Operation Just Cause... ...for as long as it takes
WASHINGTON - Congressman Terry Everett, R-Alabama, Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, called the Administration's failure to plan burial space for America's veterans, while allowing neglect of existing cemeteries, "a national disgrace".
"The instances of dirty and tilting headstones, crumbling walkways and deteriorating cemetery buildings makes us feel ashamed that our country is not taking better care of its national shrines," Chairman Everett said at today's Oversight hearing about the maintenance and space planning at Arlington National Cemetery and the National Cemetery Administration."
Chairman Everett heard testimony Thursday from veterans service organizations, military associations, state veterans affairs directors, and national cemetery officials about the lack of federal funds for proper burial space planning and cemetery upkeep. He also questioned officials with the VA's National Cemetery Administration about their lack of a long-range plan to meet the burial needs of a veterans population which is dying at a rate of 1,000 per day.
On Tuesday, Congressman Everett personally inspected serious maintenance problems at some of Arlington National Cemetery's most post popular and solemn sites. Among the damage, was a two-foot hole in the deteriorating ceiling of the reception building chapel at the Tomb of the Unknowns. He also found heavy pipe corrosion in the underground "control room" which provides utilities to the Robert F. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy burial sites, as well as severe damage to walkways around the columbarium.
"How can this country turn its back on our veterans when it comes time to render their final honor? Are we to tell them they are not going to have the same honor of burial in national cemeteries as previous generations of veterans because there are too many of them, or because this country, at the height of its prosperity, cannot afford it?
"If the VA and the Administration are not going to act, then we in Congress will have to consider what we should do," Everett added.
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