Golden, Khanna, Stefanik, Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Mitigate Blast Overpressure and Protect Service Members

WASHINGTON – Representatives Jared Golden (ME-02), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Elise Stefanik (NY-21), and others introduced the bipartisan Blast Overpressure Safety Act to direct the Department of Defense (DoD) to help mitigate and protect service members from blast overpressure. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced a companion bill in the Senate. 

“Our servicemembers have signed up to face tremendous risks in service and defense of our country, and Congress should do what we can to mitigate those risks," said Golden. "Blast exposure contributes to traumatic brain injury, which affects many servicemembers and veterans, and the Blast Overpressure Safety Act will help reduce the prevalence of traumatic brain injuries while ensuring that when they do occur, they’re caught and treated early."

Blast overpressure, which occurs when the pressure from a shock wave exceeds normal atmospheric values, harms the brain by moving it inside the skull and damaging it at a subcellular level. During just three months in 2023, the Department of Defense (DoD) provided treatment to service members over 50,000 times for traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

New York Times investigationsin late 2023 uncovered service members experiencing debilitating symptoms such as hallucinations, seizures, and high risk for suicide and depression after exposure to high blast levels. Despite this, service members continue to train with weapons with unsafe blast levels. The Blast Overpressure Safety Act works to better mitigate and protect service members from blast overpressure and TBI. 

To better mitigate and protect service members from blast overpressure and TBI, the Blast Overpressure Safety Act: 

• Mandates regular neurocognitive assessments over a service member’s career
• Creates blast overpressure exposure and TBI logs for all service members
• Increases transparency regarding blast overpressure safety in the weapons acquisition process
• Improves data on concussive and subconcussive brain injuries service members sustain
• Enhances efforts to mitigate exposure and help service members access care
• Supports service member treatment
• Mandates GAO review on DoD efforts to address blast exposure.
• Implements DoD Inspector General (IG) recommendations from a 2023 report finding DoD does not consistently determine the care service members with TBI need

Read the full bill text here.