II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 609
To improve mental health services of the Department of Veterans Affairs,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY18, 2025
Mr. B
LUMENTHALintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To improve mental health services of the Department of
Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Building Resources and Access for Veterans’ Mental 5
Health Engagement Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘BRAVE Act 6
of 2025’’. 7
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 8
this Act is as follows: 9
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
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TITLE I—IMPROVEMENT OF WORKFORCE IN SUPPORT OF
MENTAL HEALTH CARE
Sec. 101. Report on market pay surveys for Readjustment Counseling Service
positions.
Sec. 102. Qualifications of appointees in occupations that support mental
health programs.
Sec. 103. Report on coordination of Veterans Health Administration with Read-
justment Counseling Service.
TITLE II—IMPROVEMENT OF VET CENTER INFRASTRUCTURE
AND TECHNOLOGY
Sec. 201. Vet Center defined.
Sec. 202. Comptroller General report on Readjustment Counseling Service
model for expansion of Vet Center footprint.
Sec. 203. Improvement of guidance and information to improve veteran out-
reach efforts by Vet Centers.
Sec. 204. Report on information technology system of Readjustment Counseling
Service.
TITLE III—WOMEN VETERANS
Sec. 301. Study on effectiveness of suicide prevention and mental health out-
reach programs of Department of Veterans Affairs for women
veterans.
Sec. 302. Requirement for Department of Veterans Affairs to modify the
REACH VET program to incorporate risk factors weighted for
women veterans.
Sec. 303. Review of and report on reintegration and readjustment services for
veterans and family members in group retreat settings.
TITLE IV—OTHER MATTERS
Sec. 401. Extension of Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention
Grant Program.
Sec. 402. Access to mental health residential rehabilitation treatment programs
for veterans with spinal cord injury or disorder.
Sec. 403. Mental health consultations and outreach on mental health services
for veterans receiving compensation for disabilities relating to
mental health diagnoses.
Sec. 404. Joint report on effectiveness of programs of Department of Veterans
Affairs and Department of Defense that promote access to
mental health services for transitioning members of the Armed
Forces.
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TITLE I—IMPROVEMENT OF 1
WORKFORCE IN SUPPORT OF 2
MENTAL HEALTH CARE 3
SEC. 101. REPORT ON MARKET PAY SURVEYS FOR READ-4
JUSTMENT COUNSELING SERVICE POSI-5
TIONS. 6
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds that the Secretary of 7
Veterans Affairs, through the Chief Readjustment Coun-8
seling Officer, reviews market pay surveys in each Read-9
justment Counseling Service District to compare the sala-10
ries of employees in the Readjustment Counseling Service 11
of the Department of Veterans Affairs, including licensed 12
professional mental health counselors, social workers, and 13
marriage and family therapists, to the salaries of similarly 14
situated employees within the Department and the private 15
sector. 16
(b) R
EPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 17
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 18
to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 19
the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep-20
resentatives a report on the findings specified in sub-21
section (a), which shall— 22
(1) include an assessment of pay disparities be-23
tween employees of the Readjustment Counseling 24
Service of the Department and similarly situated 25
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employees within the Department and the private 1
sector; and 2
(2) identify if pay-related staffing challenges 3
exist, and if so, determine if each Readjustment 4
Counseling Service District has initiated a review of 5
third-party survey data for the identified occupa-6
tions. 7
(c) D
ISTRICTS.—Each report submitted under sub-8
section (b) shall include reports from all Readjustment 9
Counseling Service Districts of the Department, includ-10
ing— 11
(1) areas that are geographically diverse; 12
(2) rural areas; 13
(3) highly rural areas; 14
(4) urban areas; and 15
(5) areas with health care shortages. 16
(d) A
SSESSMENT OF PAY.—Each report submitted 17
under subsection (b) shall include an assessment of pay 18
based on the following factors: 19
(1) Third-party survey data. 20
(2) Geographic location. 21
(3) Equivalent qualifications (licensure, edu-22
cation level, or experience). 23
(4) Short-term incentives. 24
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SEC. 102. QUALIFICATIONS OF APPOINTEES IN OCCUPA-1
TIONS THAT SUPPORT MENTAL HEALTH PRO-2
GRAMS. 3
(a) P
SYCHOLOGISTS.—Section 7402(b)(8)(C) of title 4
38, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘for a pe-5
riod not to exceed’’ and all that follows through the period 6
at the end and inserting ‘‘for a reasonable period of time 7
recommended by the Under Secretary for Health.’’. 8
(b) L
ICENSEDPROFESSIONAL MENTALHEALTH 9
C
OUNSELORS.—Section 7402(b)(11)(B) of title 38, 10
United States Code, is amended by striking the period at 11
the end and inserting ‘‘, except that the Secretary may 12
waive the requirement of licensure or certification for an 13
individual licensed professional mental health counselor 14
for a reasonable period of time recommended by the Under 15
Secretary for Health.’’. 16
SEC. 103. REPORT ON COORDINATION OF VETERANS 17
HEALTH ADMINISTRATION WITH READJUST-18
MENT COUNSELING SERVICE. 19
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 20
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-21
erans Affairs shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ 22
Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Af-23
fairs of the House of Representatives a report regarding 24
coordination between the clinical care system of the Vet-25
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erans Health Administration and the Readjustment Coun-1
seling Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 2
(b) A
SSESSMENT.—The report required by subsection 3
(a) shall include an assessment of the adherence by each 4
Director of a Veterans Integrated Service Network to poli-5
cies of the Veterans Health Administration, which require 6
each such Director to ensure that a support facility of the 7
Department of Veterans Affairs is aligned laterally with 8
each Vet Center to provide supportive administrative and 9
clinical collaboration to better serve veterans eligible for 10
services from Vet Centers, particularly those at high risk 11
for suicide. 12
(c) A
NALYSIS.—The report required by subsection (a) 13
shall include an analysis of— 14
(1) whether staff at Vet Centers in the local 15
area of a medical facility of the Department have 16
the updated contact information for appropriate 17
staff at the medical facility to ensure proper coordi-18
nation of care; 19
(2) whether the external clinical consultant and 20
suicide prevention coordinator of a medical facility of 21
the Department are providing counseling staff of 22
each Vet Center in the local area of the medical fa-23
cility professional consultation not less frequently 24
than monthly through regularly scheduled peer case 25
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presentations onsite at the Vet Center or via virtual 1
or telephone consultation as necessary to fully sup-2
port the coordination of care of patients, particularly 3
those at high risk for suicide; 4
(3) whether the external clinical consultant and 5
suicide prevention coordinator are documenting any 6
consultation conducted under paragraph (2); and 7
(4) whether the Under Secretary for Health is 8
coordinating with the Outreach Specialist at each 9
Vet Center to ensure active duty members of the 10
Armed Forces who are participating in the Transi-11
tion Assistance Program of the Department of De-12
fense are provided information regarding Vet Cen-13
ters and the services provided at Vet Centers. 14
(d) V
ETCENTERDEFINED.—In this section, the 15
term ‘‘Vet Center’’ has the meaning given that term in 16
section 1712A(h) of title 38, United States Code. 17
TITLE II—IMPROVEMENT OF 18
VET CENTER INFRASTRUC-19
TURE AND TECHNOLOGY 20
SEC. 201. VET CENTER DEFINED. 21
In this title, the term ‘‘Vet Center’’ has the meaning 22
given that term in section 1712A(h) of title 38, United 23
States Code. 24
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SEC. 202. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON READJUST-1
MENT COUNSELING SERVICE MODEL FOR EX-2
PANSION OF VET CENTER FOOTPRINT. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 4
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 5
of the United States shall submit to the Committee on 6
Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Vet-7
erans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 8
assessing the model used by the Readjustment Counseling 9
Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs to guide 10
the expansion of the real property footprint of Vet Cen-11
ters. 12
(b) E
LEMENTS.—The report required by subsection 13
(a) shall assess— 14
(1) whether the model described in such sub-15
section adequately accounts for the demand for Vet 16
Center services in rural areas; 17
(2) whether the frequency with which the Sec-18
retary of Veterans Affairs is reassessing areas for 19
potential expansion of Vet Center services is often 20
enough to address any population shifts; 21
(3) whether such model adequately considers 22
the needs of veterans in areas with high rates of 23
calls to the Veterans Crisis Line or high rates of sui-24
cide by veterans or members of the Armed Forces; 25
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(4) whether such model adequately accounts for 1
trends in usage of mobile Vet Centers in a given 2
area; and 3
(5) whether such model takes into account the 4
unique needs of veterans and members of the Armed 5
Forces in areas being assessed. 6
(c) V
ETERANSCRISISLINE.—In this section, the 7
term ‘‘Veterans Crisis Line’’ means the toll-free hotline 8
for veterans established under section 1720F(h) of title 9
38, United States Code. 10
SEC. 203. IMPROVEMENT OF GUIDANCE AND INFORMATION 11
TO IMPROVE VETERAN OUTREACH EFFORTS 12
BY VET CENTERS. 13
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-14
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall— 15
(1) ensure each Vet Center has demographic 16
data, such as age, gender, race, and ethnicity, for in-17
dividuals eligible for Vet Center services in the serv-18
ice area of such Vet Center to be used to tailor out-19
reach activities, including data on veterans who have 20
recently transitioned from service in the Armed 21
Forces; 22
(2) provide Vet Centers with guidance for as-23
sessing the effectiveness of outreach activities, in-24
cluding guidance on metrics for those activities and 25
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targets against which to assess those metrics to de-1
termine effectiveness; 2
(3) develop and implement a process to periodi-3
cally assess the extent to which veterans and mem-4
bers of the Armed Forces who are eligible for serv-5
ices from Vet Centers experience barriers to obtain-6
ing such services, including a lack of awareness 7
about Vet Centers and challenges accessing Vet Cen-8
ter services; and 9
(4) develop and implement a process to periodi-10
cally assess the extent to which staff of Vet Centers 11
may encounter barriers to providing services. 12
SEC. 204. REPORT ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM 13
OF READJUSTMENT COUNSELING SERVICE. 14
Not later than 60 days after the date of the enact-15
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 16
through the Chief Readjustment Counseling Officer of the 17
Veterans Health Administration, shall submit to the Com-18
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Com-19
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representa-20
tives a report identifying— 21
(1) whether the Department of Veterans Affairs 22
is retaining or replacing the current information 23
technology platform of the Department, commonly 24
referred to as ‘‘RCSNet’’, which is currently used to 25
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manage certain parts of the daily work of employees 1
of the Readjustment Counseling Service and oper-2
ational data and management functions of the Read-3
justment Counseling Service; 4
(2) if the Department intends to keep RCSNet, 5
the rationale for that decision and an identification 6
of the steps the Department is taking to maintain 7
or improve the functionality of RCSNet and the 8
timeline for those steps; and 9
(3) if the Department intends to replace 10
RCSNet, the rationale for that decision and an iden-11
tification of the steps the Department is taking to 12
implement that replacement, including a timeline 13
and the estimated cost for that replacement. 14
TITLE III—WOMEN VETERANS 15
SEC. 301. STUDY ON EFFECTIVENESS OF SUICIDE PREVEN-16
TION AND MENTAL HEALTH OUTREACH PRO-17
GRAMS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF-18
FAIRS FOR WOMEN VETERANS. 19
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 240 days after the 20
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-21
erans Affairs shall conduct surveys and host listening ses-22
sions with women veterans to determine the extent to 23
which— 24
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(1) suicide prevention, lethal-means safety, and 1
mental health resources and messaging campaigns of 2
the Department of Veterans Affairs are perceived 3
and accepted by women veterans; 4
(2) women veterans find those resources and 5
messaging campaigns effective and sufficiently tai-6
lored to women veterans; 7
(3) the integration into those resources and 8
messaging campaigns of information pertaining to 9
military sexual trauma, intimate partner violence, 10
and trauma-informed health care would make those 11
resources and messaging campaigns more effective 12
for women veterans; 13
(4) the Department could make additional im-14
provements to those resources and messaging cam-15
paigns, including the Women’s Health Transition 16
Training Program, to make those resources and 17
messaging campaigns more effective for women vet-18
erans; and 19
(5) programs and services of the Department 20
are targeted at women veterans of different ages and 21
eras of services, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and 22
geographical areas. 23
(b) P
OPULATIONSTUDIED.—The Secretary shall 24
conduct the surveys and listening sessions required under 25
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subsection (a) in urban and rural areas and shall ensure 1
such surveys and listening sessions are targeted at dif-2
ferent demographics. 3
(c) R
EPORT.—Not later than one year after the sur-4
veys and listening sessions required under subsection (a) 5
are complete, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee 6
on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 7
Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 8
on the findings of such surveys and listening sessions, 9
which shall document the steps the Secretary intends to 10
take to refine the suicide prevention, lethal-means safety, 11
and mental health resources and messaging campaigns of 12
the Department based on the feedback from such surveys 13
and listening sessions to ensure the Secretary is utilizing 14
the most effective strategies. 15
SEC. 302. REQUIREMENT FOR DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 16
AFFAIRS TO MODIFY THE REACH VET PRO-17
GRAM TO INCORPORATE RISK FACTORS 18
WEIGHTED FOR WOMEN VETERANS. 19
Not later than 60 days after the date of the enact-20
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 21
initiate efforts to modify the Recovery Engagement and 22
Coordination for Health–Veterans Enhanced Treatment 23
program (‘‘REACH VET’’) to incorporate into such pro-24
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gram risk factors weighted for women, such as military 1
sexual trauma and intimate partner violence. 2
SEC. 303. REVIEW OF AND REPORT ON REINTEGRATION 3
AND READJUSTMENT SERVICES FOR VET-4
ERANS AND FAMILY MEMBERS IN GROUP RE-5
TREAT SETTINGS. 6
(a) R
EVIEW.—Not later than 60 days after the date 7
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans 8
Affairs shall review all requests for reintegration and read-9
justment services for veterans and family members of vet-10
erans in group retreat program settings under section 11
1712A(a)(1)(B)(ii) of title 38, United States Code, to de-12
termine if current retreat programming meets demand, 13
specifically requests for— 14
(1) women only retreats; 15
(2) disabled access retreats, particularly wheel-16
chair accessible retreats; and 17
(3) retreats for veterans with specific medical 18
needs. 19
(b) R
EPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the date 20
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 21
to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 22
the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep-23
resentatives a report on whether the provision by the Sec-24
retary of reintegration and readjustment services for vet-25
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erans and family members of veterans in group retreat 1
program settings should be increased and made perma-2
nent, including— 3
(1) women only retreats; 4
(2) disabled access retreats, particularly wheel-5
chair accessible retreats; and 6
(3) retreats for veterans with specific medical 7
needs. 8
TITLE IV—OTHER MATTERS 9
SEC. 401. EXTENSION OF STAFF SERGEANT PARKER GOR-10
DON FOX SUICIDE PREVENTION GRANT PRO-11
GRAM. 12
Section 201 of the Commander John Scott Hannon 13
Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019 14
(Public Law 116–171; 38 U.S.C. 1720F note) is amend-15
ed— 16
(1) in subsection (c)(2)(A), by striking 17
‘‘$750,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$1,000,000’’; and 18
(2) in subsection (j), by striking ‘‘three years’’ 19
and inserting ‘‘six years’’. 20
SEC. 402. ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH RESIDENTIAL REHA-21
BILITATION TREATMENT PROGRAMS FOR 22
VETERANS WITH SPINAL CORD INJURY OR 23
DISORDER. 24
(a) P
LAN.— 25
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 1
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 2
of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committee 3
on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Com-4
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep-5
resentatives a plan to ensure access to mental health 6
residential treatment programs of the Department of 7
Veterans Affairs for veterans with a spinal cord in-8
jury or disorder. 9
(2) E
LEMENTS.—The plan required under 10
paragraph (1) shall include— 11
(A) a staffing plan, which shall include a 12
plan for how the Department will— 13
(i) incorporate staff from other facili-14
ties to support the pilot program required 15
under subsection (b); and 16
(ii) ensure adequate staffing to sup-17
port the needs of veterans with a spinal 18
cord injury or disorder; 19
(B) an assessment of medical equipment 20
needs; and 21
(C) an assessment of the best location to 22
deliver treatment and health care under the 23
mental health residential treatment programs of 24
the Department, including through the use of 25
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spinal cord injury or disorder centers and spinal 1
cord injury or disorder spokes. 2
(b) P
ILOTPROGRAM.—Commencing not later than 3
120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 4
Secretary shall carry out a pilot program to provide access 5
to mental health residential treatment programs of the 6
Department for veterans with a spinal cord injury or dis-7
order at not fewer than three medical facilities of the De-8
partment. 9
(c) R
EPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 10
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 11
to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 12
the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep-13
resentatives a report on— 14
(1) the implementation of the plan required 15
under subsection (a); 16
(2) the initial results from the pilot program 17
under subsection (b); and 18
(3) plans to expand the mental health residen-19
tial treatment programs of the Department to addi-20
tional medical facilities of the Department to ad-21
dress demand for the highly specialized treatment 22
provided under such programs for veterans with a 23
spinal cord injury or disorder. 24
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SEC. 403. MENTAL HEALTH CONSULTATIONS AND OUT-1
REACH ON MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR 2
VETERANS RECEIVING COMPENSATION FOR 3
DISABILITIES RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH 4
DIAGNOSES. 5
(a) T
ECHNICALCORRECTIONS.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The section 1167 of title 38, 7
United States Code, relating to mental health con-8
sultations, is redesignated as section 1169. 9
(2) C
LERICAL AMENDMENTS .—The table of sec-10
tions at the beginning of chapter 11 is amended— 11
(A) by striking the item relating to the sec-12
tion 1167 relating to mental health consulta-13
tions; and 14
(B) adding after the item relating to sec-15
tion 1168 the following new item: 16
‘‘1169. Mental health consultations.’’.
(b) IMPROVEMENTS.—Section 1169 of such title, as 17
redesignated by subsection (a), is amended— 18
(1) in subsection (a), in the subsection heading, 19
by striking ‘‘I
NGENERAL’’ and inserting ‘‘INITIAL 20
M
ENTALHEALTHCONSULTATIONS’’; 21
(2) by redesignating subsection (b) and (c) as 22
subsections (c) and (d), respectively; 23
(3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-24
lowing new subsection (b): 25
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‘‘(b) ANNUALMENTALHEALTHCONSULTATIONS 1
ANDOUTREACH.—Not less frequently than once each 2
year, the Secretary shall— 3
‘‘(1) offer to each veteran who is receiving com-4
pensation under this chapter for a service-connected 5
disability relating to a mental health diagnosis a 6
mental health consultation to assess the mental 7
health needs of, and discuss other mental health 8
care options for, the veteran; and 9
‘‘(2) conduct outreach to each veteran described 10
in paragraph (1) regarding the availability of con-11
sultations described in such paragraph and other 12
mental health services from the Department.’’; 13
(4) in subsection (c), as redesignated by para-14
graph (2), by inserting ‘‘or (b)’’ after ‘‘under sub-15
section (a)’’ both places it appears; and 16
(5) in subsection (d), as redesignated by para-17
graph (2), by inserting ‘‘or as requiring reevaluation 18
of any entitlement of the veteran to compensation 19
under this chapter’’ before the period at the end. 20
(c) B
IENNIALREPORTS.—Such section, as amended 21
by subsection (b), is further amended by adding at the 22
end the following new subsection: 23
‘‘(e) B
IENNIALREVIEWS ANDREPORTS.—(1) Not 24
later than one year after the date of the enactment of the 25
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BRAVE Act of 2025, and not less frequently than once 1
every two years thereafter, the Secretary shall— 2
‘‘(A) review the efficacy of the outreach of the 3
Department with respect to consultations offered 4
under this section; and 5
‘‘(B) submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Af-6
fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ 7
Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 8
on— 9
‘‘(i) the findings of the Secretary with re-10
spect to the most recent review conducted pur-11
suant to subparagraph (A); and 12
‘‘(ii) the plans of the Secretary to address 13
the findings described in clause (i). 14
‘‘(2) In order to facilitate reviews conducted under 15
paragraph (1)(A), the Secretary shall— 16
‘‘(A) ensure veterans can provide feedback to 17
the Secretary on outreach described in paragraph 18
(1) and the consultations offered under this section; 19
and 20
‘‘(B) analyze the feedback described in subpara-21
graph (A) that is provided to the Secretary. 22
‘‘(3) Each review conducted pursuant to paragraph 23
(1)(A) shall cover the following: 24
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‘‘(A) The feedback collected under paragraph 1
(2). 2
‘‘(B) Consultations sought pursuant to offers 3
under this section. 4
‘‘(C) Matters that deter veterans from seeking 5
consultations offered under this section.’’. 6
SEC. 404. JOINT REPORT ON EFFECTIVENESS OF PRO-7
GRAMS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF-8
FAIRS AND DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE THAT 9
PROMOTE ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH 10
SERVICES FOR TRANSITIONING MEMBERS OF 11
THE ARMED FORCES. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 13
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-14
erans Affairs and the Secretary of Defense shall jointly 15
submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Sen-16
ate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House 17
of Representatives a report on the actions taken or that 18
will be taken by each such Secretary, either independently 19
or jointly, to improve the effectiveness of programs of the 20
Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of 21
Defense that promote access to mental health services for 22
members of the Armed Forces transitioning from service 23
in the Armed Forces to civilian life. 24
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•S 609 IS
(b) STATUS OFRESPONSE TOCOMPTROLLERGEN-1
ERALRECOMMENDATIONS .—The report required under 2
subsection (a) shall include an assessment of the status 3
of the response by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and 4
the Secretary of Defense to the recommendations of the 5
Comptroller General of the United States set forth in the 6
July 2024 report entitled ‘‘DOD AND VA HEALTH 7
CARE: Actions Needed to Better Facilitate Access to 8
Mental Health Services During Military to Civilian Tran-9
sitions’’ (GAO–24–106189). 10
(c) I
DENTIFICATION OF DUPLICATIVEEFFORTS.— 11
The report required under subsection (a) shall identify any 12
duplicative efforts or gaps in services and recommend 13
changes to programs of the Department of Veterans Af-14
fairs or the Department of Defense to address such dupli-15
cative efforts or gaps, including recommendations for leg-16
islative action. 17
Æ
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