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| Stump to Endorse Wilson`s Plan for a Veterans Cemetery |
May 04, 2000 |
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WASHINGTON, DC - Bob Stump, a key player in the House on veterans` issues, has endorsed Congresswoman Heather Wilson`s plan for a new veterans cemetery in Albuquerque. Stump, Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, recently urged a key House Appropriations subcommittee to include Wilson`s language for a new veterans cemetery in Albuquerque, in addition to funding to assess sites and do preliminary design work.
New Mexico`s national cemetery in Santa Fe, which opened in 1868, is expected to be at full capacity as early as 2008 and New Mexico Veterans groups have long advocated the establishment of a new facility.
“America has long shown its final measure of respect for our veterans of military service by providing burial plots and markers in national cemeteries. It is troubling to me and many veterans that we may soon run out of room at the national cemetery because the only other national cemetery in the state is near Silver City, a long drive from northern New Mexico,” said Wilson.
Chairman Stump recently wrote to Rep. James Walsh (R-NY), the Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA-HUD and Independent Agencies in support of Wilson’s veterans cemetery plans. In his letter to the Subcommittee, Chairman Stump stated, “Heather Wilson has shown great foresight by recognizing that we need to plan well ahead so New Mexico will be prepared for the day when the Santa Fe cemetery runs out of new burial spaces for veterans. …I commend her leadership on this important issue and would encourage you to include a provision in this year’s appropriations bill that will begin the process for finding a suitable site for a national cemetery in the Albuquerque area.”
The legislative language that Wilson has requested, and the funding request, match the content of H.R. 3335, a Wilson bill introduced last November. The legislation requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a report that sets a schedule for the establishment of a national cemetery in the Albuquerque area. The bill does not choose a specific location, but Wilson expects land owned by federal, state or local government or by private owners willing to donate the land for a national cemetery to be given higher priority in the site selection process.
There are almost 200,000 veterans currently living in New Mexico. Nationally, 535,000 veterans were buried in national cemeteries in 1996 and internments are expected to grow yearly and peak in 2008 at 620,000.
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