October 01, 2013

Rep. Titus Co-hosts Bipartisan Roundtable on VA Appeals Backlog

Washington, D.C.  – Today, Rep. Dina Titus (NV-01), Ranking Member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, co-hosted a roundtable on the VA appeals process with Rep. Jon Runyan (NJ-03), the subcommittee’s chairman.

The roundtable attendees included representatives from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Board of Veterans’ Appeals, the courts, and subject matter experts. Titus amended legislation that is now pending in the House (HR 2189) to create a taskforce focused on appeals. She has continued to be concerned with the appeals process following a hearing in June when it became clear that there was no VA plan to address a likely massive increase in appeals. Today’s roundtable was the first step toward meeting the goal of preventing a backlog in appeals.  

“The roundtable brought the right people into the room to start the conversation. I’m hopeful it leads to a collaborative plan similar to the efforts that led to the transformation of claims processing,” said Titus.

VA’s claims backlog has been reduced by more than 30% since March of this year.  

“It is now incumbent upon VA to act systematically to attack, reduce, and eliminate the appeals backlog,” said Titus.