Representative Ruben Gallego

Congressman Ruben Gallego is the son of Hispanic immigrants, a Veteran, and a community leader. He was the first in his family to attend college, graduating from Harvard University with a degree in International Relations. He later joined the Marine Corps, serving in Iraq with the well-known combat unit Lima 3/25. In his first year in Congress, Congressman Gallego introduced the VETS Act, which would reduce the burden of student loan debt on Veterans and has supported legislation to increase the hiring of Veterans and provide additional benefits to wounded or deceased Veterans and their families.

This past year, Congressman Gallego has been a strong advocate for Native American Veterans. As the Chair of the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples and an Iraq War veteran, he introduced HR 4908, the Native American Veteran Parity in Access to Care Today (PACT) Act. This legislation would end the practice of charging American Indian and Alaska Native veterans a copayment for receiving care at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).  Gallego has been a fierce advocate for passage of this legislation. Currently, Native American Veterans have to pay copayments when accessing health care that should be completely paid for by the Veterans Affairs Administration. This means the federal government is not only breaking its promise to them as Veterans, but also the promise of free health care guaranteed in hundreds of broken treaties. His bill is critical to increasing access and affordability of health care to Native Veterans.