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Congressional Daily Record
This section is about changes proposed to a bill or resolution. It mentions committees such as Committee on Armed Services, members such as John Peter Ricketts.
Issued
June 24, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextSA 6367. Mr. RICKETTS submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the appropriate place in title VII, insert the
following:
SEC. 7__. IMPROVEMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH SCREENING CONDUCTED
UNDER SEPARATION HEALTH ASSESSMENTS FOR MEMBERS
OF THE ARMED FORCES.
(a) Sense of Congress.—It is the sense of Congress that—
(1) in order to address the mental health challenges
following separation of members of the Armed Forces from
military service, transitioning members must receive
effective mental health screening prior to separation;
(2) all screens conducted for mental health for members of
the Armed Forces under the separation health assessment must
be validated screens;
(3) it is essential that the Department of Defense fully
implement the separation health assessment with validated
screening; and
(4) screening for substance use should be considered a
necessary mental health screen and included in the separation
health assessment.
(b) Validated Mental Health Screens.—The Joint Executive
Committee shall ensure the post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) mental health screen, the alcohol use mental health
screen, and the violence risk mental health screen under the
separation health assessment are each modified to be a
validated tool, which may include taking steps to validate an
existing screen or replacing an existing screen with an
already validated screen.
(c) Inclusion of Substance Use in Mental Health Screens.—
(1) In general.—The Joint Executive Committee shall
incorporate screening for substance use as a mental health
screen and shall assess whether to include such screening in
the separation health assessment, including by taking such
action as the Joint Executive Committee considers
appropriate, which may include taking steps to incorporate a
validated screen.
(2) Report.—Not later than 120 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Joint Executive Committee shall
submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report
on the justification of the Joint Executive Committee to
include or not include a substance use screen under paragraph
(1).
(d) Implementation of Separation Health Assessment.—Not
later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Secretary of Defense, under the guidance of the
Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, shall
fully implement the separation health assessment.
(e) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.—The term
“appropriate congressional committees” means—
(A) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives.
(2) Joint executive committee.—The term “Joint Executive
Committee” means the Department of Veterans Affairs-
Department of Defense Joint Executive Committee established
under section 320 of title 38, United States Code.
(3) Separation health assessment.—The term “separation
health assessment” means the health assessment for members
of the Armed Forces separating from military service
established by the Joint Executive Committee.