Chet Edwards- A Democrat, in Brown County's sideyard, who stays the Course !

Waco's $3 million PTSD study safe in defense budget

By Dan Genz and David Doerr Tribune-Herald staff writers
Monday, December 19, 2005
Waco leaders were poised to dub 2005 a "win-win year" for the embattled Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital as Congress late Sunday night neared passage of a defense appropriations bill that includes $3 million for a study in Waco of post traumatic stress disorder.
However, a late move by Republicans to attach a controversial proposal to open up Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling -– a measure unrelated to the defense bill – left the package in limbo in the Senate.
The GOP's tactical move involving ANWR outraged environmentalists and some Democrats, coming as lawmakers rushed to conclude business and adjourn for the holidays.
Funding for the PTSD study, which would be conducted by the local VA hospital, the Olin E. Teague Veterans Center in Temple and nearby Fort Hood, was set for passage just a month after Congress awarded the 73-year-old Waco facility the distinction of being the first "Center of Excellence" for mental health.
It was a distinction that local hospital supporters sought fervently, along with a renewed focus on mental health problems created by war in Iraq. They hope to enhance the local VA hospital's mission at a time when federal officials contemplate downsizing or even closing the facility.
The PTSD program's funding is part of $10.9 million for the Waco VA Hospital and area defense programs in the final 2006 Defense Appropriations bill. The bill was still expected to pass the House by today, but the inclusion of ANWR drilling left opposition in the Senate resolute.
Late Sunday night, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, who secured the PTSD funding, voiced confidence it would remain intact, whatever warring broke out in the Senate: "Negotiations are wrapped up and our projects are secure."
Democratic critics attacked the ANWR bill's chief advocate, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, for adding the oil provision to legislation providing $453 billion for the Pentagon. They also accused him of offering enticements to skeptical senators in the form of funds for hurricane relief and other programs.
"Isn't that what the game really is here?" said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis. He said Stevens was "trying to make Gulf Coast states an offer they can't refuse."
"That's not the point," replied the Alaska Republican, who said expanding domestic production of oil is a matter of national security.
The defense bill had already been approved by a conference committee made up of members from both chambers before ANWR's inclusion triggered renewed opposition.
Edwards said the PTSD funding was crucial as the war on terrorism continues. Pentagon studies indicate 17 to 19 percent of Iraq war veterans face mental health issues and up to 3 percent show “full symptoms of PTSD,” he said.
"To me, the real significance, and I've talked to VA people about this, it's a culmination of what Sen. (Kay Bailey) Hutchison wrote and I supported in the House, to give a 'center of excellence' designation for the Waco VA, plus now, on top of that, a $3 million research project for PTSD for the Waco VA to work directly with Fort Hood," Edwards said.
The congressman said the combination "sends a real clear message to the VA leadership that we want the VA's resources (in Waco) better utilized and not shut down." He said shuttering the 127-acre facility would be "a tragic mistake."
Edwards has previously voted to open up ANWR to drilling.
Coke Mills, an attorney who sits on a local task force dedicated to saving the Waco VA Hospital as well as a federally appointed advisory panel charged with studying its future, voiced faith in the defense bill and the inclusion of a PTSD study.
"With more people coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with those kind of problems," Mills said, "it is important that we have that availability here."
Mills said he believed the research would be conducted in Waco because of its proven expertise in treating PTSD.
"This is probably the only veterans mental health hospital within the state of Texas that has a real effective PTSD treatment center," he said. "They couldn't re-establish it somewhere else."
Efforts to pass the defense bill came as President Bush spoke to the nation about the increasingly controversial war and Vice President Dick Cheney paid a surprise visit to Iraq.
Besides funding for PTSD studies, the defense bill contains $7.9 million for Waco-area defense employers, including:
— $4.1 million to Waco's largest private employer, L-3 Communications, to improve power and environmental control systems on the aircraft the president and secretary of defense would use in case of nuclear attack.
— $1.5 million, also to L-3 Communications, to improve internal communications systems on Navy Special Projects Aircraft.
"Specifically, L-3 will replace large amounts of heavy cable on these airplanes and replace them with much lighter fiber optic systems," Edwards said. "This will allow the Navy to install more computer and intelligence-gathering equipment on their special projects aircraft."
— $1.3 million to McDowell Research Company, which employs approximately 140 people in Waco, to develop fuel cells to serve the critical need of charging batteries for Army vehicles, computers and other electronic equipment in combat situations.
— $1 million to Advanced Concepts and Technologies, International (ACT I), to improve detection systems for chemical and biological contaminants in water, a need identified by both the Department of Defense and the Homeland Security Agency.
"These priority programs will strengthen our nation's defense, improve our homeland security and support jobs and economic growth in our district," Edwards said.
Edwards also praised the House for adding $9.7 million for defense research projects at Texas A&M University.
Included among the $50 billion for the Iraq War are funds hiking annual troop pay 3.1 percent and the death benefit to survivors of troops killed in the line of duty as well as military life insurance policies.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
dgenz@wacotrib.com
757-5743
source: http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2005/12/19/20051219wacdefensebill.html