Congressman Gabe Amo’s veteran advocacy inspires columnist
Our 1st District Congressman Gabe Amo is the new vice ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He made national news last week with his reaction to the recent shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Amo said, “I’m not surprised given the turn that we’ve seen. … But mostly I’m disappointed because the best of America is reflected in these programs.”
This strong comment reminded me of a conversation I had with Amo a few months ago, during which he was equally forceful about his support for veteran-related issues.
“I haven't had the opportunity to serve," he said. "… Now I can do everything in my power to support those who do serve, who have served, and their families.”
His first official event after being sworn in was the November 2023 ceremony marking the upgrades to the Lance Cpl. Holly Charette Home in Johnston. The home is named for the 21-year-old Cranston native killed in action on June 23, 2005, while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Opened in 2010, it is the only facility in Rhode Island providing transitional housing to female veterans experiencing homelessness. It's an issue Amo has focused on throughout his career.
Very early in his term, Amo announced that two local housing authorities would receive more than $500,000 in combined federal funding to help homeless military veterans and their families find permanent housing.
U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo, D-R.I., was sworn in on Jan. 3 to his second term representing the state's 1st Congressional District.
Gabe Amo's background and history
Pawtucket native Gabriel Felix Kofi Amo was born on Dec. 11, 1987. His father and mother immigrated to Rhode Island from Ghana and Liberia, respectively. His mother is a nurse and his father owns a liquor store.
He graduated from Moses Brown School and studied political science at Wheaton College. While still in college, he began his political career volunteering on Sheldon Whitehouse's 2006 Senate campaign. He then continued with Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.
He then joined the Obama administration, serving as a liaison to governors and other state officials.
Amo returned to Rhode Island as Gov. Gina Raimondo's principal adviser on outreach to local government, business, and faith communities.
He returned to national politics as a strategist on Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign and later served on the Biden transition team. He was then appointed deputy director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, working as the principal liaison to mayors and local elected officials.
In September 2023, Amo won the Democratic primary in an upset to become the party's nominee. He won the general election, becoming the first person of color to represent Rhode Island in Congress.
Amo's focus on veterans
One of his first acts as a congressman was co-sponsoring “Vets Get Outside Day” to help veterans struggling with mental health challenges.
Amo quickly learned how impactful his work on behalf of veterans could be.
“The first parade I walked in was the Newport St. Patrick's Day parade,” he told me. “A veteran came up to me to say, ‘Thank you, Congressman Amo, for helping with my case.’
“When a young guy will go through a crowd to tap me on the shoulder and say thank you, that’s meaningful. And I said to him, ’No, in fact, thank you.’”
Last May, Amo spearheaded an effort to recognize America’s first integrated military unit − the First Rhode Island Regiment − by posthumously awarding its members the Congressional Gold Medal. “The bill would bestow this long-overdue honor on our brave Revolutionary War soldiers who came together in a multiracial coalition to fight for America’s independence,” a statement from Amo’s office declared.
“People colloquially will call it the first Black regiment,” Amo told me. “It was, in fact, an integrated unit, but it had Black members, and they were fighting when their own freedom was uncertain.”
That recognition is still pending.
Last Veterans Day, Amo began his day at the Garden of Flags in East Providence, honoring the lifetime of service to that city by Vietnam veterans Sgt. Clarence Butler Jr. and Lt. John Wolf.
He went on to the Squantum Association in Riverside to recognize Rhode Island’s veterans at the Infantry Lodge Association’s 105th Annual Veterans Day and Armistice Day Celebration. Visits to the Rhode Island Veterans Home in Bristol and Notre Dame cemetery in Pawtucket followed. At the cemetery, where more than 3,000 of the city’s veterans are laid to rest, he joined Pawtucket public safety retirees and veterans to dedicate a new flagpole.
Rhode Island can be proud that all four members of its congressional delegation take Veterans Day and Memorial Day activities so seriously.
Message to veterans
When I asked him what he would like to convey to Rhode Island's veteran community, his immediate reply was an expression of gratitude.
”This country isn't great accidentally,” he said. “It's great because of the sacrifice and service of so many, starting with those who have put their lives on the line.”
U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo honors veterans at the Garden of Flags in East Providence in a 2024 Veterans Day ceremony.
As an aside, he volunteered that, “Vietnam [is] a war for which our country still has an unpaid debt to so many of the veterans who served.”
Referring once again to veterans of all conflicts, he said, “Even if they were lucky enough to return unscathed, they put [their families and lives aside] to serve our country. And so for that, I'm grateful. And I say thank you.
“And the second thing I would say is, I work for you. And I don't mean that in a flippant, cliché way.”
He believes that time is our most important asset, and he wants to spend as much time as he can with veterans, and to dedicate as much time as is needed to pursue legislation that protects and advances issues important to veterans.
Perhaps with a foreboding of what lay ahead, in August he said, “I think it's really important to make sure that veterans benefits continue to be delivered, and that providers have the resources they need to deliver services to veterans.”
Amo believes the responsibilities he now bears are an extension of the work our servicemen and women have performed.
“We may disagree in politics," he said, "but know that I am first and foremost an advocate, and I want to work on behalf of veterans and military families in any way that I can.”