Statements for the Record

Madame Speaker, throughout both democratic and republican administrations, the White House has maintained a policy against providing letters of condolence to the families of suicide victims.

This is a major issue for my constituents that I have been working on for months.

I have had a number of communications with the White House and the Department of Defense expressing their concerns.

And fortunately, the President was kind enough to send a personal letter of condolence to a local family that was affected by suicide.

Mr. Speaker-Thousands of active duty service members are returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq every year.

Many of these individuals have been serving continuously since they enlisted right out of high school or college.

For years, they lived a structured military life-on bases or abroad.

This structure makes for a well disciplined, well trained military force.

But it can also make for a difficult transition back to civilian life.

Many returning service members have no experience with saving, budgets, credit, taxes and mortgages.