Metro East Sun

Today, Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) delivered the following opening remarks, as prepared, at the start of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health’s oversight hearing entitled, “Dial 988 +1: Examining the Operations of the Veterans Crisis Line”:

"We will now get right into our oversight hearing today on the Veterans Crisis Line.

Before we dive into the substance of today’s hearing, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that we are in the middle of Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.

We are losing on average, 17 veterans a day to suicide.

Too many veterans and active-duty servicemembers live with the invisible wounds of their service.

We must continue to work to break the stigma surrounding mental health and get veterans and servicemembers the support they may need.

There should be no wrong door when it comes to mental health and PTSD is treatable.

VA has an incredibly large mental health and suicide prevention budget and a wide range of programs to provide services and treatment to veterans.

We must ensure these programs are reaching veterans where they live.

One of these community-based partnership programs would be reauthorized through H.R. 9438, the No Wrong Door for Veteran Act, a bill Chairwoman Miller-Meeks recently introduced.

There is no one size fits all approach to mental healthcare, and as House Republicans and this subcommittee have made clear this Congress, it is on VA to ensure every veteran has access to the mental health care they have earned.

This brings us to today’s oversight hearing on one of VA’s suicide prevention tools, the Veterans Crisis Line.

The Department of Veterans Affairs established the Veterans Crisis Line in 2007 as a 24/7 resource to provide confidential help to veterans and their loved ones in need of support.

In 2022, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline transitioned from the standard 10-digit phone number to the more recognizable 3-digit number, 988.

To reach the Veterans Crisis Line, callers can now dial 988 and press 1. The line is accessible through call, text, or chat.

The intent of this shift was to make the phone number for the Lifeline easier to remember and more accessible for people who need immediate crisis support.

For VA, this meant an increase in callers and the need for a more robust operation.

In the four years since the launch of 988, the Veterans Crisis Line has answered over 1.8 million calls.

While VA maintains a high call volume and a short average speed-to-answer time, I find the number of notifications to Congress involving outages and intermittent access issues concerning.

In the past year, we have been notified at least six different times about issues with the Veterans Crisis Line which have impacted almost 700 callers.

I have heard from veterans in my own district about communication issues between caller and crisis line staff."

Rep. Kiggans expressed interest in hearing from VA representatives about their adjustments since implementing "988" as well as how they are ensuring consistent access for veterans. Additionally, she mentioned that there would be input from VA OIG regarding their review of preparations for implementing "988 press 1."

"One veteran lost to suicide is one too many," Kiggans stated. She emphasized accountability for ensuring accessibility given annual increases in VA's mental health budget.

She concluded by urging any listening veterans or their loved ones needing confidential support: "Your life matters and we need you here."

"I now recognize Ranking Member Brownley for her opening remarks," she said.