Alan Lowenthal: “I thank the ranking member and also the chairman for providing me this time to speak on the floor. I am going to go…”

“I thank the ranking member and also the chairman for providing me this time to speak on the floor. I am going to go back. My congressional district is home to the Long Beach Veterans Affairs hospital; the American Gold Star Manor, which is a manor that provides affordable housing for mothers who have lost their sons to war and for veterans; and my district is also the home of Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base. Providing outstanding service to our veterans has been a top priority throughout my career. That is why I am cosponsoring this amendment to address the disability claims and appeals backlogs and hopefully provide funding for more full-time employees to address these issues. I want to share with you just quickly my concerns. There are long delays in Aid and Attendance claims, particularly with regard to elderly, frail veterans with rapidly declining health issues. And approval is slow and sometimes comes, actually, too late, allowing the veterans to suffer for no reason. This year, I had a 100 percent service-connected Purple Heart veteran with Parkinson's disease who filed for Aid and Attendance in July 2013. At that time, he needed caretaking assistance at his home but was initially denied. In March of 2014, I received a call from his son who informed me that his father had fallen and broken his shoulder. During this time, my constituent had to produce multiple pieces of paper and doctor's confirmation of disability, even though he is an amputee.…”