WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) are calling on President Obama to take “direct and public involvement” to reduce the long delays experienced by veterans who file disability claims.

Cochran and Wicker are part of a broad, bipartisan group of 67 Senators who signed a letter to Obama that is critical of the claims backlog within the Department of Veterans Affairs. A recent report by the Center for Investigative Reporting that showed veterans filing first-time claims wait nearly a year or longer before their cases are assessed.

“Our veterans, especially those with disability claims, should not have their cases languishing for these long periods of time. The President should be directly involved in improving the system,” Cochran said.

“The current backlog for veterans who seek disability care underscores the urgent need to fix this broken system” Wicker said. “This situation is unacceptable and unworthy of the sacrifice our brave men and women have given to our nation. I urge the President to act decisively and swiftly to address this problem.”

The letter says there are more than 600,000 veterans with claims pending in the VA backlog. It questions the administration’s handling of these cases, pointing out that the number of pending VA disability claims has increased by more than 2,000 percent in the past four years, despite a 40 percent increase in the VA budget.

The letter states, “Congress has given VA everything it has asked for in terms of more funding and more employees; however, this has not eliminated the backlog of claims. Solving this problem is critical for veterans of all generations. We need direct and public involvement from you to establish a clear plan to end the backlog once and for all.”

LINKS:

• Signed copy of the letter to Obama: http://1.usa.gov/12QuyVG

• Center for Investigative Reporting report: http://bit.ly/18khqsk

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