Ossoff Pushes for Augusta Veterans Cemetery With $150M Bipartisan Funding

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff wrote to Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins seeking money for a veterans cemetery in Augusta. He wants to use part of $150 million from a bipartisan funding bill.

Augusta houses more than 66,000 veterans and many military families. Yet the two closest veterans' cemeteries are 80 miles away in Milledgeville, Georgia, and Columbia, South Carolina.

"The establishment of a veterans cemetery in Augusta would support the National Cemetery Administration's goal of providing veterans reasonable access to burial benefits within 75 miles of the veteran's home," Ossoff said, in a press release. "Augusta's veterans deserve the access to these benefits a cemetery in Augusta would provide."

The project has languished on the Department of Veterans Affairs' priority list. It hasn't had enough money to move ahead until now. 

The senator's letter to Collins aims to direct some of the $150 million to the Augusta project. Officials expect the money will be enough to pay for a veterans cemetery in the area.

Collins served as a congressman from Georgia before his appointment as Veterans Affairs Secretary. The connection between the two Georgia officials could help push the project ahead after years of delays.