Thank you, Chair.
I do thank you, Mr. Harris, for your comments, and as well, Mr. Freeman and Ms. Garrett-Baird, for being here today.
This is a really important issue to me in my communications with our veterans and their families. What I hear over and over again is: “We were told when we signed up that we had no need to worry, that our families—our spouses and our children—would be a high priority within the armed forces and as veterans.”
However, I have to say today that I have some deep concerns that I'm relaying to you, especially on behalf of spouses I've communicated with, having had a town hall with the Caregivers' Brigade recently and discussing this very issue around the caregiver benefit.
One of the first comments was that it was changed it to “caregiver recognition benefit”, but many of them feel that the recognition is still not there. One of the main reasons is that the focus is entirely on physical, visible injuries. Those who suffer with mental injuries may have physical injuries as well, but they don't impact their ability to function in the way that their PTSD or operational stress injuries do. They do not qualify as caregivers for this benefit.
Do you not see that as a huge incongruency when we talk about taking care of veterans' families, Mr. Harris?