[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 97 (Friday, June 4, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E606]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




VA ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON THE U.S. OUTLYING AREAS AND FREELY ASSOCIATED 
                                 STATES

                                 ______
                                 

                  HON. GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN

                    of the northern mariana islands

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 4, 2021

  Mr. SABLAN. Madam Speaker, military veterans living in the U.S. 
Outlying Areas and Freely Associated States do not have the same access 
to services as veterans elsewhere in our Nation. They face numerous 
obstacles accessing the benefits to which they are due. They cannot 
reach all the services that should be available to them. We must fix 
this inequality.
  As a first step, today I am introducing legislation to create the 
Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on the U.S. Outlying Areas and 
Freely Associated States. The new advisory committee would be composed 
of veterans from the U.S. Outlying Areas--the Northern Mariana Islands, 
which I represent, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 
Puerto Rico--and from the Freely Associated States of the Federated 
States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the 
Republic of Palau. The committee, a part of the U.S. Department of 
Veterans Affairs, will be responsible for assessing benefit 
availability and service accessibility in these U.S. Outlying areas and 
Freely associated States and for advising the Secretary on how any 
deficits can be addressed.
  As an example of these inequities, the Northern Marianas, my 
district, is the only U.S. jurisdiction without a VA Community-Based 
Outpatient Clinic (CBOC). The nearest full-service VA medical facility 
is in Hawaii, which can be over a 15-hour journey by plane. The 
Northern Marianas is also the only U.S. area without a Vet Center. Guam 
Vet Center staff travel to the island of Saipan in the Marianas to 
provide services, but visits are infrequent and limited to a few hours. 
Veterans on the islands of Tinian and Rota must travel to Saipan or 
Guam to receive in-person services. The Marianas is also the only U.S. 
jurisdiction without a Veteran Benefits office. Guam VA Benefits Office 
staff travel to Saipan to meet with Marianas veterans and their 
families, but again those visits are infrequent and limited to a few 
hours.
  The advisory committee my legislation sets up will detail issues, 
like these that Marianas veterans face, and concerns raised by veterans 
resident in the other U.S. outlying areas and freely associated states. 
And the committee will recommend to the Secretary how these issues 
should be addressed.
  It is also my intention that the committee's existence within the 
Department will encourage VA leadership and staff to consider island 
area veterans from the outset, when developing new programs or 
initiatives, to put an end to this pattern of inequity.
  Providing equitable support to veterans in the outlying areas and 
freely associated states is an obligation long overdue. These veterans 
have fought in the same conflicts and suffered the same physical, 
mental, and spiritual wounds of service as veterans residing everywhere 
else in America.
  The legislation I am introducing today will give these veterans a 
voice within the Department to advocate for equal treatment. I urge my 
colleagues to support this bill.

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