Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on United States Outlying Areas and Freely Associated States

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3730, to create a VA advisory committee on better serving veterans' needs in the territories. For a number of Congresses, Congresswoman Radewagen, Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon, Congressman Sablan, and other delegates from the territories have honorably served their veterans and constituents.

Committee staff has traveled with many of our delegates and colleagues to the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico. We have seen firsthand the disparities and the difficulties that their veterans face when trying to access healthcare and benefits from the VA.

The combination of limited transportation options, the lack of local resources, the overlapping Federal agency jurisdictions, and the complexities around VA care in neighboring foreign nations make the territories different from the rest of the Nation and difficult to work in.

Unfortunately, the challenges that the veterans in the territories face always seem to slide down to the bottom of VA's priority list.

While I am generally skeptical of new advisory committees, I believe the voices of the veterans in the territories are not being heard, and I share Congresswoman Radewagen's and Congressman Sablan's goal of elevating their needs.

For those reasons, I support the bill, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.

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Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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