II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1143
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH30, 2023
Mr. M
ORAN(for himself, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. CARDIN, Ms. ROSEN, Ms. HAS-
SAN, Ms. STABENOW, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. PETERS, and Mr. MENENDEZ)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Foreign Relations
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
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(1) The Department of Veterans Affairs reports 1
that between 11 and 20 percent of veterans who 2
served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation 3
Enduring Freedom have post-traumatic stress dis-4
order (in this subsection referred to as ‘‘PTSD’’) in 5
a given year. In addition, that figure amounts to 6
about 12 percent of Gulf War veterans and up to 30 7
percent of Vietnam veterans. 8
(2) The Department of Veterans Affairs reports 9
that among women veterans of the conflicts in Iraq 10
and Afghanistan, almost 20 percent have been diag-11
nosed with PTSD. 12
(3) It is thought that 70 percent of individuals 13
in the United States have experienced at least one 14
traumatic event in their lifetime, and approximately 15
20 percent of those individuals have struggled or 16
continue to struggle with symptoms of PTSD. 17
(4) Studies show that PTSD has links to home-18
lessness and substance abuse in the United States. 19
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 20
approximately 11 percent of the homeless population 21
are veterans and the Substance Abuse and Mental 22
Health Services Administration estimates that about 23
seven percent of veterans have a substance abuse 24
disorder. 25
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(5) Our ally Israel, under constant attack from 1
terrorist groups, experiences similar issues with 2
Israeli veterans facing symptoms of PTSD. The Na-3
tional Center for Traumatic Stress and Resilience at 4
Tel Aviv University found that five to eight percent 5
of combat soldiers experience some form of PTSD, 6
and during wartime, that figure rises to 15 to 20 7
percent. 8
(6) Current treatment options in the United 9
States focus on cognitive therapy, exposure therapy, 10
or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, 11
but the United States must continue to look for 12
more effective treatments. Several leading hospitals, 13
academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations in 14
Israel dedicate research and services to treating 15
PTSD. 16
SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM FOR INCREASED COOPERATION 17
ON POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER RE-18
SEARCH BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND 19
ISRAEL. 20
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-21
gress that the Secretary of Defense, acting through the 22
Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Re-23
search Program, should seek to explore scientific collabo-24
ration between academic institutions and nonprofit re-25
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•S 1143 IS
search entities in the United States and institutions in 1
Israel with expertise in researching, diagnosing, and treat-2
ing post-traumatic stress disorder. 3
(b) G
RANTPROGRAM.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense, in 5
coordination with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 6
and the Secretary of State, shall award grants to eli-7
gible entities to carry out collaborative research be-8
tween the United States and Israel with respect to 9
post-traumatic stress disorders. 10
(2) A
GREEMENT.—The Secretary of Defense 11
shall carry out the grant program under this section 12
in accordance with the Agreement on the United 13
States-Israel binational science foundation with ex-14
change of letters, signed at New York September 27, 15
1972, and entered into force on September 27, 16
1972. 17
(c) E
LIGIBLEENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive a 18
grant under this section, an entity shall be an academic 19
institution or a nonprofit entity located in the United 20
States. 21
(d) A
WARD.—The Secretary shall award grants 22
under this section to eligible entities that— 23
(1) carry out a research project that— 24
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(A) addresses a requirement in the area of 1
post-traumatic stress disorders that the Sec-2
retary determines appropriate to research using 3
such grant; and 4
(B) is conducted by the eligible entity and 5
an entity in Israel under a joint research agree-6
ment; and 7
(2) meet such other criteria that the Secretary 8
may establish. 9
(e) A
PPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 10
under this section, an eligible entity shall submit an appli-11
cation to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 12
containing such commitments and information as the Sec-13
retary may require. 14
(f) G
IFTAUTHORITY.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may accept, 16
hold, and administer any gift of money made on the 17
condition that the gift be used for the purpose of the 18
grant program under this section. 19
(2) D
EPOSIT.—Gifts of money accepted under 20
paragraph (1) shall be deposited in the Treasury in 21
the Department of Defense General Gift Fund and 22
shall be available, subject to appropriation, without 23
fiscal year limitation. 24
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(g) REPORTS.—Not later than 180 days after the 1
date on which an eligible entity completes a research 2
project using a grant under this section, the Secretary 3
shall submit to Congress a report that contains— 4
(1) a description of how the eligible entity used 5
the grant; and 6
(2) an evaluation of the level of success of the 7
research project. 8
(h) T
ERMINATION.—The authority to award grants 9
under this section shall terminate on the date that is seven 10
years after the date on which the first such grant is 11
awarded. 12
Æ
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