Case wants more money for veterans' burial costs
Associated Press
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Congressman Ed Case wants to increase the amount of money the federal government pays to states for the burial of military veterans in state veterans' cemeteries.
" ... the federal government must pay its fair share of its financial obligations to the state of Hawai'i," said U.S. Rep. Ed Case.
The Department of Veterans Affairs currently provides $300 for each veteran burial to help states fulfill the federally promised veterans' benefit, the Hawai'i Democrat said last week in a news release.
Case quoted the Hawai'i Department of Defense as saying it costs as much as $750 to bury a veteran in one of eight veterans' cemeteries managed by the state. He has introduced legislation that would provide $750 per burial to a state if it doesn't have a VA cemetery or if it doesn't have any more burial plots in VA cemeteries.
With no more plots available in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl, the 120,587 veterans in Hawai'i must seek plots in one of the state-managed cemeteries, Case said. "With our state government struggling to control costs and keep the budget balanced, the federal government must pay its fair share of its financial obligations to the state of Hawai'i."
