Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - Today, Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-Tenn.), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, released the following statement after the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new study on the Department of Veterans Affairs's (VA) suicide prevention outreach:

“As we highlighted in our September Committee hearing on suicide prevention, in spite of a significant investment in resources, veteran suicide rates remain unchanged and are still of great concern. I am encouraged by the President’s focus on suicide prevention as well as the Secretary’s commitment to reducing veteran suicides. However, it is extremely disappointing that VA had allowed the focus to lapse on outreach. Resources are available and I would hope that VA moves quickly to  improve suicide prevention outreach.  Reaching just one veteran with  information about the support and services available may just save a life.”