Hinojosa And Young Introduce Legislation To Extend Rural Veteran Transportation Program

Press Release

Standing up for veterans across rural America, this week Congressman Rubén E. Hinojosa (D-TX) and Congressman Don Young (R-AK) 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.

"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."

"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.'"

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."

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