[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 26, 2023)] [Senate] [Pages S1359-S1360] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Date: 2023-04-26
Chamber: SENATE
Mr. TESTER: I want to thank the body for this. So we had a chance to do the right thing here, folks. We did the right thing with Josh Jacobs and veterans' benefits. Now we have the opportunity to pass the Elizabeth Dole Veterans Programs Improvement Act of 2023. This legislative package includes five veterans bills that were considered and unanimously approved by the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee back in February and delivers on many of our longstanding priorities for our veterans and leading veterans services organizations. I am going to tell you what it does, and then I am going to talk about something specifically. It expands home- and community-based support for aging and disabled veterans--home- and community-based support. Among other provisions, it also helps Native Americans and Alaskan Native veterans achieve homeownership by lowering interest rates on VA Native American direct loans and reforming this program so it can work for our veterans--particularly, our Native veterans. The part that I understand that is controversial is that it directs the VA to explore medical cannabis as an alternative treatment for veterans experiencing chronic pain and symptoms of PTSD. Why? So that we--but more, importantly, the veterans--have a better understanding of the role medicinal cannabis plays in treating the wounds of war. The jury is still out on this. This adds a 2-year retrospective study that will take place prior to the VA's beginning clinical trials outlined in this legislation. It grants the Secretary of the VA authority to cancel clinical trials should the VA deem them to be unsafe, based on that retrospective study that I just talked about. It allows the Secretary the authority to cancel trials in the event that it is determined that the trials were exposing participants to excessive risk. Quite frankly, as I said in my opening, it allows veterans the access to relevant information to make informed decisions about their own health and will shine light on an understudied topic, which is already being used by our veterans nationwide. So the real question here is, Do I want our veterans to understand the benefits or possibly the nonbenefits of medicinal marijuana or do we want to leave them out in the cold, not understanding what is going on? The truth is, we all understand the impact opioids have had on this country, and if, in fact, it shows that medical marijuana or marijuana can have impacts that help people in chronic pain, we should know that information so we can pass it along to the veterans. It is as simple as that. The rest of these bills are absolute no-brainers, and I will tell you, I think the cannabis portion of this bill is a no-brainer. Today, it is time to put political differences aside and do what is right for our veterans. Look, don't let the haircut fool you--I did not serve in the military. I don't use marijuana. But the truth is, those people who think it works for them, they ought to know, and that is what this bill does. I would encourage a vote for cloture on this bill. It is a good bill. It is a bill that the veterans service organizations have fought for and want to see happen. I yield the floor.