ROA needs your help to support S. 2089, “Burial Equity for Guard and Reserves Act of 2021.”
It is a bipartisan bill that will ensure grants provided by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for State veterans’ cemeteries do not restrict States from authorizing the internment of National Guard and Reserve members.
Currently, National Guard and Reserve service members can be buried in state cemeteries, but once again, because they do not always get a DD Form 214, they have difficulty proving they qualify for this benefit.
This bill would allow them to use a discharge order as proof that they have an honorable discharge. It would also align state cemeteries eligibility for spouse, minor child and unmarried adult child currently allowed at a Veteran Affairs cemetery.
U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), John Hoeven (R-ND), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) issued the following statements as Congress nears a final agreement on government funding legislation, urging Senate and House leadership to include their bipartisan bill to ensure all members of Reserve components and the National Guard are eligible to be buried in state veterans cemeteries, so long as their service was not terminated under dishonorable conditions. The bill passed out of SVAC unanimously in December.
Sen. Kevin Cramer shares his reason for support:
- Opinion | Sen. Kevin Cramer: Get the burial equity for Guards and Reserves Act done
- Sen. Cramer, Bipartisan Group of Senators Call on Leadership to Prioritize Bill to Open Eligibility for Burial in State Veterans Cemeteries to All Service Members
- Who is a Veteran? Setting the Record Straight
CALL TO ACTION
Click here to write to your local legislators on this bill. It takes less than five minutes through the VoterVoice system.