Hearings to examine putting veterans first, focusing on the current VA disability system.
Committee on Veterans' Affairs
2025-10-29
Source: Congress.gov
Summary
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Participants
Transcript
Good afternoon and welcome. It's nice to walk through the halls of Dirksen and see kids trick-or-treating. It gave me a smile. Then it made me sad that I wasn't home. I used to, so I could say I could be with my kids, and now it's like I could be with my grandkids on this occasion. But we have important work here, and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to bring our committee together and take a look at disability issues, and I I thank our witnesses for your presence here today. Senator Blumenthal is on his way. We have a 5 o'clock vote. I'm going to try to get us started, and that means I should stop doing intro and begin the hearing. But I want to say a few things first. Again, appreciate the witnesses that are here. We want your insight and perspective on this issue and know it will benefit us as legislators and will be helpful to veterans and their families that we certainly aim to serve. Our nation owes those who have served in uniform not only gratitude, but a steadfast commitment to provide health care, benefits, and support they've earned through their service. It's our collective duty to make certain that we are doing everything possible to help veterans lead successful and fulfilling lives after their military service. This obligation forms the foundation of this committee's work and the focus of today's hearing. Disability claims process is intended to make certain that those who have a lasting injury, visible or invisible, from their service receive the care and compensation they deserve. Recent articles published by the Washington Post have raised concerns and frustrations within the veteran community. I have heard from numerous veterans and groups who are frustrated that these articles have left an impression that veterans are engaging in widespread fraud in the disability claim space. The cases of fraud highlighted in these articles do not reflect the reality of who veterans are, the vast majority of veteran population, or the values veterans embody. Veterans put country before self, from their decision to serve to the oath they swore. The attention that these stories have received provides us with an opportunity to have an important discussion about whether this system we have built is serving the needs of veterans today and how we can reform it to better serve those who were designed to help.
We have an obligation to the men and women who have injuries or illnesses connected with their service and uniform to make certain they are provided the tools and resources they need to succeed in life after the military. Our goal today is to examine the facts. Is the system ensuring timely, accurate, and fair outcomes? Is it empowering veterans to thrive or inadvertently creating barriers to their success and opportunities after service? Today, we will hear from the VA Inspector General, Cheryl Mason, whose office is responsible for helping to root out fraud and abuse in the VA system and who has extensive experience in the disability claims system as the former chairman, chairwoman of the Board of Veterans' Appeals. representatives from three of our nation's largest, most active veteran service organizations who represent various veteran constituencies day in and day out in the disability claim process, a representative from the Government Accountability Office who has published numerous reports and made numerous recommendations on how to improve oversight and management of the disability claims process, and Daniel Gade, who is a service-connected disabled veteran and a vocal advocate for changing the current disability system to better serve veterans and support their long-term well-being. This is not the first and will not be the last conversation we have in exploring how to better serve veterans and improve disability system to compensate veterans for their service-connected conditions and help them live lives, strong, successful, fulfilling lives after their military service. I look forward to the constructive discussion that I anticipate will take place here And we'll give ranking member Blumenthal, no promotion intended, ranking member Blumenthal the opportunity to offer his opening statement as soon as he sits down.
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We appreciate your public service as veterans and afterward as advocates of our veterans. And today's hearing is really focused on our nation's obligation to men and women in uniform and the system we use to compensate any of them who become ill or injured due to their service. We all know that the system inherited by Secretary Collins was not perfect, but it was providing historic levels of benefits to toxic, exposed veterans, thanks to the bipartisan PAC Act, which all of us on this committee, I think, supported in a very bipartisan way. That same system is being dismantled through a series of really reckless policies, in my view, that have pushed hardworking civil servants who process disability claims to the brink of what they can do. In fact, the administration's draconian deferred resignation program return to office policy, hiring freeze, arbitrary contract cancellation, and other morale-crushing initiatives have driven out more than 1,800 mission-critical VBA employees. The result has been a demoralized VBA workforce who is consistently pushed to sacrifice quality for the sake of quantity. There simply are not enough people doing these jobs for the work to be performed capably at a level that our veterans deserve. It's created more work for claims processors, and today we're going to hear from our VSO witnesses on how this abdication in the name of modernization is impacting the veterans you represent.
I also want to hear your response to those who believe that VA disability compensation is too generous. Not my view.
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