Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bipartisan legislation, H.R. 2288, the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017, as amended. The legislation is a product of hard work between the Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans service organizations, committee staff, and committee members. This bill gives veterans more options when pursuing the appeals claim by creating three pathways or lanes: Lane one allows for the veteran to request that a new individual review their case without a hearing, which will allow a faster response time from the VA on their appeal; lane two allows a veteran to request a hearing; and lane three sends the appeal directly to the Board of Veterans Appeals. These three lanes, working together, will speed up the process for our Nation's veterans and ensure that the appeals system works for them. An important compromise in this legislation also allows for veterans to keep the original effective date of their claim as long as they filed the necessary paperwork within 1 year of a VA's decision. This is another way to ensure that the appeals system is working for the veterans. It is important that we do not leave any veteran behind. My colleagues and I have worked to ensure that some of the more than 470,000 veterans with a current appeal in the system will have the opportunity at certain points to opt into the new system.…”