Pappas's Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act Advances Through Committee

Statement

Yesterday, during a House Veterans' Affairs Committee markup, two bills led by Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), the Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act, and legislation to establish the Advisory Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Veterans at VA advanced out of committee, setting them up to be voted on by the House.

"It's unimaginable that members of the National Guard and Reserves who swore the same oath as their active duty counterparts are denied the honor of being laid to rest next to their brothers and sisters in arms," said Congressman Pappas. "I've worked closely with leaders of the New Hampshire National Guard and our New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery on this common sense, bipartisan policy change, and I'm pleased that this legislation has now advanced out of committee. I urge that it be brought to the floor so that we can guarantee long overdue equity to members of the Guard and Reserves."

Earlier in the day, Pappas's Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act was praised at an event with New Hampshire veterans and veterans advocates.

"We want to thank you for your continued support of this legislation," said Warren Perry, Deputy Adjutant General, New Hampshire National Guard. "This is a real important piece of legislation, in terms of just providing equity to our Reserve components. So again, we want to thank you for sponsoring this bill and your continued push to do that."

"It's kind of amazing to me. This topic has been going on since I was the Adjutant General," said Ken Clark, Former Adjutant General, New Hampshire National Guard. "And [Mike Horne] and I kind of vowed that we weren't going to let this ball drop. And I'm so pleased that you've picked it up. I'm also very proud of the fact that, I don't have any doubt that if this is passed that the state of New Hampshire's veterans do not feel the way some national veterans do, and they do honor the service of Reservists and Guardsmen, and this will happen in the state of New Hampshire just like that assuming we can get this passed."

"I served as director of the cemetery from October 2008 to 2018 and it only took me a month or two to realize that guardsmen I served with for 28 years in the New Hampshire National Guard, some of them weren't eligible to be buried," said Mike Horne, Former Director, New Hampshire Veterans Cemetery. "It just broke my heart to have to tell veterans, you know going back even to World War Two, Korea, Vietnam, ones that were in the Reserves or the National Guard that signed that check, but were never called on to active duty due to Department of Defense needs, were ineligible. And so, I'm so pleased to see this legislation move forward."

"I'm just living proof of what this legislation could do for so many Guard and Reservists across the country," said Anna Thomas, former National Guard member. "It would be probably one of the greatest honors to be able to share that burial ground with my father, and the generations that I have in my family beforehand we've all served in the military. Mine unfortunately was cut a little short, but I would love to see that as an option for me at that point in my life to join my fellow service members."

Background:

H.R.3944, the Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act

In order to be buried in a cemetery under the control of VA's National Cemetery Administration (NCA), a veteran must meet certain requirements. Under current law, in order to receive federal grant money from the VA for improvements, state veteran cemeteries are barred from interring many National Guard members and Reservists due to rules requiring active service.

Not every veterans' cemetery receives funding from the NCA. Most states own and operate their own State Veterans Cemetery and can establish their own policies about who is eligible for interment. However, many of these state cemeteries also receive grant money from NCA both to establish their memorials and to maintain them. By accepting this grant money, they accept NCA's restrictions on who legally qualifies as a veteran, excluding thousands of Guard and Reservists who served honorably for fewer than 20 years. State Veterans Cemetery Administrators are faced with the horrible responsibility of having to deny these applications, regardless of available space or their opinion on the policy.

This legislation would modify existing law to allow state cemeteries to decide whether to inter an honorably discharged Guard member, Reservist, or their spouse or children, without jeopardizing federal grant money.

H.R.4845, Establishing the Advisory Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Veterans at VA

Many LGBTQ+ veterans faced systemic discrimination and were unfairly denied their VA benefits under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and continue to run into roadblocks when attempting to access benefits or programs afforded to non-LGBTQ+ veterans, such as health care, burial and memorial, education, and home loan benefits. VA estimates one million LGBTQ+ veterans face unique challenges accessing VA health care and the historic lack of targeted outreach or consideration of their needs have contributed to lower rates of health care utilization and a range of health disparities.

This legislation would establish the LGBTQ Veterans Advisory Committee at VA. The Committee's membership would reflect the diversity and unique needs of the LGBTQ+ veterans community by including professionals in fields related to health care and other needs unique to LGBTQ+ veterans, at least one lesbian, gay, or bisexual veteran with a service-connected disability, at least one transgender veteran with a service-connected disability, minority LGBTQ+ veterans, and LGBTQ+ veterans who have been both voluntarily and involuntarily separated from service. The LGBTQ Veterans Advisory Committee would be required to submit a report to the VA Secretary on VA's LGBTQ+ veterans programs and activities, including assessing the needs of LGBTQ+ veterans, reviewing the programs and activities of VA designed to meet such needs, and recommending needed adjustments and improvements to best meet the needs of LGBTQ+ veterans.

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