______________________________________________________________________________ 1619 King St. | Alexandria, VA 22314 | (ph) 877-Navy-411 | (f) 703-683-3647 | ausn.org

April 11, 2017 The Honorable Christopher Murphy United States Senate 136 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 On behalf of the Association of the United States Navy, we would like to pledge our support for S. 699, the Honor Our Commitment Act of 2017. . This bill would amend title 38, United States Code to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish mental and behavioral health care to certain individuals discharged or released from the active military, naval, or air service under conditions other than honorable. This bill would require the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide mental health and behavioral health services to former combat veterans who received OTH or Bad Paper discharges. Up until recently, the VA denied it had the legal authority to provide any care to these veterans. In addition, the VA has failed to explain to Congress whether it intends to provide full mental and behavioral health care or just basic crisis and suicide prevention assistance to these at-risk veterans. The Honor Our Commitment Act will clarify and expand existing law to ensure that combat veterans maintain access to critical mental health care and behavioral health care to treat war-time injuries. Thank you for taking an active role in such an important issue to the Military and Veteran community by working to improve the lives and careers of those who served our great nation. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns at 703-548-5800 or at michael.little@ausn.org. Sincerely, Michael J. Little Director of Legislative Affairs