Eric Swalwell: “The sacrifices of the few, our military veterans, provide the freedom for the many. We know that it is our military…”

“The sacrifices of the few, our military veterans, provide the freedom for the many. We know that it is our military veterans, who only make up just 1 percent of our population, that provide 100 percent of our freedom. But far too many of our veterans seeking the disability assistance that they rightly earned are running into a severe backlog at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Nationwide, there are close to 800,000 pending disability claims at the VA, and almost 550,000 of these claims have been pending for over 125 days. At the Oakland VA in Oakland, California, which serves the 15th Congressional District, which I represent, the constituents in my district have been waiting, on average, a staggering 552 days. Over 81 percent of the constituents have been waiting over 125 days. This is the longest average wait time across the United States. These numbers are a national disgrace, and I'm ashamed that the veterans who have served our country and have fought so hard have to wait so long. Our military spends $1.8 billion a year recruiting young Americans to join our military. We spend it on NASCAR, Super Bowl ads, and we send our recruiters out to our schools to have our young men and women join in the honorable profession of defending our country, but we are neglecting the needs of the veterans. We're failing to keep the promises we make after they serve. This weekend I had the opportunity to go to a Salute to New Recruits who are going into the military.…”