Forbes Calls on Secretary of Veterans Affairs to Address Severe Claims Backlog

Press Release

Congressman J. Randy Forbes (VA-04) today called on Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki to address the underlying causes of the severe claims backlog plaguing the Veterans Benefits Administration.

"In spite of considerable efforts to reverse this negative trend, the Department of Veterans Affairs has seen its claims backlog jump from just 390,000 at the beginning of 2009 to over 904,000 at the end of May," Forbes said, "Our nation's veterans have made extraordinary sacrifices, and they are deserving of far more expeditious and accurate claims decisions from the Department of Veterans Affairs. In some cases our veterans have been forced to wait for months or years to get an adjudicated claims decision -- this is simply unacceptable and an egregious breach of faith with those who have served our nation honorably."

In a letter to Secretary Shinseki, Forbes expressed concern that the Department of Veterans Affairs' actions thus far have not rolled back the enormous claims backlog that has ballooned over the last three years.

"Considering that claims receipts are expected to reach 1.25 million in 2013, prompt, substantive action is required to both critically assess and address the root causes of the claims backlog and more importantly implement meaningful reform to the claims processing system," Forbes said in the letter.

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