Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale Law School, credited Speier for pushing for change, but warned that it could take months to get a bill through Congress.
With that in mind, Ms. Speier is asking her colleagues to sign a letter that she will send to the White House, asking the president to issue a similar order.
Dr Anthony Speier, director of Disaster Mental Health Operations in the Louisiana Office of Mental Health, says his 600 field counselors have made 800, 000 contacts with people in the year since the storm.