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House subcommittee presses administration over slow rollout of COFA benefits, especially VA care for island veterans
Summary
A House subcommittee hearing on COFA implementation highlighted progress on infrastructure and grants but focused on persistent delays in delivering expanded VA benefits, interagency coordination gaps, and the risk those delays pose to U.S. strategic interests in the Pacific.
Members of the House Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs pressed administration officials and diplomats on Tuesday over lingering delays in implementing benefits under the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2024, with particular emphasis on promised Veterans Affairs services for citizens of Palau, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Representative Letcher Fernandez, the subcommittee's ranking member, told witnesses that Congress had authorized billions in mandatory funding and said the failure to deliver benefits is “an embarrassment when The US fails to honor the promises we made.” He singled out expanded VA telehealth, mail‑order pharmacy and beneficiary travel as urgent deliverables that veterans in the freely associated states need but largely cannot access in place.
Deputy Assistant Secretary Angel Demapan of the Department of the…
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