Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member for yielding, and I thank the chairman. Even though we may disagree on this piece of legislation, I believe he has been a fair chairman to work with all members of the committee. When I became a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee and the ranking member of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee back in 2013, much of the focus was on the disability claims backlog. It had ballooned, and it was causing some veterans to wait almost 2 years just for their initial claim decision. After that backlog was reduced, after considerable work by Congress and the administration, the problem shifted to the appeals process, where 450,000 veterans are currently waiting in an overburdened and overcomplicated system. The average claim takes more than 3 years to adjudicate, and claims that progress to the Board of Veterans Appeals can languish for more than 2,000 days. Both of these figures are also rising. So, if we miss this historic opportunity to reform the outdated and overcomplicated appeals system, the wait for our Nation's heroes will continue to lengthen. By 2027, we will be telling our veteran constituents that they will likely have to wait a decade for their appeal to be resolved. That is just unacceptable. It is important to keep in mind that the appeals process was first developed back in 1933, and it was last updated in the late 1980s; so, surely, true reform is long overdue.…”