What Happened?
If you are a veteran, active-duty service member, National Guard or Reserve member, or a military family member, a lobbying group is spending money in D.C. to shape the federal mental health programs that serve you. Advancing Mental Health for Military Families LLC filed a third-quarter 2026 lobbying disclosure through BGR Government Affairs LLC, according to a Legis1 review of filings with the Senate Office of Public Records.
The lobbying covers mental health care for veterans, active-duty service members, National Guard and Reserve members, and their families.
- Fox Grant reauthorization: A bill to modify and reauthorize the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, introduced in March 2025.
- Mental health care study: The Veterans Mental Health and Addiction Therapy Quality of Care Act, which would require a study of quality differences in mental health and addiction therapy care.
- Firearm lockboxes: The Saving Our Veterans Lives Act of 2025, which would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide eligible individuals a firearm lockbox or voucher upon request.
Why Does it Matter to Me?
The VA awarded $111.9 million in Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program funding to 191 community organizations on Sept. 29, and S.793 would modify and reauthorize that same program.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars backed the firearm lockbox bill before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee in December 2025, citing VA data showing firearms were the means in nearly 75 percent of male veteran suicides and 45 percent of female veteran suicides in 2022.
Both Sides, Now
Supporters of the firearm lockbox bill, including the American Psychiatric Association and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, cited VA data that an average of 17.6 veterans die by suicide daily and that firearms were used in 72 percent of veteran suicides in 2021.
The Department of Veterans Affairs objected to the firearm lockbox bill as drafted, raising concerns about its scope and cost, and said it already had a lockbox program for enrolled veterans assessed at medium-to-high suicide risk.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced S. 793 to modify and reauthorize VA's Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, and outgoing Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) sponsored S. 702, which would require a study of quality differences in mental-health and addiction-therapy care. None of the three bills has been enacted; each would need to pass both chambers and be signed into law.
What Happens Next?
The client's combined spending across all lobbying firms fell $40,000 over the past year, to $180,000 in the third quarter of 2026 from $220,000 in the third quarter of 2025, after Cornerstone Government Affairs Inc. ended its engagement in the second quarter of 2026. BGR's $120,000 fee now accounts for two-thirds of that combined total.
The latest disclosures covering this engagement report activity through the third quarter of 2026.
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