Political Quotes

“Representative Keller and I indeed are very good friends and in complete agreement on what it is we are trying to do tonight. Madam Speaker, there are 54,511 veterans in Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District. These are men and women that have served in all types of activities in the military. Nearly 1 in 13 of my constituents are military veterans. Roughly 520,000 pending VA claims for disability, compensation, and benefits are out there right now. And 191,000 of those that are considered to be backlogged are older than 3 months old, 4 months old, and they can't even get the information that they need. Thirty-six percent of these cases this summer were considered backlogged. Again, over 4 months, these people are waiting for their records to be pulled. The National Personnel Records Center is operating at 45 percent of its pre-pandemic capacity--45 percent--while almost every other business and government entity is operating at full capacity. This delay prevents veterans from getting the benefits they deserve for months or even years. A lack of digital records prevents staff from accessing those records while working remotely during the pandemic. Representative Keller's bill would require the National Personnel Records Center employees to return to the job at 100 percent of capacity and improve the efficiency and responsiveness of the operations at the center. This is not just a request.…”