McCarthy Keeps Promise on House Action for Veterans
McCarthy Keeps Promise on House Action for Veterans
Washington, D.C. – In another step on holding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) accountable for better serving veterans, Congressman Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) made the following remarks on Friday at the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs hearing on his bill, the Ending VA Claims Disability Backlog and Accountability Act, H.R.2138, to continue to press the VA to reduce pending disability claims backlogs and processing times so veterans receive the benefits they deserve in a timely manner:
"Every day, the brave men and women of our Armed Forces risk their lives to preserve our freedom and the American way of life. We must honor those who have served when they are in need, and that is why Congress has continued to increase VA funding - an uncommon occurrence in today's fiscal climate. Yet the VA continues to fail to meet the needs of our veterans."
"With increasing frequency, frustrated veterans I represent complain to me about waiting months, even years, for a decision on their disability claims. Even more frustrating is that my own inquiries to the VA on these cases are mostly ignored. So I appreciate the help of this committee for working with me to request a GAO audit to seek answers for our veterans."
"My bill addresses the GAO-identified factors that contribute to the lengthy processing times of disability claims, improves congressional oversight of the VA's efforts to reduce the backlog, and requires the VA to end the backlog by Memorial Day 2015."
Background:
· After receiving complaints from local veterans on the amount of time it takes the VA to process veterans' disability claims and schedule medical appointments, Congressman McCarthy led his colleagues in requesting that Government Accountability Office (GAO) conduct an audit of the VA to ensure our veterans get the benefits and medical services they are entitled to in a timely manner.
· The GAO audits found various problems, such as the failure to implement VA claims processing policies consistently across regions and the timely transfer of records between the Defense Department, Social Security Administration, and National Guard. The GAO found that the Los Angeles VA Regional Office has a total of 25,322 claims pending, of which 80% are 125 days or older.
· In response, the VA announced a goal to reduce the claims backlog to 125 days sometime in 2015 and increase processing accuracy to 98%. However, the GAO audit concluded this plan lacks any metrics or deadlines to ensure these goals are met.
· The House Committee on Veterans Affairs has held several hearings with senior VA officials on the disability rating claims backlog and the VA has yet to provide the House with any specific details as to how their plan will affect the backlog.
· H.R. 2138 would implement recommendations and address the issues identified in the GAO audit and require the VA to reduce the claims processing time to 125 days with a claims rating accuracy of 98% by Memorial Day 2015. Specifically, it addresses the GAO-identified factors contributing to the lengthy processing times of disability claims, including the sharing of information between agencies and processor training, improve congressional oversight of the VA's efforts to implement a backlog reduction plan by requiring quarterly GAO progress audits, and increases accountability within the VA by setting a hard deadline for backlog reductions consistent with Veterans Secretary Eric Shinseki's public statements.
· The GAO audit on the VA's disability backlog can be foundhere.