Previous Story
Pacific veterans will get congressional hearing
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Delegate Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Ind-MP) announced Friday that Pacific area veterans, whose needs are often neglected, will get a congressional hearing next year.
The hearing decision is the result of a request from Sablan, Delegate Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-American Samoa), and Delegate Madeleine Z Bordallo (D-Guam) to Dr. Phil Roe (R-Tennessee), who chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
The three Pacific delegates made the request on Oct. 11 and Roe responded 13 days later.
“I would be pleased to work with you to schedule a hearing on Pacific insular area veteran access to care in the second session of the 115th Congress,” Roe wrote in response. “Ensuring that all our nation’s veterans have access to the healthcare and other services they need to live healthy, full lives is my top priority as chairman.
“Pacific insular area veterans—and in particular veterans in American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the Independent State of Samoa, and the Freely Associated States—face a number of barriers to timely, accessible VA care and benefits,” Roe added.
Sablan said he is most grateful to Roe for responding affirmatively to the request for a hearing.
“I joined the Veterans’ Affairs Committee in this Congress because it had become clear to me that veterans in the Marianas and throughout the Pacific, who are at the very end of a long supply chain, were simply not getting the attention and services they have earned.
“From my first day on the committee, Dr. Roe has been interested in the story I brought of Pacific veterans struggling to get even the basics in healthcare and other benefits—and he promised to help.
“An oversight hearing next year would be a great opportunity for the Veterans’ Affairs Committee to learn even more about the barriers facing veterans living in the U.S. Pacific insular areas and to go to work on reducing those barriers.
Sablan obtained a special waiver from the Democratic Caucus to be on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Ordinarily, members are limited to two committees. Veterans’ Affairs is Sablan’s third. (PR)
