Mike Waltz talks Israel-PTSD bill

Welcome back to The Rundown. Now he's the only Green Beret who was ever elected to the United States Congress. And Florida Republican Mike Waltz wants the U.S. to partner with Israel now in researching and treating post-traumatic stress disorder for American soldiers who have experienced the horrors of combat. Today Waltz, together with bipartisan co-sponsors, introduces the United States-Israel PTSD Collaborative Research Act. Congressman Waltz tells our senior U.S. Congressman, correspondent Mike Wagenheim, about this particular bill. Happy to be joined today by Congressman Mike Waltz of Florida's 6th District, introducing a bill today that would combine the efforts of the United States and Israel in researching PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. We appreciate you taking the time today, Congressman. Tell us a little bit more about this bill that you're introducing. Well, thank you so much. And you know, this bill essentially encourages and incentivize various organizations within the U.S. government, within the veterans service organizations, the nonprofits and NGOs that help our veterans and those same type of entities in Israel to collaborate, to share their research, to do joint research if that's what they deem necessary, and essentially to work together. You know, we've been, I'm a Green Beret by background, 24 years now in the U.S. Army, and we cannot continue to sustain the global war on terrorism if we continue to have the suicide rates that we currently have, which are averaging at 22 per day, and have been for some time. We've lost more to suicide in the last year than we lost in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. We just can't sustain that going forward. We need to do something different. We need to do something more innovative. And this bill, which I hope to move through our defense bill as an amendment there, you know, again, pushes organizations in the United States and Israel to work together to combat this problem. Israel tragically deals with PTSD, obviously, a long ongoing conflict and mandatory military service. Have you had talks in the past couple of years since you became a congressman with counterparts in Israel, with the Israel Defense Establishment, about how this might work? Well, we've done we've done some preliminary talks. We're mainly right now we're working with our own Defense Department and Department of Veterans Affairs. They are encouraged because they understand that in Israel, with the IDF and with other associated organizations, there's just a ton of experience, knowledge. You know, expertise. And there's just no reason that these organizations shouldn't be working together. There is in many times these organizations are somewhat cash strapped, particularly the veterans service organizations. So this would establish a grant program to, again, to facilitate that cooperation. What I like about it is the program will go directly to these organizations rather than pouring more money into the bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. So, for example, the Department of Veterans Affairs overall budget has grown from 45 billion to 210 billion in the last 20 years. Yet, frankly, the results when it comes to PTSD, when it comes to veteran suicide, really haven't improved. We're just not seeing that return on investment. So what I like about the program is that it kind of circumvents a lot of that bureaucracy and goes directly into these organizations. I want we've had some preliminary conversations with our counterparts of how we can do that in Israel as well. And again, to incentivize that positive collaboration. Are there any other efforts you're working on jointly with Israel that you have in mind? Well, we have we have a number of efforts, you know, I think that Governor DeSantis in Florida, where I'm from, will continue that strong relationship. He had his first cabinet meeting as governor in Israel, will continue to work at the state level to facilitate that economic partnership. I think there's things that we can learn from Israel in terms of their very effective vaccine distribution and how that has moved very quickly. Florida is is leading the way in the United States, but we can always do better. So and then more broadly, I think, frankly, it's going to be defending and working with my partners across the aisle who agree with some of the big leaps we had in the relationship in the last four years, sustaining the recognition of the Golan Heights, making sure that our making sure that our embassy remains in Jerusalem and work like that isn't undone. And then finally, that we continue to hold a hard line when it comes to the regime in Tehran and and finding like minded allies on both sides of the aisle who want to sustain the maximum pressure campaign, because I think that is critical to then sustaining the Abraham Accords and the leaps that we made there. So there's there's plenty of work to do. And then, of course, always the the military partnership and the funding that we provide to help sustain the idea and to continue the Iron Dome migration on both sides that I'm really encouraged to see the Iron Dome being deployed with the U.S. Army. So there's a lot to do. I could keep going. But yeah, absolutely. Congressman Mike Walz representing Florida's eastern coast. Thanks so much for joining us. Good luck with the bill. We'll talk to you hopefully after it passes. Thanks so much. OK, thanks, Mike.