English: Albuquerque, N.M. – This week, Congresswoman Deb Haaland (NM-01) toured the Veterans Benefits Administration office in Albuquerque to receive a briefing on their duties and responsibilities. During the briefing, Haaland and officials discussed efforts to improve outreach for veterans in local and rural areas.

"I grew up in a military family, and my mother still receives benefits through the VA. I understand what our veteran community is going through and how receiving their earned compensation can be lifechanging,” said Congresswoman Deb Haaland. “This briefing shed light on shared ideas that highlighted how our office could be most helpful to New Mexico veterans. After coming under the leadership of director Sammie Quillin, we’ve seen tremendous success with the number of benefits awarded to veterans that resulted in millions of dollars in compensation. I’ll use the information from this week’s tour to continue my work to ensure our veterans receive the benefits and the care they have earned.”

During their tour, VA officials and Haaland discussed how the two offices could collaborate on outreach in unique ways with an emphasis on how to better serve the Native American veteran population in New Mexico. Haaland also gave an update on the work she's doing in Congress to help the VA in their efforts to serve veterans.

Haaland is a member of the Women’s Veteran Taskforce which works to ensure our nearly two million and growing women veteran population are provided with equity and access to VA healthcare, including women-specific care, such as gynecology and obstetrics. During the budget process, Haaland urged the House Appropriations Committee to provide at least $222 million in funding for veteran suicide prevention and outreach programs.

In May, Congresswoman Deb Haaland introduced the VA Tribal Advisory Committee Act of 2019 to improve VA outreach, health care, and benefits for Native American veterans. The bill was completed through the establishment of a VA Advisory Committee on Tribal and Indian Affairs. Earlier this month, Haaland cosponsored the Health Care Access for Urban Native Veterans Act. The Health Care Access for Urban Native Veterans Act is a bill to improve health care access for Native American Veterans by providing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) coverage for care that Native American veterans receive at urban Indian health centers.