Franken to travel to Vietnam, Laos

Sen. Al Franken will head to Vietnam during Congress’ summer break along with Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Jeff Merkley of Oregon and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. Franken will also continue on to Laos.

The delegation will “look into environmental remediation of dioxin and the joint funding of medical services for people with disabilities, and meet with Vietnamese government officials to discuss education initiatives, labor issues, and trade relations.”

Franken will also visit Laos, where he will likely be working on issues related to the forced repatriation of Hmong refugees. In early June, Franken hosted a community briefing with Ravic Huso, the U.S. Ambassador to Laos, and Minnesota’s Hmong leaders; he promised attendees he would be visiting Laos soon, according to Hmong Times.