Ranking Member Walz Opening Statement: Full Committee Hearing On Appeals Reform Implementation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Ranking Member Tim Walz (D-MN) gave the following opening statement as the Committee met in open session to conduct an oversight hearing examining the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) implementation of the PL 115-55, Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017.
Ranking Member Walz Opening Statement As Prepared For Delivery
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act Congress passed last year is designed to be the most significant reform affecting VA disability compensation appeals in a generation.
I want to recognize the work of our DAMA Subcommittee Chair, Mike Bost, and Ranking Member, Elizabeth Esty, who sponsored the original bill together and put a tremendous amount of time and effort to get us to this point.
If we get it right, the current out-of-date system we know is not serving veterans will be transformed into one veterans can trust to be fair, timely, and perhaps most of all, respectful of their service.
Today’s hearing is an opportunity for the Committee to take a look at how VA is preparing for February, 2019, when the new system officially rolls out. That is a little more than 12 months from today.
I am hoping we will hear that:
- planning is on track,
- performance measurements are in place,
- IT essential to handle the heavier workload at the Board of Veterans Appeals is being tested,
- authorized staff has been hired and are being trained,
- regulations are drafted and being vetted with VSO stakeholders,
- veteran letters and call scripts are being tested in veteran focus groups.
I want to thank the GAO for the work it has done at our request to assess how the planning is going. Their report makes it clear that key elements are either incomplete or missing. This raises significant concerns, yet GAO describes VA’s plan as “a positive step forward,” and, their title is optimistic, “Opportunities Exist to Better Ensure Successful Appeals Reform.” I hope VA will pinpoint those opportunities for us here today so we can join in the optimism.
To the stakeholder groups here, the VSOs and NOVA, your input has been integral to getting us to this point. Your willingness to form the work group three years ago and commit to passage of the Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act last year was unprecedented. Your feedback has already been important to ensuring that RAMP invitation and notification letters communicate in clear and understandable terms with veterans. I am intent on insuring that VA continues to seek and incorporate your suggestions as regulations, practices and procedures are finalized. I’m going to ask you later how you feel this is going and what I can do to guarantee that as the pace picks up, stakeholder input will not be left in the wake.
I want to thank the Chairman for holding this hearing and for providing a variety of stakeholders the opportunity to air their views alongside VA and GAO. I regret that US Digital Services cannot be here to since IT development is such a key component to the success of appeals modernization. We know that developing the necessary data systems at VBA and the Board must be made a priority at VA. So, despite our not being able to hear from the party responsible for this, I’m going to ask the Chairman to work with me outside this hearing to pursue answers to the questions of where we are with IT development now and what obstacles we can clear out of the way, so the delays and cost overruns we have seen in the past at VBA might be avoided. It is so important, perhaps we need to consider a separate hearing in the next few weeks just on that.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I just want to say that we are all here for the long run dedicated to finding ways to make appeals reform work for veterans. The law is in place and there is no doubt that the VA leadership is dedicated to getting it right.
But it bears remembering that even if everything works as we hope and veterans are able to get decisions on appeals in three years as opposed to seven, they have still had to wait for benefits they earned and need, and which should be provided to them when they leave military service.
That should be our ultimate goal, because as we all know that when they do finally come, disability compensation benefits change veterans’ lives for the better.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Background
As of October 2017, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had 471,000 appeals and veterans were waiting an average of 3 years for resolution of their appeals by the Agency’s Veterans’ Benefits Administration (VBA). Appeals at the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) were averaging 7 years from initiation date to resolution. The Board is currently working on legacy docket dates from June 2014. The Appeals Modernization Act became PL 115-55 on 8/23/2017. It authorizes implementation of an updated appeal system for veterans’ disability compensation and pension claims which would replace the antiquated “legacy” appeal system. The official launch date is February, 2019.
Witnesses
Panel 1
The Honorable Thomas G. Bowman
Deputy Secretary
U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Accompanied by:
The Honorable Cheryl L. Mason
Chairman
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Mr. David R. McLenachen
Director, Appeals Management Office
Veterans Benefits Administration
U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Mr. David J. Barrans
Chief Counsel, Benefits Law Group
Office of General Counsel
U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs
The Honorable Gene L. Dodaro
Comptroller General
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Accompanied by:
Ms. Elizabeth H. Curda
Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Team
U.S. Government Accountability Office
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Panel 2
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Mr. Jim Marszalek National Service Director Disabled American Veterans
Ms. Diane Boyd Rauber, Esq. Executive Director National Organization of Veterans’ Advocates
Mr. Steven Henry Associate Legislative Director Paralyzed Veterans of America |
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