Joe Donnelly: “I want to commend you on this bill and what a tremendous job your committee has done in producing this. I want to make…”

“I want to commend you on this bill and what a tremendous job your committee has done in producing this. I want to make sure that the Veterans Administration uses the added resources that you have provided to help reduce the disability claims that we have seen getting backlogged. We need to reduce that backlog in the most efficient manner possible. Mr. Chairman, I strongly support this underlying bill. For the first time in years, Congress is going to provide the kind of resources the VA should have in order to provide the level of health care and customer service that America's veterans have earned through their service. I commend you and the committee for drafting a bill that we can all be proud of and that works for our veterans. Today, America's disabled veterans must wait an average of almost 6 months for the VA to make a decision on their initial claim. Right now, as we speak, almost half a million veterans have pending claims that have already exceeded that 6-month time period, a period of time, I believe, that is far, far too long. With hundreds of thousands of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, we can only expect the demand for services to rise. This is an unacceptable situation, as you well know, Mr. Chairman, and it's a result from two occurrences, insufficient resources at the VA to process claims and a system that fundamentally needs to be improved. We commend you because this bill starts to address the funding issues that we face.”