TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — When President Biden signed the PACT Act into law last August, the White House said it was the “most significant expansion of VA health care in 30 years.”
The federal law provides additional care for veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits and other toxic exposure and expanded other benefits.
Since the bill was signed into law, the VA says more than 112,000 veterans have filed new disability compensation claims, in addition to the already-high number of claims and appeals awaiting decisions—putting a strain on the system.
That's where the Veterans’ Appeals Backlog Improvement Act, introduced Tuesday by Arizona's freshman congressman, Rep. Juan Ciscomani, comes in. I talked with him Tuesday about H.R. 1378, the bipartisan bill that aims to cut wait times for VA disability claims waiting to be processed.
"The whole goal is to be able to minimize the backlog and make sure that our veterans get responses as quick as possible," Ciscomani said. "That is done by incentivizing both law school students and also entry-level attorneys that are starting out their career, this will be a great place for them to lend their services."
The bill is designed to improve the Board of Veterans Appeals ability to hire qualified attorneys and law school students to address the backlog with new hiring protocols. The bill seeks to:
- Establish a competitive internship program for law students to serve with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Board of Veterans’ Appeals
- Create a nine-year pilot honors program for recruiting entry-level attorneys
- Authorize a report on improving access to the Board’s tele-hearings
The Department of Veterans Affairs said late in 2022 that it was in the process of actively recruiting and hiring new staff to keep up with the new PACT Act-related claims.
According to Ciscomani's office, the average veteran filing an appeal faces a wait time of 440 days before a decision. He says hiring the right people, as his bill encourages, can help cut down those waits.
"These programs will enlist our brightest legal minds to assist the Board of Veterans’ Appeals with overcoming this unacceptable backlog," Ciscomani said. "It will also offer aspiring public servants an invaluable opportunity to serve their country.”
Ciscomani, who sits on the Veterans Affairs Committee, joined Kentucky democratic Rep. Morgan McGarvey to co-sponsor the bipartisan legislation. This is the first piece of legislation Ciscomani has introduced since taking office in January.
He tells me that with such bipartisan support, he expects the bill to make it to President Biden's desk.
More on H.R. 1387 at congress.gov.
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