[Sep 29, 2008]

     The Senate on Saturday approved an amended version of a bill (S 2162) that would authorize programs designed to improve treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses, CQ Today reports. The Senate passed the original version of the bill, sponsored by Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chair Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), in June. The House, which approved the legislation by voice vote on Thursday, amended the bill to include several additional provisions. The amended version of the legislation represents an agreement between Akaka and House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chair Bob Filner (D-Calif.). The bill would provide:

• $1.9 billion for Department of Veterans Affairs health care facility projects and major leases for such facilities nationwide;
  
  
• $60 million through fiscal year 2011 for VA to provide financial assistance to not-for-profit groups that help support low-income veterans who reside in permanent housing;
  
  
• Funding for VA to designate between four and six health care facilities as locations for epilepsy centers and to designate an individual in the Veterans Health Administration as a national coordinator for VHA epilepsy programs;
  
  
• $8 million through FY 2012 for VA to conduct research into PTSD through the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; and
  
  
• $3 million for a two-year VA pilot program to test the use of the Internet to provide assessment, education and treatment of veterans with substance use disorders.

The Senate also approved an amended version of a bill (S 3023) that, among other provisions, would require VA to issue regulations for the notification of veterans who claim medical benefits about the status of their claims in simple terms. Under the legislation, notifications would have to include information about whether claims are new or old, the evidence required to substantiate such claims and the timing of the notice. The Senate passed the original version of the bill, sponsored by Akaka, on Sept. 16. The House, which approved the legislation by voice vote on Wednesday, amended the bill to include several additional provisions. The amended version of the legislation represents an agreement between Akaka and Filner (Johnson, CQ Today, 9/27).