Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2454 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2454
5	5	To direct the Secretary of Defense to carry out a grant program to increase
6	6	cooperation on post-traumatic stress disorder research between the
7	7	United States and Israel.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	MARCH30, 2023
10	10	Mr. W
11	11	ALTZ(for himself and Mr. RYAN) introduced the following bill; which
12	12	was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To direct the Secretary of Defense to carry out a grant
15	15	program to increase cooperation on post-traumatic stress
16	16	disorder research between the United States and Israel.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States-Israel 4
21	21	PTSD Collaborative Research Act’’. 5
22	22	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
23	23	Congress makes the following findings: 7
24	24	(1) The Department of Veterans Affairs reports 8
25	25	that between 11 and 20 percent of veterans who 9
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28	28	•HR 2454 IH
29	29	served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation 1
30	30	Enduring Freedom have post-traumatic stress dis-2
31	31	order (PTSD) in a given year. In addition, that fig-3
32	32	ure amounts to about 12 percent of Gulf War vet-4
33	33	erans and up to 30 percent of Vietnam veterans. 5
34	34	(2) The Department of Veterans Affairs reports 6
35	35	that among women veterans of the conflicts in Iraq 7
36	36	and Afghanistan, almost 20 percent have been diag-8
37	37	nosed with PTSD. 9
38	38	(3) In the United States, it is thought that 70 10
39	39	percent of Americans have experienced at least one 11
40	40	traumatic event in their lifetime, and approximately 12
41	41	20 percent of those persons have struggled or con-13
42	42	tinue to struggle with symptoms of PTSD. 14
43	43	(4) Studies show that PTSD has links to home-15
44	44	lessness and substance abuse in the United States. 16
45	45	The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 17
46	46	approximately 11 percent of the homeless population 18
47	47	are veterans and the Substance Abuse and Mental 19
48	48	Health Services Administration estimates that about 20
49	49	7 percent of veterans have a substance abuse dis-21
50	50	order. 22
51	51	(5) Our ally Israel, under constant attack from 23
52	52	terrorist groups, experiences similar issues with 24
53	53	Israeli veterans facing PTSD symptoms. Tel Aviv 25
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56	56	•HR 2454 IH
57	57	University’s National Center for Traumatic Stress 1
58	58	and Resilience found that 5 to 8 percent of combat 2
59	59	soldiers experience some form of PTSD, and during 3
60	60	wartime, that figure rises to 15 to 20 percent. 4
61	61	(6) Current treatment options in the United 5
62	62	States focus on cognitive therapy, exposure therapy, 6
63	63	or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, 7
64	64	but the United States must continue to look for 8
65	65	more effective treatments. Several leading Israeli 9
66	66	hospitals, academic institutions, and nonprofits dedi-10
67	67	cate research and services to treating PTSD. 11
68	68	SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM FOR INCREASED COOPERATION 12
69	69	ON POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER RE-13
70	70	SEARCH BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND 14
71	71	ISRAEL. 15
72	72	(a) S
73	73	ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-16
74	74	gress that the Secretary of Defense, acting through the 17
75	75	Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Re-18
76	76	search Program, should seek to explore scientific collabo-19
77	77	ration between American academic institutions and non-20
78	78	profit research entities, and Israeli institutions with exper-21
79	79	tise in researching, diagnosing, and treating post-trau-22
80	80	matic stress disorder. 23
81	81	(b) G
82	82	RANTPROGRAM.—The Secretary of Defense, in 24
83	83	coordination with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and 25
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86	86	•HR 2454 IH
87	87	the Secretary of State, shall award grants to eligible enti-1
88	88	ties to carry out collaborative research between the United 2
89	89	States and Israel with respect to post-traumatic stress dis-3
90	90	orders. The Secretary of Defense shall carry out the grant 4
91	91	program under this section in accordance with the agree-5
92	92	ment titled ‘‘Agreement Between the Government of the 6
93	93	United States of America and the Government of Israel 7
94	94	on the United States-Israel Binational Science Founda-8
95	95	tion’’, dated September 27, 1972. 9
96	96	(c) E
97	97	LIGIBLEENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive a 10
98	98	grant under this section, an entity shall be an academic 11
99	99	institution or a nonprofit entity located in the United 12
100	100	States. 13
101	101	(d) A
102	102	WARD.—The Secretary shall award grants 14
103	103	under this section to eligible entities that— 15
104	104	(1) carry out a research project that— 16
105	105	(A) addresses a requirement in the area of 17
106	106	post-traumatic stress disorders that the Sec-18
107	107	retary determines appropriate to research using 19
108	108	such grant; and 20
109	109	(B) is conducted by the eligible entity and 21
110	110	an entity in Israel under a joint research agree-22
111	111	ment; and 23
112	112	(2) meet such other criteria that the Secretary 24
113	113	may establish. 25
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116	116	•HR 2454 IH
117	117	(e) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 1
118	118	under this section, an eligible entity shall submit an appli-2
119	119	cation to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 3
120	120	containing such commitments and information as the Sec-4
121	121	retary may require. 5
122	122	(f) G
123	123	IFTAUTHORITY.—The Secretary may accept, 6
124	124	hold, and administer, any gift of money made on the con-7
125	125	dition that the gift be used for the purpose of the grant 8
126	126	program under this section. Such gifts of money accepted 9
127	127	under this subsection shall be deposited in the Treasury 10
128	128	in the Department of Defense General Gift Fund and shall 11
129	129	be available, subject to appropriation, without fiscal year 12
130	130	limitation. 13
131	131	(g) R
132	132	EPORTS.—Not later than 180 days after the 14
133	133	date on which an eligible entity completes a research 15
134	134	project using a grant under this section, the Secretary 16
135	135	shall submit to Congress a report that contains— 17
136	136	(1) a description of how the eligible entity used 18
137	137	the grant; and 19
138	138	(2) an evaluation of the level of success of the 20
139	139	research project. 21
140	140	(h) T
141	141	ERMINATION.—The authority to award grants 22
142	142	under this section shall terminate on the date that is 7 23
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145	145	•HR 2454 IH
146	146	years after the date on which the first such grant is 1
147	147	awarded. 2
148	148	Æ
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