almost 20 percent have been diag-8
nosed with PTSD. 9
(3) In the United States, it is thought that 70 10
percent of Americans have experienced at least one 11
traumatic event in their lifetime, and approximately 12
20 percent of those persons have struggled or con-13
tinue to struggle with symptoms of PTSD. 14
(4) Studies show that PTSD has links to home-15
lessness and substance abuse in the United States. 16
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 17
approximately 11 percent of the homeless population 18
are veterans and the Substance Abuse and Mental 19
Health Services Administration estimates that about 20
7 percent of veterans have a substance abuse dis-21
order. 22
(5) Our ally Israel, under constant attack from 23
terrorist groups, experiences similar issues with 24
Israeli veterans facing PTSD symptoms. Tel Aviv 25
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•HR 2454 IH
University’s National Center for Traumatic Stress 1
and Resilience found that 5 to 8 percent of combat 2
soldiers experience some form of PTSD, and during 3
wartime, that figure rises to 15 to 20 percent. 4
(6) Current treatment options in the United 5
States focus on cognitive therapy, exposure therapy, 6
or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, 7
but the United States must continue to look for 8
more effective treatments. Several leading Israeli 9
hospitals, academic institutions, and nonprofits dedi-10
cate research and services to treating PTSD. 11
SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM FOR INCREASED COOPERATION 12
ON POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER RE-13
SEARCH BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND 14
ISRAEL. 15
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-16
gress that the Secretary of Defense, acting through the 17
Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Re-18
search Program, should seek to explore scientific collabo-19
ration between American academic institutions and non-20
profit research entities, and Israeli institutions with exper-21
tise in researching, diagnosing, and treating post-trau-22
matic stress disorder. 23
(b) G
RANTPROGRAM.—The Secretary of Defense, in 24
coordination with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and 25
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•HR 2454 IH
the Secretary of State, shall award grants to eligible enti-1
ties to carry out collaborative research between the United 2
States and Israel with respect to post-traumatic stress dis-3
orders. The Secretary of Defense shall carry out the grant 4
program under this section in accordance with the agree-5
ment titled ‘‘Agreement Between the Government of the 6
United States of America and the Government of Israel 7
on the United States-Israel Binational Science Founda-8
tion’’, dated September 27, 1972. 9
(c) E
LIGIBLEENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive a 10
grant under this section, an entity shall be an academic 11
institution or a nonprofit entity located in the United 12
States. 13
(d) A
WARD.—The Secretary shall award grants 14
under this section to eligible entities that— 15
(1) carry out a research project that— 16
(A) addresses a requirement in the area of 17
post-traumatic stress disorders that the Sec-18
retary determines appropriate to research using 19
such grant; and 20
(B) is conducted by the eligible entity and 21
an entity in Israel under a joint research agree-22
ment; and 23
(2) meet such other criteria that the Secretary 24
may establish. 25
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(e) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 1
under this section, an eligible entity shall submit an appli-2
cation to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 3
containing such commitments and information as the Sec-4
retary may require. 5
(f) G
IFTAUTHORITY.—The Secretary may accept, 6
hold, and administer, any gift of money made on the con-7
dition that the gift be used for the purpose of the grant 8
program under this section. Such gifts of money accepted 9
under this subsection shall be deposited in the Treasury 10
in the Department of Defense General Gift Fund and shall 11
be available, subject to appropriation, without fiscal year 12
limitation. 13
(g) R
EPORTS.—Not later than 180 days after the 14
date on which an eligible entity completes a research 15
project using a grant under this section, the Secretary 16
shall submit to Congress a report that contains— 17
(1) a description of how the eligible entity used 18
the grant; and 19
(2) an evaluation of the level of success of the 20
research project. 21
(h) T
ERMINATION.—The authority to award grants 22
under this section shall terminate on the date that is 7 23
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years after the date on which the first such grant is 1
awarded. 2
Æ
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