Veterans Committee Witnesses Support Senator King’s Mental Care Legislation

WASHINGTON, D.C. -Senator Angus King (I-ME), a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, today vetted legislationhe recently introduced that would allow the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) to provide mental health services to incarcerated veterans. In a conversation with the Director of the Veterans Justice Commission, Brigadier General David "Mac" MacEwen, King confirmed MacEwen's support - as well as the support of the entire panel of witnesses - for King's bill that would allow the VA to provide mental health care to incarcerated veterans with a service-connected disability for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), or military sexual trauma (MST). The hearing panel also included Chief Counsel of All Rise Major General Clyde "Butch" Tate, U.S. Army (Ret.), the Honorable Chief Justice (Ret.) of the Kansas Supreme Court Lawton Nuss, U.S. Army Veteran Corey Schramm, and Associate Teaching Professor and Director of the Veterans Clinic at the University of Washington School of Law, Rose Carmen Goldberg.

Senator King began, "Let me ask, the bill that was mentioned, the Get Justice-Involved Veterans BACK HOME, the pilot program for the V.A. to provide mental health services for incarcerated veterans. To me that is a gimme. That's obvious. But we have to start with a pilot program. I understand the commission is recommending returning to the 1944 G.I. Bill. The plain language [of the '44 legislation] would allow most veterans to access V.A. services. Why did the commission make that recommendation? Give me background on that."

"Thank you, Senator. The commission made the recommendation because there was a huge discussion, we had researchers look at this as the commission did work. In 1944, the Congress spent weeks looking at who should be eligible for V.A. Benefits when they established the original G.I. Bill and they said only the worst of the worst should not get benefits. Dishonorable discharge that was the cut off. That was the rule and then over time, by rule, not by the intent of Congress, by rule, it has been chipped away. All of a sudden, narrowing the class of citizen who had served, that no longer was eligible for benefits. So what happened over time, those most in need of benefits are denied benefits. So, we said, that doesn't make sense," Brigadier General MacEwen responded.

"Like somebody that is incarcerated?," Senator King clarified.

"Someone incarcerated with a felony conviction loses it. But an example I would use for you, sir, is someone who had military sexual trauma, and becomes a bad soldier because they are dealing with that military sexual trauma. So they are not showing up to formation. The commander says this isn't a good soldier, so the -- so they administratively discharged him and give him bad paper because he isn't showing up to work, but not because of the underlying condition. Because they don't have an evidence-based process to look at him. They discharge them and he or she doesn't get health care at the V.A," Brigadier General MacEwen responded.

"Just for the record, do all of you agree that VA mental health benefits should be available to incarcerated veterans?," Senator King asked.

"Yes," answered all witnesses.

"That is a yes from everybody," Senator King confirmed for the record.

Representing one of the states with the highest rates of military families and veterans per capita, Senator King is a staunch advocate for America's servicemembers and veterans. Last month, Senator King was honored by The American Legion with its 2026 Distinguished Public Service Award. Last year, Senator King was honored by the Disabled American Veterans as its 2025 Legislator of the Year. He was also recognized by the Wounded Warrior Project as the 2024 Legislator of the Year for his "outstanding legislative effort and achievement to improve the lives of the wounded, ill, and injured veterans."

On the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee (SVAC), he works to ensure American veterans receive their earned benefits and that the VA is properly implementing various programs. Earlier this year, he introduced the TAP Promotion Act which would allow accredited representatives from Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs), or other organizations, to participate in Transition Assistance Program (TAP) classes to help transitioning servicemembers file Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) claims. Additionally, he introduced the Ensuring Benefits for Disabled Veterans Act, which would address an unfair rule in federal law that creates unnecessary delays when veterans with service-connected disabilities attempt to access earned education and employment benefits.

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