I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6873 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to include information relating 

to the rate of suicide among covered Reserves in each National Veteran 

Suicide Prevention Annual Report of the Office of Mental Health and 

Suicide Prevention of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2023 

Mr. RESCHENTHALER (for himself, Mr. KILMER, and Mr. VAN ORDEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to include information relating to the rate of suicide among covered 

Reserves in each National Veteran Suicide Prevention 

Annual Report of the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) Each year since 2016, the Department of 

6 Veterans Affairs has produced an annual report reVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:49 Jan 12, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6873.IH H6873
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•HR 6873 IH

1 garding suicide mortality of ‘‘veterans’’, defined as 

2 persons who— 

3 (A) were activated for Federal military 

4 service; and 

5 (B) were not performing such Federal mili6 tary service at the time of death. 

7 (2) Since 2020, the National Veteran Suicide 

8 Prevention Annual Report of the Office of Mental 

9 Health and Suicide Prevention of the Department 

10 has not included information relating to the rate of 

11 suicide among former members of the Guard or Re12 serve who were never activated for Federal military 

13 service. 

14 (3) In 2018, there were 538 suicides among 

15 former members of the Armed Forces who were 

16 never activated for Federal military service, an aver17 age of 1.5 suicide deaths per day according to the 

18 2020 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual 

19 Report. 

20 (4) According to the Department of Veterans 

21 Affairs, there is ongoing collaboration between sui22 cide prevention and surveillance scientists in the De23 partment of Defense and the Department of Vet24 erans Affairs with respect to suicide mortality 

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1 among former members of the Armed Forces who 

2 were never activated for Federal military service. 

3 SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF RATE OF SUICIDE AMONG COVERED 

4 RESERVES IN NATIONAL VETERAN SUICIDE 

5 PREVENTION ANNUAL REPORTS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Af7 fairs, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall 

8 include the rate of suicide among covered Reserves in each 

9 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report of the 

10 Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention of the De11 partment (or any successor document). 

12 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 (1) The terms ‘‘active military, naval, air, or 

14 space service’’ and ‘‘reserve component’’ have the 

15 meanings given such terms in section 101 of title 38, 

16 United States Code. 

17 (2) The term ‘‘covered Reserve’’ means a 

18 former member of a reserve component of one of the 

19 Armed Forces who did not serve in the active mili20 tary, naval, air, or space service. 

Æ