Vern Buchanan wants America’s heroes serving in safer conditions and accessing benefits

With Independence Day on the horizon, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan filed three bills celebrating America’s heroes.

Two bills focus on the needs of veterans, while another seeks safer conditions for those in service now.

“As someone who represents over 64,000 veterans in Florida’s 16th district, serving our nation’s heroes is one of my top priorities,” the Longboat Key Republican said. “The brave men and women who served our country in uniform deserve all the care and respect a grateful nation can offer every day – not just on Independence Day.”

Buchanan’s first bill focuses on the high rate of suicides among those who served. The Veteran Overmedication and Suicide Prevention Act would direct the Veterans Affairs (VA) Department to review the deaths of all veterans it treated who died by suicide or from a drug overdose in the last five years.

That data should be used to inform better treatments, Buchanan said.

His office pointed to a prior suicide report produced by the VA that showed about 17 veterans committed suicide each day in 2020, or 6,146 over the course of the year. The report showed veterans made up 16% of all suicides in the nation that year.

Veteran groups have come out in favor of the bill.

“This legislation will help illuminate the seriousness and scope of this causation,” said Pat Murray, national director of The Veterans of Foreign Wars. “Reducing the number of service members and veterans who die by suicide has been a priority for the VFW and will remain so until it is no longer needed.”

Buchanan also filed the Restoring Earned Veterans Benefits Act, which will streamline the process for veterans who return to active duty and then seek veteran status. The bill will mean veteran benefits are immediately restored as soon as a service member leaves duty the second or subsequent time.

The Congressman also introduced the DRIVE SAFE Act, which calls for equipping tactical weapons with black boxes. Data after accidents could be used for corrective action. Buchanan has pushed for increased safety with military vehicles for several years, particularly following the death of Bradenton soldier Nicholas Panipinto in a 2019 training exercise.