VA urged to sever contracts with French military headstone supplier

Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., said Wednesday he plans to call on the Veterans' Affairs Department to immediately sever ties with a French-owned marble manufacturer that supplies U.S. military headstones for national cemeteries.

"It's obviously inappropriate for a company owned by French interests to be supplying headstones for the VA when the French have done everything in their power to undermine the very troops whose sacrifice from which they now stand to profit," said McInnis in a statement Wednesday.

McInnis said the company that supplies headstones for national cemeteries, including Arlington National Cemetery, is a subsidiary of the French corporation IMERYS.

In a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi, McInnis urged the secretary to "immediately review the Department of Veterans Affairs policy contracting this business to a French-controlled company."

McInnis added that it is important "we cease further business dealings with this French-controlled marble supplier in order to ensure that these headstones, intended to honor the sacrifices of our troops, do just that."