Ruppersberger to Support Funding Increase as VA Chips Away at Veterans Claims Backlog

Press Release

As Baltimore's local Veterans Affairs office continues to make substantial improvements in its claims backlog, Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger today announced support for new federal funding to help end it once and for all.

A member of the House Appropriations Committee, Congressman Ruppersberger submitted a letter to his colleagues on the subcommittee of jurisdiction in support of a $46.2 million increase for fiscal year 2017, which will pay for 242 new employees to help adjudicate and process appeals across the country. He also fully supports the President's $19.1 million request to continue modernizing the VA's decades-old appeals-processing technology.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says it has reduced the claims backlog at the Baltimore Regional Office -- once among the worst in the country -- by 95 percent. A backlog of nearly 16,960 claims in December 2012 now stands at 655, the office reports. Total inventory has been reduced 90 percent, from 20,200 cases to 2,000. An average wait time of 459 days has been reduced to 111.6 days.

"As one of the first to call out the VA backlog in Baltimore as unacceptable and inexcusable, I want to be the first to congratulate the VA on its extraordinary improvement," Congressman Ruppersberger said. "We still have a lot of work to do on behalf of our nation's heroes, which is why I am strongly supporting the President's request for additional federal funds to help eliminate the backlog once and for all and to bring VA technology into this century."

One of Congressman Ruppersberger's top priorities is helping American veterans access the benefits they deserve. He assisted more than 160 local veterans caught in government red tape last year alone.

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