Establishing Commission or Task Force to Evaluate the Backlog of Disability Claims

Floor Speech

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Mrs. NEGRETE MCLEOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support H.R. 2189, which includes provisions from the VA Claims Efficiency Through Information Act of 2013, which I introduced in April, that will require VA to track the time spent evaluating each medical condition in a disability compensation claim. VA would have to report the number of completed claims by region and by medical condition for the current and preceding month and year.

As Veterans Day approaches, we should remember veterans who are struggling to find work while living with service-connected disabilities. VA compensation is needed so veterans can support themselves and avoid homelessness.

The VA's legacy paper system has made it difficult to process claims of older veterans who need additional compensation later in life. Claims of younger veterans can also take longer to process because they have multiple medical conditions.

The claims backlog is a serious problem for the VA and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Since July, the Los Angeles regional office has reduced the average time to process claims from 600 days to 400 days. The VA still has a long way to go to meet its own goal of 125 days, and the backlog will not end overnight and may even go up as more men and women apply for benefits.

No one is looking at directing blame but, instead, searching for a way to work together, and Congress and the VA must be willing to explore new methods for delivering services to veterans in the 21st century for the growing veteran population.

I thank Mr. Miller for allowing my bill to be included in his.

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