Sen. John McCain said Tuesday his Armed Services Committee is seeking answers from the Army over a media report that a new policy provides waivers to recruits with a history of self-mutilation and other mental health issues.
The committee could again hold up Pentagon nominees unless the Army provides information such as the number of waivers, if any, granted under the policy enacted in August and could also look at legislation to block the relaxed recruitment guidelines, said McCain, R-Ariz., who is the committee chairman.
“We should have been told about this before it showed up in a USA Today article,” he said. “To just announce that we’re changing the criteria for requiring people to serve in military is not something that this committee finds acceptable. So, we may have to act legislatively to prevent you from doing it.”
People with histories of self-mutilation, depression, and alcohol and drug abuse can now seek waivers to join the Army as it attempts to meet a goal of recruiting 80,000 soldiers over the coming year, USA Today reported on Sunday.
The Army denied it changed medical entry standards, calling the report inaccurate and its policy misinterpreted, according to the Army Times newspaper.
“Someone who self mutilates, I don’t quite understand the eligibility there,” said McCain, and the long-term costs to the service could be “very, very high.”
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John McCain wants answers from Army on waivers for soldiers with history of self-mutilation https://t.co/jnnmRChwY4 pic.twitter.com/vZqLK6JF1u
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) November 14, 2017
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