O’Rourke town hall addresses VA, community concerns

El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke is holding more town halls both to address the serious national issues he votes on, and hear constituent concerns this time at EPCC in the northeast.

“A variety of issues from the federal budget to the VA, to the agreement with Iran to stop them from developing a nuclear weapon,” O’Rourke said of the questions attendees brought up. “And lots of different points of view.”

While taking comments and criticism, O’Rourke’s is also holding a town hall specifically for veterans, and offering assistance to those caught in red tape, like navy veteran Ramon Valenzuela.

“I’ve been going on five years trying to make a claim,” Valenzuela said. “And that’s the reason I came to see Mr. O’Rourke and see if he can help me with it.”

Beyond individual help, O’Rourke said that with the feedback he’s gotten and the obvious frustration with the Department of Veterans Affairs, he’s hoping El Paso can improve individually and become a model for the rest of the system.

“When the VA is telling us a veteran is waiting 15 or 16 days for a mental health appointment,” O’Rourke said, “and we conduct a statistically valid scientific study that shows veterans are waiting over two months and a third of them can’t get in at all, we know we have a problem in being able to trust the VA.”

Veterans or anyone else not able to make it to the town hall needing help with government agencies can call O’Rourke’s office at (915) 541-1400 or through his website – https://orourke.house.gov/