Duckworth plan to address veteran suicide goes to Obama

Federal legislation intended to help prevent suicide by military veterans has reached President Barack Obama's desk for final review.

The proposal, cowritten by U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a Hoffman Estates Democrat, aims to review the Department of Veterans Affairs' existing suicide prevention efforts and make it easier for veterans to get mental health care from the agency.

The plan was approved by the U.S. Senate unanimously Tuesday, having already won approval in the House.

"As the nature of war changes, the injuries our warriors sustain also change," Duckworth, who is on maternity leave, said in a statement. "Increasingly, theirs are invisible wounds, which do not have a simple treatment and do not always manifest immediately."

The proposal is called the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, named for a Texas veteran of the Iraq War who worked to help other veterans with their mental health but ultimately committed suicide in 2011.

Duckworth's office said Obama is expected to make the plan law.