Young and Hinojosa Introduce Legislation to Extend Rural Veteran Transportation Program

Press Release

Standing up for veterans across rural America, yesterday Representatives Don Young (R-AK) and Rubén E. Hinojosa (D-TX) introduced H.R. 5558, the VA Highly Rural Veteran Transportation Program Extension Act, bipartisan legislation to reauthorize funding for a vital transportation grant program created by Congress in 2010 to expand healthcare access to veterans.

H.R. 5558 provides a three year extension to the Highly Rural Transportation Grant (HRTG) program, which is set to expire at the end of Fiscal Year 2017. The program enables State Veterans Service Agencies and Veteran Service Organizations to provide no-cost transportation services to VA or VA-authorized healthcare facilities to veterans in counties with fewer than seven people per square mile.

"This bill is just one step in my many efforts to stand up for our nation's veterans," said Congressman Young. "This bill would reauthorize a critical program for our many rural veterans in Alaska and across the nation. While transportation to a VA facility can be as simple as a driving a few miles in the Lower 48, veterans in Alaska and across much of rural America are often faced with greater hurdles and travel times when attending their VA appointments. The VA's Highly Rural Transportation Grant Program helps these veterans, and ensures the VA lives up to its motto, which says -- "To care for him who shall have borne to battle -- no matter how rural of an area a veteran lives.'"

"The Highly Rural Transportation Grant program is critical to veterans in remote and underserved areas across the United States, but particularly in Deep South Texas," Congressman Hinojosa said. "Extending this program will ensure that the Texas Veterans Commission can continue providing Jim Hogg County veterans with transportation to the McAllen and Harlingen VA facilities, as well as other high-performing medical providers in our community. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress to protect all veterans' access to the health care they have earned through dedicated service and rightfully deserve."

Currently, 14 organizations in 11 states administer grants under the HRTG. Grantees are eligible to receive up to $50,000 per highly-rural area in order to "provide innovative transportation options to Veterans in highly rural areas."

According to the Alaska Department of Veteran Affairs, 8,200 veterans are currently eligible for the program in areas that include Southwest Fairbanks, the Matanuska-Susitna region, Kodiak Island, the Kenai Peninsula, and Prince of Wales Island and Hyder. In just the three months between January and March, 2016, the HRTG program in Alaska provided 3,010 hours of transportation on 3,129 trips, totaling 113,237 miles (and 5,760 nautical miles), for 3,116 veterans. Although FY 2016 HRTG grant funds have been exhausted in several Alaskan areas, Congressman Young remains committed to reauthorizing the program to provide future services to Alaskan veterans.

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