Veterans Cemetery Benefit Correction Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4910, the Veterans Cemetery Benefit Correction Act, as amended, requires the Secretary of the Interior to provide an outer burial receptacle for each new grave in an open cemetery under the control of the National Park Service. The National Park Service controls 14 national cemeteries, two that are still active. They are Andersonville National Cemetery in Georgia and Andrew Johnson National Cemetery in Tennessee.

Mr. Speaker, veterans who want to be buried at these two cemeteries currently must pay the cost of their own outer burial receptacle, yet veterans buried in national or State cemeteries controlled by the VA's National Cemetery Administration are provided such at no cost.

This bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to promulgate rules and regulations establishing the cost that must be reimbursed to the Department of the Interior by survivors. The survivors will then be reimbursed for the cost through a VA voucher. It has already passed the Senate, and I urge its passage today by the House.

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Mr. CORREA. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 4910, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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