Political Quotes

“One of the things I appreciate most about the job that I have to represent Hawaii's Second District is to be able to respond to and provide assistance to the hundreds of veterans from across my State that contact our office every single year. They call to ask for help with things like compensation and pension issues, health care, mileage reimbursement, especially for our veterans who live on the neighboring islands where they don't have a VA clinic on an island, education, home loan benefits, and more. This is a responsibility as a Member of Congress and as a fellow veteran that I take very seriously. Right now, if a veteran contacts my office for assistance, we are required to go directly through the congressional liaison at the VA. We act as the veterans advocate to try to get answers for them on things that they haven't been able to get answers on, things that they haven't heard back on. Too often, we are faced with the bureaucratic layers within the VA and a slow turnaround that leave congressional staff, like mine and my colleagues here, jumping through hoops to access basic, but critical, information on behalf of our veterans and their families. At times, we have waited for months to get answers from the VA on behalf of a Hawaii veteran for something that should be a quick turnaround, like a status update. This is unacceptable. I am proud to cosponsor the WINGMAN Act, legislation introduced by the gentleman from Florida (Mr.…”