NEWS FROM….

CONGRESSMAN LANE EVANS

RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS

    U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FOR RELEASE: October 7, 1999

Of Possible Bar to Veterans Benefits Claims Litigation

Washington, DC – Lane Evans of Illinois, Democratic Leader of the House Veterans Affairs Committee and nine other members of the Committee today urged House and Senate conferees to appropriate not less than $19.006 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for veterans medical care in fiscal year 2000. He also expressed strong opposition to a Senate provision that could effectively restrict a veteran’s right to appeal an erroneous decision involving a claim for VA benefits.

In a brief letter on behalf of the Nation’s veterans, Evans noted both the House and the Senate appropriations measures approved for fiscal year 2000 call for $19 billion for the VA to provide medical care for veterans. The bills are in conference.

"America’s veterans are counting on the conference agreement on H.R. 2684 to appropriate not less than $19 billion," Evans wrote. "As deliberations continue, we call on you to support our Nation’s veterans and to insist the conference agreement provide not less than $19.006 billion for veterans health care in fiscal year 2000." Evans describes that figure as "the minimum funding level needed by VA to fully meet the medical care needs of veterans who rely on VA and to maintain important health care services for America’s veterans."

Evans also calls upon the conferees to reject Section 425 of the Senate-passed appropriations bill. "This broadly-written provision," wrote Evans, "is particularly troubling because of its potential harm to disabled veterans who receive compensation from the VA due to their service-connected disability. After a 10-year struggle to provide veterans the right to appeal a VA decision to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, veterans now face the prospect of having this hard won right undermined.

Under Section 425, a veteran whose claim for increased compensation is denied by VA is discouraged from litigating this adverse and perhaps erroneous bureaucratic decision. The provision provides a five-year bar to benefits for litigating a claim against the federal government. Yet Congress created the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, Evans commented, "precisely because preventing a service-connected disabled veteran from litigating a bad ruling is wrong. Denying a disabled veteran compensation for five years because he or she takes a legal appeal to court is a travesty, and it must not stand."

The nine House Veterans Affairs Committee members joining Evans in signing the letter are Bob Filner (D-CA), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Corrine Brown (D-FL), Collin Peterson (D-MN), Julia Carson (D-IN), Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX), Ronnie Shows (D-MS) and Shelley Berkley (D-NV).