U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald Commits to Working with Amata on Local VA Issues

Washington D.C. -- Congresswoman Aumua Amata participated today in a House VA Committee Hearing entitled, "U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2016".

During the hearing, VA Secretary, Robert McDonald spoke about the VA's budget request for FY 2016 and certain structural changes happening within the VA that will increase efficiency and refocus VA efforts on serving veterans.

During her allotted questioning time, Amata engaged the Secretary, focusing on American Samoa's veterans and their need for equivalent services to those veterans in the States.

"Our veterans, who make up 10 percent of our entire population, have issues that are basic and comparatively small and that are generally taken for granted here in the U.S." said Amata. "In a nutshell, they need a cemetery, there are no MAC flights, they need better access to healthcare, the troop store is almost always empty and they have a difficult time getting their medical records," continued Amata.

The Secretary responded by committing to a high level leadership meeting between himself and Congresswoman Amata so that they can make sure that American Samoan veterans are receiving the benefits and services they have so rightfully earned.

"The commitment from the Secretary is great news for our American Samoan veterans and I look forward to meeting with him so that we can begin our work to improve the resources and services our veterans have earned," concluded Amata.