Blog: Bonuses for VA Employees in the Midst of Massive Backlog of Veterans' Benefit Claims?

Statement

Last year, I met with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and sent a letter to discuss the current backlog of claims at the Veterans Benefits Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) efforts to turn back the avalanche of overdue claims plaguing the VA for the last three years.

On May 23rd of this year, I sent a follow-up letter to Secretary Shinseki requesting an update on the severe claims backlog.

This week, I received a response from the Secretary, noting that progress has been made over the last three months in addressing the backlog, reducing it by 87,000 claims, from the peak of 600,000 in March of 2013. That means that there are still 513,000 veterans' claims stagnated in red tape. It is unacceptable that there are still over a half a million of our nation's heroes waiting for the benefits they've earned and rightly deserve. Our servicemembers have made extraordinary sacrifices for this country and, while we can never begin to repay them, we have a duty to do our utmost to serve them once they come home.

While approximately 14,000 veterans' appeals have been pending for over two years, two-thirds of employees at the VA received bonuses totaling roughly $5.5 million at the end of 2011 for "excellent" or "outstanding" performance. Until the claims backlog is eliminated, it is unacceptable for employees to receive bonuses.

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