Rep. Gabe Vasquez Introduces Bill to Establish a Vet Center in Socorro

October 29, 2026 Press Release WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) introduced the Socorro Vet Center Act, which would establish a new vet center in Socorro, NM. The bill would direct the Secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs to establish a facility in Socorro to provide free, confidential social and psychological support to veterans, service members and their families, following on the work of veterans in the community who have come together to do the job themselves. Across southern New Mexico, many veterans live in rural communities. In Socorro and surrounding counties, the veteran and military population struggles to access services, or get basic assistance with their benefits because the nearest vet clinic, vet center or VA Medical Center can be hours away. This bill would ensure that veterans and our military community across the middle of New Mexico have another closer location to access their hard earned benefits, creating a hub across Socorro, Sierra, Catron, and Lincoln counties. “Our veterans make a great sacrifice to protect our way of life – when they return home, they deserve easy access to the care they need,” said Vasquez . “In my district, many veterans return home to rural areas where they would need to drive hours just to access a VA medical center. That’s unacceptable – I’m proud to introduce this bill to build a new facility and ease the burden of those veterans in and around Socorro where there is a gap of VA facilities.” Rep. Vasquez continues to lead the charge to support and expand benefits for New Mexican veterans and our military servicemembers, including: Spearheading the TRICARE Travel Improvement Act , which Vasquez led and got passed into law with bipartisan support through the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act. The bill lowers the mileage requirement for TRICARE travel reimbursement from 100 miles to 75 miles — helping military families in rural communities more easily access medical care. Leading the New Mexico Rural Veteran Health Care Access Act , a bill to add Otero and Eddy county to the Veteran Integrated Service Network (VISN) 22, so that New Mexico veterans can more easily access care at other facilities far closer to them. Introducing the Veteran Education Assistance Adjustment Act , bipartisan legislation to increase the yearly book and supply stipend for student veterans which hasn’t been updated since 2008. If passed, it would increase the stipend from $1,000 to $1,400 and adjust for inflation. The Feed Our Veterans Act , legislation Vasquez introduced and fought for during the most recent Farm Bill markup, to combat food insecurity among veterans and protect them from new burdensome SNAP work requirements introduced under the Republican tax law last summer. Signed a bipartisan discharge petition to require a House vote on the Major Richard Star Act , legislation that would allow combat-injured veterans to receive both their full military retirement pay and VA disability compensation. ### Issues : Supporting Our Veterans