Legislative Hearing on: H.R. 3123, Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act; H.R. 3627, Justice for America’s Veterans and Survivors Act of 2025; H.R. 3833, Veterans’ Caregiver Appeals Modernization Act of 2025; H.R. 3834, Protecting Veterans Claim Options Act; H.R. 3835, Veterans Appeals Efficiency Act of 2025; H.R. 3854, Modernizing All Veterans and Survivors Claims Processing Act; H.R. 3983 Veterans Claims Quality Improvement Act of 2025; H.R. 3951, Rural Veterans’ Improved Access to Benefits Act of 2025; H.R. 659, Veterans Law Judge Experience Act; H.R. 2055, Caring for Survivors Act; H.R. 2701, Fallen Servicemembers Religious Heritage Act; H.R. 2721, Honoring our Heroes Act

House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs

2025-06-24

Loading video...

Summary

This meeting of the subcommittee focused on a series of legislative proposals aimed at improving benefits and processes for veterans, their caregivers, and survivors [ 00:17:20 ] [ 00:17:21 ]

. Lawmakers highlighted the importance of bipartisan cooperation to address these critical issues . The discussions covered various challenges within the Veterans Affairs (VA) system, emphasizing the need for efficiency, accuracy, and timely decisions for those who have served the nation .

Themes

Improving the VA Appeals Process and Addressing Backlogs

Several bills discussed aim to streamline the VA appeals process and enhance the quality of decisions. Chairman Luttrell's bill, HR 3983, the Veterans Claims Quality Improvement Act of 2025, seeks to improve accuracy and fairness by mandating robust training, tracking programs, and annual performance reviews for Board judges and attorneys [ 00:17:59-00:18:42 ]

. He noted that a significant percentage of Board appeals were returned by the U.S. Court of Veterans' Appeals due to legal errors, indicating flawed quality ratings [ 00:18:02-00:18:27 ] . Chairman Bost introduced two bills: HR 3835, the Veterans Appeals Efficiency Act, which proposes aggregating similar claims to reduce backlogs and codifying the court's authority for limited remands, and HR 3834, the Protecting Veterans Claim Option Act, which aims to ensure claims are decided on their merits and allow for additional evidence submission . Congresswoman Brownley's HR 659, the Veterans Law Judge Experience Act, suggests prioritizing the hiring of veteran law judges with prior experience to reduce backlogs and improve decision accuracy . She expressed concern over the VA's opposition to her bill, citing the delays caused by inexperienced hires .

Professor Michael Wishnie supported HR 3835, highlighting aggregation as a tool used by other federal courts to ensure consistent rulings and judicial economy . He pointed out that the Board's current inability to aggregate claims is an outlier among federal agencies . In contrast, Mr. Dykert from the VA noted that discrepancies in quality rates between the Board and the Court often arise because veterans typically secure attorney representation at the court level, leading to a more thoroughly presented case . Colonel Tiffany Wagner from the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims expressed caution regarding ambiguous language in HR 3835, suggesting it could inadvertently limit the court's existing authority or increase caseload . Questions were also raised about the Board's quality review process, which examines only 5% of dispatched decisions annually, and the limited number of personnel dedicated to this oversight .

Support for Veterans' Caregivers and Survivors

The subcommittee also discussed legislation aimed at providing better support for caregivers and survivors. Congressman Barrett's HR 3833, the Veterans Caregiver Appeals Modernization Act, seeks to streamline the caregiver program application and appeals process, ensuring timely decisions and addressing back-allotted financial support when veterans pass away . Congresswoman Hayes introduced the Caring for Survivors Act, which proposes to modernize Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) for surviving family members by increasing the rate to 55% of a totally disabled veteran's benefit and reducing the disability rule from 10 to 5 years [ 01:57:35-01:58:08 ]

. She noted that the current DIC rate was set in 1993 and lags behind other federal programs [ 01:57:46-01:57:48 ] . Congresswoman Stefanik's HR 3123, the Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act, aims to ensure that veterans' pre-approved pension benefits are paid within the month of death to prevent financial burdens on grieving families . Congressman Kennedy's HR 2721, the Honoring Our Heroes Act, proposes a pilot program to provide headstones or burial markers for veterans who passed before November 1, 1990, correcting an old cost-saving measure .

Julie Guliff shared a powerful personal testimony about her struggles as a caregiver, experiencing delays and denials in the VA's caregiver program, which led to financial ruin and homelessness after her husband's death . She urged the passage of HR 3833 to prevent others from enduring similar hardships . Candace Wheeler from the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) strongly supported the Caring for Survivors Act and the Veterans Caregiver Appeals Modernization Act . Mr. Friel from the VA sought clarification on the cost implications of changes to the DIC rules in the Caring for Survivors Act, particularly concerning the 5-year disability rule . Dr. Colleen Richardson from the VA stated that the Caregiver Support Program processes 86% of initial applications within 90 days, but acknowledged that appeals can take longer [ 03:03:14 ]

. She also affirmed that unpaid stipends can be retroactively paid to family caregivers if sufficient information is available .

Data Collection for Veteran Suicide and Mortality

Congressman Edwards introduced the Justice for Americans Veterans and Survivors Act, aiming to collect accurate and comprehensive data on veteran mortality, particularly concerning suicide, overdose, and self-harm [ 02:40:40-02:41:06 ]

. He emphasized that current data collection methods miss many veterans and hinder efforts to address the mental health crisis and provide benefits to families [ 02:41:06-02:41:16 ] . The VA supports the intent of this bill but expressed concerns about the feasibility of tracking new data elements not currently collected and the challenges in directly linking suicide to service-connected disabilities without specific death certificate codes . TAPS also supports this legislation, noting its importance for suicide prevention and understanding illness-related deaths .

Modernizing VA Operations and Technology

The Modernizing All Veterans and Survivors Claims Processing Act aims to expand the use of automation tools across the VA to improve efficiency, accuracy, and communication in claims processing . Mr. Kevin Friel from the VA explained that automation has been ongoing since 2014, processing over 320,000 claims this year without leading to job losses, but rather reassigning employees . He cited examples of claims, such as DIC, being processed in hours without human interaction in some cases . Ranking Member McGarvey, while not against technology, voiced concerns about true end-to-end automation, emphasizing the need for human involvement and potential job displacement within the VBA, which he believes could ultimately harm veterans [ 03:18:39-03:18:40 ]

. He also questioned a recent bulletin that extended probationary periods for BVA employees, raising concerns about morale and retention .

Tone of the Meeting

The overall tone of the meeting was collaborative and empathetic, with a strong focus on bipartisan efforts to improve the lives of veterans and their families [ 01:28:01 ]

. There was evident concern and empathy for the struggles faced by veterans, caregivers, and survivors, particularly highlighted by the emotional testimony of Mrs. Julie Guliff . However, this was coupled with a palpable frustration with bureaucratic inefficiencies, delays, and a perceived lack of accountability within the VA system [ 00:18:33 ] . Despite these frustrations, the members expressed a determined commitment to finding practical and workable solutions through legislative action .

Participants

Transcript

Morgan Joe Luttrell

Subcommittee will come to order. Good afternoon, everyone. How's everybody today? Very colorful. I enjoy the yellow and the blues. Livens the place up a little bit. We are here to discuss 12 bills that would benefit veterans and their survivors. These bills would ensure that veterans, their caregivers, and their survivors all receive fast, accurate, and fair decisions on their claims for VA benefits. Bill on the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017 by further streamlining and modernizing the VA appeals process. Provide employees from across VA the technology, training, and resources they need to efficiently process and decide VA claims and appeals. Ensure that rural veterans can receive disability compensation exams where they are. Expand survivors benefits and ensure that fallen service members and veterans are properly commemorated and require VA to obtain and track necessary information concerning disabled veterans who have died by suicide. I am proud to have one of my bills on today's agenda. HR 3983, the Veterans Claims Quality Improvement Act of 2025 would ensure that veterans and their families receive accurate and fair decisions on their claims and appeals for VA benefits. The VA Board of Veterans' Appeals has reported to Congress quality rates of roughly 95%. However, the subcommittee has learned that these ratings are quite possibly flawed. We have heard that the way the board calculates quality does not fully account for the legal errors identified by the U.S. Court of Veterans' Appeals. In fact, the court reported in 2024 that 83% of board appeals were returned to the board because of legal errors. Many of these mistakes the board continues to make over and over again. And for too long, the board has been passing the buck to the court, leaving the veterans waiting longer for a decision on their claims. This bill would change that and would require the board to carry out a robust training and tracking program using the proper data measurements so board judges and attorneys can learn from their mistakes. When the Veterans Benefit Administration at VA denies a benefits claim, that veteran has the option to appeal to the board.

Morgan Joe Luttrell

We have heard that the board often sends veterans cases back to the VBA instead of deciding the claim. In fact, the board reported it sent back nearly 50% of all the appeals it received in 2024. This is unnecessary and remains a waste of time and resources. This can add months or even years to the wait times for a veteran to receive a final decision on their claim. Again, this is unacceptable. It's the responsibility of the board judges to ensure that all remains are correct, fair, and timely. Under the current law, performance reviews on board judges are only required every three years. This bill would change that requiring board judges to undergo annual performance reviews. This bill would also hold VBA claims processors accountable for avoidable deferrals of veterans claims. It would ensure that when a VBA claims processor mistakenly requests additional evidence for a veteran's claims, all claims processors who may have made the same mistake on that case are notified, not just the last one to work on the claim itself. It provides an opportunity for the claims processors to correctly address claims going forward. and become better at their jobs. The VA has a hard job nonetheless, but veterans deserve a claims and appeals process that puts them first. This bill helps make sure that we have an adaptable VA that learns from its mistakes to better serve our veterans. Chairman Bost, chairman of the VA committee, and I have both gone through the disability claims process ourselves, and it is a top priority for us to ensure that the process works for every veteran caregiver and survivor. I look forward to working with Chairman Bost, Ranking Member McGarvey, and other members of this subcommittee on this important proposal today. I look forward to hearing from witnesses who have joined us today and how we can improve these bills. I now yield to the Ranking Member for his opening remarks.

Morgan McGarvey

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you all for being here today. We've got a packed agenda with votes coming up soon, so I want to be brief. First of all, Mr. Chairman, thank you for your willingness to continue to work on this committee in a mission-focused manner, a bipartisan way that looks out and cares for our veterans. We've got a lot of good bipartisan bills here today, and you've always been willing to work through some of the issues we may encounter in creating not just well-intentioned but also well-functioning legislation as we move forward. I'm happy to see Miss Brownlee spill the Veterans Law Judge Experience Act of 2025 on the agenda day. This is a great bill dovetails with one of the efforts I've worked on with the Board of Veterans Appeals Attorney Retention Backlog Reduction Act. because it further emphasizes the need to hire and retain the best and most qualified attorneys and judges on the board. This helps our veterans.

Sign up for free to see the full transcript

Accounts help us prevent bots from abusing our site. Accounts are free and will allow you to access the full transcript.