NEWS FROM….

CONGRESSMAN LANE EVANS

RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS

    U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Washington, DC – President Clinton has signed legislation to restore the responsibility of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to help disabled veterans file claims for benefits, capping a year-long campaign Congressman Lane Evans (D-IL) initiated last year. "In a Catch-22 court ruling," said Evans, the Ranking Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, "VA was prohibited from helping veterans get information needed to decide their claims. Congress and the President are overriding that decision."

Last year the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims overturned VA’s long-standing responsibility to assist veterans in developing claims for compensation for service-connected disability and other benefits in Morton v. West. The Court prohibited VA from assisting claimants until after the veterans themselves establish that their claims are "well grounded."

"Veterans have been caught in a classic Catch-22," Evans says. "If you can prove you’ve got a good case, the VA will help you prove you’ve got a good case. If you need help, they can’t help you. But helping veterans is VA’s job."

Evans swiftly introduced the "Duty to Assist Veterans Act" last year. The bill Clinton has signed – the Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000, H.R. 4864 -- is the work of members of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees, the veterans service organizations and the administration. It has broad bipartisan support.

All the critical provisions of the Evans "Duty to Assist Veterans Act" have been incorporated into Public Law 106-475. These include:

• Removal of the well-grounded claim requirement
• Duty to assist all claimants
• Additional specific requirements for service-connected disability claims

The duty to assist language is intended to provide VA the flexibility to make whatever reasonable efforts are needed to properly adjudicate a particular claim, Evans said. "If a pension applicant needs a medical examination to determine disability, I fully expect VA to provide a medical examination. If a medical evaluation or opinion is needed to resolve conflicts in the medical evidence, I fully expect VA to obtain the requisite examination or opinion," he explained. Veterans whose claims were rejected as "not well-grounded" under the Morton decision will have a two-year window to have their claims readjudicated under the new law.

"We need to make sure we compensate our disabled veterans fairly, quickly and accurately," said Evans. "These gallant men and women have faced great risks and made the painful sacrifices that have kept America free. You can’t put a price on what they’ve given. I am proud to have been part of a significant repair for a troubled system."