OCALA, Fla. — Congresswoman Kat Cammack (FL-03) hosted a Veterans Town Hall Friday evening at the College of Central Florida, joined by special guest Congressman Morgan Luttrell (TX-08), a decorated Navy SEAL who chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.
The program opened with a presentation of the Colors by the Marion County Memorial Honor Guard, a reading of “Old Glory” by Master Chief Mack Ellis, and the Pledge of Allegiance led by Howard Mautner, a 102-year-old World War II veteran of the Army Air Corps. Pete Feliciano, Captain, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), delivered the invocation, and radio host Greg Cassidy served as emcee.
Members answered questions submitted by attendees on women veterans’ health care, mental health and suicide
prevention, and veteran homelessness. Every question not reached during the program will receive a personal follow-up from Rep. Cammack’s office.
“My job as a representative is to hear from everybody,” said Rep. Cammack. “We have an open door policy, you can come at any time a
nd talk to me and the team, and we will always do our best to answer your questions. We think of this as a tour of duty for ourselves, and thank you for giving us that opportunity to serve.”
“It is absolutely necessary for us to sit up here, no matter what’s coming at us, and answer those questions, and do the best we can to do what we think is best for the country,” said Rep. Luttrell. “Thank you for your service, and your spouses for their service.”
In a wide-ranging fireside conversation, the two members walked veterans through the transition from active duty to the VA and previewed the Taking Care of America’s Veterans Act, a package of 60 veterans bills expected on the House floor in the coming weeks, gathering direct feedback from the room on its provisions, including the Major Richard Star Act and the Love Lives On Act.
“The Department of Defense does not talk to the VA, and the VA does not talk to the Department of Defense,” said Rep. Luttrell of the effort to connect veterans’ records systems. “Right now it’s five hospitals out of 172 that can communicate with each other. Once the network is connected, the VA system for medical records is whole.”
“Very rarely do Morgan and I get the opportunity to vote on something that is pure in purpose,” said Rep. Cammack of the veterans package. “There is a tremendous amount of good in this bill, and there are also some things in there that are tough. That’s why we wanted to come here tonight and have a very honest conversation about what’s in this bill, and what’s not.”
Rep. Cammack also updated attendees on her office’s work to protect funding for 186 homeless veterans across Marion, Alachua, and Columbia counties after a missed grant deadline by an outside vendor. “I’ve got 186 homeless veterans that need to make sure that we keep their funding, and I don’t care how you do it, but you just need to do it,” Cammack recounted telling VA Secretary Doug Collins directly, adding that multiple plans are now in place and no veteran will lose housing.
Answering attendee questions on community care in rural counties, Rep. Cammack pointed to gaps in the program’s design. “The people who designed community care are assuming that every community has all the needs met in the private sector, and that’s just not the case,” she said. “We have entire counties that don’t have a single primary care physician in them, let alone specialists.” She cited the historic $50 billion investment in rural health care she helped secure in the Working Families Tax Cut, of which $209 million is coming to Florida, the vast majority to North Central Florida, with announcements of local health care infrastructure investments expected across the district in the coming months.
Veterans needing casework assistance with the VA can contact Rep. Cammack’s Gainesville office at (352) 505-0838 or Ocala office at (352) 421-9052.
