July 19, 2015

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Corrine Brown’s Statement at House VA Committee Hearing on ‘Exploring VA’s Administration of Individual Unemployability Benefits’

Washington D.C.- House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs Ranking Member Corrine Brown made the following opening statement:

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman

We are here today to discuss some of our most disabled veterans who are receiving individual unemployability.

I think it is important that during this hearing we not lose sight of what are talking about here.  We are not talking about costs or numbers, we are talking about people.  Men and women who put everything on the line, were injured greatly, and are now receiving additional funds because an injury has left them unable to work.  

Why have these costs ballooned? As the DAV notes, we have higher numbers of seriously disabled veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, VA is completing record numbers of disability claims, VA’s intense outreach efforts to provide benefits to our veterans, and the expansion of presumptions related to Agent Orange and PTSD.

With that said there is still work to do. The GAO in their review of the IU program identified four areas for improvement.VA concurred with the GAO’s findings. I look forward to hearing from VA on their progress to complete GAO’s recommendations.

Again, these are some of our most vulnerable disabled veterans. Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working with you in the bipartisan spirit of our committee to ensure that our    nation adequately compensates our veterans for their loss in defense of this great nation.

Thank you Mr. Chairman and I yield back the balance of my time.”