Murkowski Committee Efforts Aid Alaska's Veterans

Press Release

The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved a number of Senator Murkowski's priorities for Alaska's more than 77,000 veterans passed through the Senate Appropriations Committee. The language she secured in the Fiscal Year 2015 Military Construction/Veterans Affairs funding bill would address both new concerns like the understaffing of the Mat-Su VA outpatient clinic and lingering concerns over delivering "Care Close to Home" for Alaska's military community.

"Alaska embraces and appreciates our military, and as a U.S. Senator I must make sure that the federal government, in turn, is delivering for our military -- this includes tending to their medical needs when they return home," said Murkowski. "Delivering care close to home through the VA/Indian Health Service partnership and other technological tools has been a priority for me for years, but the situation that has emerged at the Wasilla Community Based Outpatient Clinic is something that needs to be understood and addressed. I thank the members of the Appropriations Committee for seeing the worth of my provisions."

Senator Murkowski's Alaska-focused provisions in the 2015 Milcon/VA Appropriations bill will:

Continue the groundbreaking VA/IHS partnership by allowing the VA to enter into agreements with tribes that are a party to the Alaska Native Health Compact to provide health care.
Recognize and address Alaska's geographic challenges by requiring the VA to consider the unique challenges in delivering health care in Alaska and Hawaii with a goal of reducing the number of veterans who are directed to travel to another state or for long distances within Alaska for care. (Click here for a Murkowski op-ed on the matter.)
Investigate the Wasilla Community Based Outpatient Clinic staff shortage by conducting a Wasilla-specific report that will examine the series of staffing incidents that have occurred since the clinic's opening -- with a due date of February 1, 2015

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