Politics in Action: H.R. 5620

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY

H.R. 5620 – VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act of 2016

(Rep. Miller, R-FL, and 29 cosponsors)

The Administration is committed to ensuring that the Nation's veterans have access to the care, services, and benefits that they have earned.  Over the past seven years, the President has maintained a steadfast commitment to serving veterans and their families.  More veterans are now receiving health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) than ever before, and VA is delivering more benefits to more veterans in a timely and efficient manner.  The Administration is working to end veteran homelessness in cities and states across the country, and has reduced veteran homelessness by nearly half.  Under the leadership of the First Lady and Dr. Biden, through their Joining Forces initiative, the Administration has called on all Americans to rally around service members, veterans, and their families to support them through wellness, education, and employment opportunities.  And Secretary McDonald has initiated the most sweeping organizational transformation in the history of VA, ensuring that the agency is keeping veterans' best interests at the center of everything it does.

H.R. 5620 includes a provision that would enable another essential reform that would build on this record of progress.  By fundamentally restructuring the current process by which veterans can appeal their initial benefits claims decisions, this legislation would ensure that veterans receive the benefits they have earned and are not subject to years of endless waiting and duplicative process.  The current appeals process – built up over 80 years of overlapping laws and regulations – is broken and is failing both veterans and taxpayers.  Today, more than 450,000 appeals are pending at some point in the process, with veterans waiting an average of at least 3 years for a decision.  Moreover, the problem is only going to get worse if the system is not fundamentally reformed.  VA projects that, under the current process, the number of pending appeals will soar to more than 2.17 million by the end of 2027, which will require a significant increase in resources to address and result in veterans continuing to wait for an appeals decision for years.

In response to this critical problem, the Administration, with the support of major veteran advocacy groups, put forward a comprehensive appeals reform proposal that would fix this system.  The essential feature of this new approach is to step away from a unified appeals process that tries to do many unrelated things inside a single process and replace that with differentiated lanes, which give veterans clear options after receiving an initial decision on a claim.  And it would allow all veterans to have a clear answer and path forward on their appeal within one year from filing.  H.R. 5620 adopts this comprehensive reform proposal, and the Administration strongly supports this provision. 

Click here to review the complete statement.  

Source: Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget