Lamborn takes the lead on Veterans Cemetery

Lamborn Brings Congressional Field Hearing on the National Cemetery Site Selection Process to Colorado Springs.

Congressman Lamborn, along with other members of the House Veterans Affairs' Committee, examine the VA cemetery site selection process.

Last week, Congressman Lamborn brought United States Congressmen John Salazar and John Hall, along with VA Under Secretary Tuerk, to Colorado Springs to hold a Congressional field hearing of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee of the House Veterans Affairs’ Committee regarding the National Cemetery site selection process.

"Never before has a Congressional field hearing been held in this District concerning the requirements for establishing a new national veterans' cemetery. This is a direct result of the hard work that I, along with other members of the Colorado delegation as well as members of various veteran organizations, have dedicated to this cause. I am encouraged by Under Secretary Tuerk’s testimony and will do my utmost to make certain the Department of Veterans Affairs holds true in the promise to bring a new veterans' cemetery to the region." -- Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05).

"I am most grateful to Congressman Lamborn for his hard work in bringing a Congressional field hearing to Colorado Springs regarding a national veterans' cemetery in Southern Colorado. This was the best and most useful event held about the cemetery during the ten years that I have been involved." -- Vic Fernandez, Founding Member of the Pikes Peak Veterans Cemetery Committee.

In response to questioning, Under Secretary Tuerk stated that he would send VA real estate experts and planners to begin to review a handful of potential sites that could be donated to VA at no cost prior to the appropriation of funds for a new cemetery in Colorado.
Congressman Lamborn has written a letter to Under Secretary Tuerk asking him to send these experts and planners as soon as possible.

In 2006, just one day after his swearing-in ceremony, Congressman Lamborn introduced H.R. 295, which would direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a national veterans’ cemetery in the Pikes Peak region of Colorado. Additionally, Congressman Lamborn successfully offered an amendment to Congressman Salazar’s more recent bill, H.R. 1660, to ensure that any national veterans’ cemetery established in Southern Colorado will be located in El Paso County.


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