After years of failure to end the crisis, veteran suicide takes center stage on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON — More veterans die by suicide every two days than were killed in action last year. After almost two decades of post-9/11 conflicts, lawmakers and Defense Department officials are no closer to ending the suicide crisis. There’s no single cause, no “type” of veteran, no guarantee of access to mental health care, no single solution. The funding is there — the Department of Veterans Affairs is the second-largest federal agency, behind the DOD in size and budget — and there has been little pushback on the 14% boost in funding requested for 2021.

So why are veterans still killing themselves at an alarming rate?

The suicide epidemic took center stage on Capitol Hill last week, with a large roster of veteran advocacy groups testifying before the Veterans’ Affairs Committees of both legislative branches and lobbying hundreds of lawmakers, sounding the alarm on a number of issues veterans face — most notably suicide.

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