Today, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) testified at a House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health legislative hearing in support of her bipartisan Rural Veterans Transportation to Care Act.

In her testimony, Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez underscored the need to ensure our nation’s heroes can access the care they’ve earned and deserve to lead full and healthy lives, as well as explaining how transportation services are a critical lifeline for rural veterans who in many cases already suffer from delays in scheduling appointments and losses of rural providers.

The Congresswoman also highlighted the stories of veterans she met earlier this month at Pacific Transit’s Veterans Connect program, which provides no-cost transportation for Pacific County veterans to their medical appointments. 

After updated Census data resulted in Skamania County suddenly losing eligibility for the VA’s Highly Rural Transportation Grant (HRTG) Program, Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez introduced the Rural Veterans Transportation to Care Act to improve how the VA measures rurality and expand eligibility for rural veterans to get free transportation to healthcare facilities.

The legislation would restore eligibility for Skamania County, and make Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, Pacific, Lewis, Thurston, and Clark Counties newly eligible for HRTG grants. The Department of Veterans Affairs has expressed support for the provisions outlined in the bill

Video of Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez’s testimony can be found here.

Nearly 1 in 4 veterans in Washington live in rural areas, and there are roughly 2.7 million veterans in rural areas across the country who are enrolled in and rely on the VA’s health care system.

In July, Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez hand-delivered her letter urging the VA to reopen a Lewis County clinic to Secretary Denis McDonough – along with a petition signed by more than 16,650 veterans, caregivers, and Lewis County community members – after failing to hear back from the agency in February.

Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez has recovered $192,578 for constituents owed to them by the VA. She also co-led the bipartisan VET MEDS Act to support veterans’ access to VA-certified specialists and examiners in rural and high-need communities, which was signed into law as part of a larger Senate package in October 2023.

The following are Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez’s full remarks:

“Almost exactly one year ago today, I heard from one of my counties in my district that they had just received notice from the VA that they were no longer eligible for the VA Highly Rural Transportation Grant Program. 

The county had been operating a van for the purposes of transporting veterans to Department of Veterans Affairs facilities to receive medical care – free of charge – since 2014. Over the years, this service has proven essential to veterans seeking essential care, to things like chemotherapy and critical surgeries, treatment for heart conditions. In 2022 alone, the van made approximately 300 trips and transported between 40 and 60 veterans.

However, the definition of eligibility for these grants is set in statute as fewer than seven residents per square mile. Skamania County learned that due to new Census data and migration changes that happened during the pandemic, that our rural county was no longer considered rural enough. Now we are at 7.15 residents per square mile, and with just one week’s notice, we lost transportation funding.

So, I sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs McDonough in October urging the VA to fill transportation gaps for rural veterans and work with Congress to redefine highly rural. In a reply earlier this year, the Department expressed support for the provision outlined in the Rural Transportation to Care Act.

The bipartisan bill would improve how VA measures rurality, helping more veterans living in rural areas get transportation to VA or VA-authorized healthcare facilities. The bill would also expand eligibility to both rural and highly rural counties, as well as tribal organizations. Lastly, the legislation would increase the maximum funding amount so transportation services could keep pace with inflation.

It is our responsibility to ensure that our nation’s heroes are well-supported after returning home and can access the benefits they have earned and deserve. 

Just last week, I was visiting with veterans in Pacific County about how vital these kinds of transportation services are. And they’re literally life or death. People who have been waiting for appointments for 18 months can lose an appointment if they’re just 10 minutes late or 15 minutes late to their appointment, setting [their care] back 10 months. Access to professional, reliable transportation is critical to deliver lifesaving care to our veterans. 

As veterans across my district and the country face dramatic reductions in lifesaving services, it is our duty to make sure they are not left behind. This bipartisan bill won’t only restore critical healthcare transportation services for Skamania County veterans, but will also newly expand eligibility to make sure more veterans in rural areas around the country have a safe and reliable way to get to their appointments and receive the care they deserve.  

I thank you again for the opportunity to testify on this bill and I look forward to continuing to work in getting this across the finish line.”