Augusta, Ga. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is working to establish a new veterans cemetery in Augusta.
Sen. Ossoff is urging U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins to ensure that the funding secured by Sen. Ossoff for the construction of veterans cemeteries is quickly used to build a new veterans cemetery in Augusta, an effort he’s been working on for years.
As the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, Sen. Ossoff secured $150 million in the bipartisan funding bill for Grants for Construction of Veterans Cemeteries, a significant increase over the President’s request, which should be enough funding needed for a veterans cemetery in Augusta.
The project has been stuck on VA’s priority list but hasn’t had enough funding to proceed — until now.
The bipartisan Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill first passed the Senate in July and has since become law.
“Augusta is home to over 66,000 military veterans and many military families. The closest veterans cemeteries to Augusta are in Milledgeville, GA, and Columbia, SC, both of which are 80 miles away,” Sen. Ossoff wrote to Secretary Collins. “The establishment of a veterans cemetery in Augusta would support the National Cemetery Administration’s goal of providing veterans reasonable access to burial benefits within 75 miles of the veteran’s home. Augusta’s veterans deserve the access to these benefits a cemetery in Augusta would provide.”
Sen. Ossoff continues working to support Georgia’s veterans.
This month, Sen. Ossoff launched an inquiry with the Acting Director of the Defense Health Agency (DHA) requesting more information about reported plans to reduce services at Eisenhower Army Medical Center, which serves between 30,000 to 40,000 active-duty servicemembers, retired servicemembers, their families, and DoD civilians in and around the CSRA.
In September, Sen. Ossoff cosponsored the bipartisan Major Richard Star Act to allow servicemembers who medically retired before 20 years of service to collect retirement pay from the Department of Defense and disability payments from the VA at the same time.
In August, Sens. Ossoff and John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced the Service-Disabled Veteran Opportunities in Small Business Act to help disabled veterans’ small businesses thrive.
In February, Sens. Ossoff and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the Rural Veterans Transportation to Care Act to help more veterans in rural areas get transportation to VA health facilities and access the health care benefits they’ve earned.
Last year, Sen. Ossoff passed into law his bipartisan Investing in VETS Act to help service-disabled veteran business owners compete for Federal government contracts, helping expand their business opportunities to new markets.
Click here to read Sen. Ossoff’s full letter.
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