Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata, Vice Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, was an original cosponsor of the Service Dogs Assisting Veterans Act, also known as the SAVES Act. This week, the full Committee passed the bill, moving it forward for further consideration by the House.
“This bill substantially expands on our prior efforts to provide Veterans with trained service dogs, and builds on those successful outcomes,” said Vice Chairman Amata. “I cosponsored other good bills in previous Congresses, such as the PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act, and the results have been encouraging. Service Dogs are a blessing to many Veterans’ lives, and we can make this wonderful possibility available to thousands more Veterans to benefit from this aid and companionship.”
The legislation allows the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to award grants to nonprofit organizations that support programs providing service dogs to eligible veterans. It includes training for service dogs and extends availability to veteran disabilities such as blindness, deafness, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), military sexual trauma, paralysis, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Introduced by Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-TX) with Morgan McGarvey (D-KY), the bill initially had bipartisan support from 24 Members of Congress. The number of supporters continues to grow.
The previous PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act was signed into law in 2021 after four years of congressional efforts. It focused on veterans learning to train their own or others’ dogs. This new bill builds on that successful pilot program.
Statistics show that around 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans suffer from PTSD and over 450,000 service members have been diagnosed with TBI over the past two decades. These conditions lead to higher rates of depression, anxiety, joblessness, homelessness, substance use, and suicide among veterans.
This bipartisan bill proposes a VA grant program to fund nonprofit organizations providing trained service dogs at no cost to eligible veterans. These nonprofits must meet specific requirements including training standards and aftercare services and must be accredited by Assistance Dogs International or a similar organization. The program aims to assist veterans with disabilities like PTSD, TBI, military sexual trauma, among others.
Many veterans organizations have endorsed this legislation as thousands of service dogs already aid veterans with disabilities across the United States in managing conditions such as blindness, mobility impairments, PTSD, and traumatic brain injury.
