Port St. Lucie’s congressman, Brian Mast, is the newest member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
It is a committee assignment the freshman representative hoped to get. Mast is one of two members of Congress who are veterans with catastrophic disabilities from combat injuries sustained while serving in support of operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom.
Mast, who was unable to respond to a request for interview by press time, announced the appointment in a Facebook Live video that is archived on his congressional Facebook page.
“As of today I’m officially part of the veterans committee here in the House of Representatives,” he said.
Mast served in the Army for 12 years. He lost his legs to an IED while serving in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2010. He received the Bronze Star, the Army Commendation Medal for Valor, the Purple Heart, and other notable medals. Mast made his first run for Congress in 2016. His district, FL-18, covers St. Lucie, Martin and part of Palm Beach counties.
In addition to now being on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Mast is on the House Transportation & Infrastructure and Foreign Affairs committees. In December 2016 he told St. Lucie Voice the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee was his top pick for increased sway with federally-funded wastewater management projects to help reduce Lake Okeechobee discharges.
“We have major infrastructure issues in my area and water issues related to infrastructure,” Mast said then in a telephone interview. “Our coastal area is being decimated by it.”
On the Veterans Affairs Committee Mast gains greater oversight of the Ardie R. Copas State Veterans’ Nursing Home project in Tradition. According to the Florida Department of Veteran Affairs, construction of the 120-bed state veterans home should start this summer and take about two years to complete. The state is building the home using a federal grant from the federal Department of Veteran Affairs.
Florida has the third largest population of veterans in the country, about 1.5 million. Mast’s congressional district has about 58,000, according to the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics. St. Lucie has about 25,000, according to the center. With the addition of Mast, Florida now has four seats on the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
The Republican has testified before the committee repeatedly on various issues. On the day his appointment was announced – May 16 – Mast had testified before the committee about opening what’s likely the only joint congressional office in existence. It’s also the only congressional office at a VA medical center.
In January Mast and three other Southeast Florida representatives – all Democrats – opened a district office at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center, which has St. Lucie in its catchment area. It was Mast’s idea. He has introduced legislation to make it easier for other representatives to do the same. “To allow that (West Palm Beach office) to be replicated, that model be replicated across the breadth of this country by any other VA hospital, so other members of Congress can go out there and have that space to meet with their constituent veterans within the VA medical centers,” Mast said in the video.
He estimated that more than 100 additional constituent cases have opened due to representatives being at the West Palm VA Medical Center.
Mast is on five congressional subcommittees. He is the vice chairman of the Water Recourses & Environment subcommittee. Mast is also a member of 10 congressional caucuses, including the Everglades Caucus and Congressional Estuary Caucus.