Spending on mental health in the armed services has doubled since 2007, and the Pentagon says it has made progress in treating soldiers and their families who are facing mental health issues. But some experts have also raised doubts about whether any of the programs are working.

Blunt said he sees an opportunity to confront a problem that he says has too long festered among civilians and soldiers.

“This is an area that, as a society and as a government, we have just not been willing to deal with in a way that we need to deal with,” Blunt said in an interview in his office. “And now appears to be a good opportunity to move forward on a couple different things on mental health.”

One of those is a Blunt-Stabenow law, signed this year by President Barack Obama, establishing pilot programs in eight states by 2017 expanding access to community mental health services. Blunt said he hopes Missouri is one of those states, but there is no guarantee.

The second bill, introduced by Blunt and a bipartisan group of senators, would bring mental health treatment for military service men and women and their families into line with the way physical ailments are treated, taking away limits on hospital stays, for instance, that exist for mental but not physical health.