FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                           Monday, March 10, 2008

Contact: Senator Sylvia Larsen

(603) 271-2111

HOUSE AND SENATE LEADERS STAND UP FOR VETERANS MEDICAL CENTER

CONCORD – Members of the New Hampshire House and Senate were on hand today to greet California Congressman Bob Filner, the chairman of the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Committee, and to show their support for restoring the Manchester VA Medical Center to a full-service facility.

Filner was in New Hampshire at the invitation of Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter and Congressman Paul Hodes, who arranged for Filner to tour the Manchester VA Medical Center. After the tour, the congressional delegation held a news conference with state leaders, including Senate President Sylvia Larsen (D-Concord) and House Speaker Terie Norelli (D-Portsmouth).

“New Hampshire is the only state in the country that lacks a full service veterans’ medical center. Many of our veterans live in rural areas and already must travel a long distance to get to the Manchester VA Medical Center. Because some services are no longer available in Manchester, they must travel out of state to Massachusetts or Vermont to get the care they need. This places a medical, financial and transportation hardship on many of our ill veterans and their families,” Larsen said.

The Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Department of Defense and Congress to restore the Manchester VA Medical Center to a full service facility. The resolution passed unanimously in the Senate and is now under consideration in the House.

Larsen was one of about a dozen state senators from both parties who attended the news conference to show support for making medical services more readily available to veterans in New Hampshire.

“We in New Hampshire have a long tradition of service to our country, and to one another. We have 128,000 veterans in the Granite State, and it is only fitting that our country should repay their services by honoring our commitments to them,” Norelli said. “I would like to thank Congresswoman Shea-Porter and Congressman Hodes for their work on behalf of our veterans, and I would also like to thank Chairman Filner for coming to New Hampshire to join us in this effort.”