Florida Rep. Michael Waltz suggested to Newsmax TV on Wednesday that the federal government needs to help fund private organizations that assist veterans and work to prevent suicide to reduce the nearly 20 current and former military members a day who kill themselves.
“The problem has existed for some time and the (Veterans Administration) is not getting to the bottom of it,” Waltz said on “Spicer & Co.” “Government organizations aren’t getting to the bottom of it. And what I’m supporting is a bill that actually provides grants out to organizations like Mission Roll Call and others.”
Waltz posted the statistic of nearly 20 veterans a day dying of suicide to his Twitter account on Tuesday to commemorate Suicide Prevention Month.
“I think there are private-sector organizations out there that are much better equipped than the government,” said Waltz, 46, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and the first Green Beret elected to Congress. Waltz represents Florida’s 6th Congressional District along the east coast from the southern suburbs of Jacksonville to just north of Orlando.
“We should be providing them the resources to get to the bottom of things like what you’re point out in that statistic.”
Waltz also condemned altered medical practices regarding the novel coronavirus, relating a story how he aided a Green Beret who was contemplating suicide, was being cared for at a VA hospital but was not permitted access to his therapist because of COVID regulations.
“We almost lost someone to suicide because of fears of corona,” Waltz said. “We have to inject some common sense here to eliminate this isolation, because I think the piece on corona is very important, we’re just exacerbating our existing problem.”
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