NEWS FROM….
CONGRESSMAN
LANE EVANS
RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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FOR RELEASE: May 24, 2002 |
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EVANS CALLS FOR MEMORIAL DAY 2002 Washington, DC -- Congressman Lane Evans, the senior Democratic member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, has called for Memorial Day 2002 to be a day of remembrance and recommitment. Memorial Day 2002 will be observed on Monday, May 27th. “All across America, in small towns and large, on Memorial Day we will pay tribute to our war dead. Honoring our war dead began before the Civil War ended. It began as a spontaneous tribute to those who had served and made the ultimate sacrifice. Over the years, this tribute became widespread as it was adopted in communities throughout the Nation. Since 1971, Memorial Day has been observed as a national holiday on the last Monday in the month of May.” “Of all our national holidays, we Americans recognize Memorial Day as our most solemn. Unlike July 4th, when we celebrate our independence, or Veterans’ Day when we honor all valiant citizens who have answered the call to arms, Memorial Day stands alone as a tribute to those who have lost their lives in defense of our Constitution, our country and our way of life. We set aside this day to officially memorialize our fallen, but we must never confine our remembrance of them to this one day alone. Though today is a day for quiet reflection, memory, and mourning, we also celebrate the selfless spirit of those who have given us so much, Evans said. Evans said Memorial Day 2002 must also be a day of recommitment by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to better serve America’s living veterans. In a letter to VA Secretary Anthony Principi, Evans said 13,805 claims for benefits submitted to VA prior to October 1, 2000, had been in remand status for at least 17 months. Although VA is legally required to provide expedited treatment of remanded claims, as of February 27, 2002, more than 1,500 remanded claims had been pending for more than four years with one remanded claim pending more than eight years. “Mr. Secretary, the failure of the Department to provide expedited treatment for remanded claims is not acceptable to our veterans, the Congress, or to you I’m certain,” Evans said. A copy of the Evans’ letter to Secretary Principi is attached. ________________________________________________ May 24, 2002
Honorable Anthony J. Principi Dear Mr. Secretary: Thank you for providing me the information I requested concerning the 13,805 claims for benefits which had been remanded by the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) prior to October 1, 2000, and were still pending a decision as of February 27, 2002. As you know, Public Law 103-446 requires that remanded claims be given expedited consideration. Based on the information you’ve provided, I am forced to conclude the Department is willfully ignoring the law requiring expedited treatment for remanded claims or is incapable of complying with the law. Neither explanation is satisfactory. I know that I need not remind you Mr. Secretary that your Department is not dealing with claims, but with veterans. Our Nation’s veterans who have filed claims for benefits resulting from service-connected disabilities deserve better. All 13,805 claims remanded prior to October 1, 2000, have been in remand status for at least 17 months. One remand is dated November 3, 1993, fast approaching nine years ago. As of February 27, 2002, more than 1,500 remands had been pending for more than four years. Mr. Secretary, the failure of the Department to provide expedited treatment for remanded claims is not acceptable to our veterans, the Congress, or to you, I’m certain. I recognize and appreciate your desire and efforts to improve the timeliness of original claims adjudication. Nonetheless, administrative efforts to obtain productivity on original claims must not be accomplished by ignoring VA’s obligation to comply with the expedited consideration for remanded claims mandated by law. Mr. Secretary, as you know, many veterans are critical about the lack of timeliness in claims adjudication by the Department. While some of these veterans have had an original claim pending for several months, undoubtedly many more are veterans whose claims have been pending in the system for year after year. The length of time these 13,805 remanded claims have been in pending status is unacceptable. As our government remembers its fallen heroes this Memorial Day, we must not only tell our Nation’s veterans that we honor their service and sacrifice, we must show them that we do so by our deeds. In that light, I am asking you to provide me with information regarding VA’s monitoring of “expedited” consideration. Specifically, I request that you provide me the following information: 1. all, currently in effect, timetables which have been established for monitoring compliance with the expedited consideration mandate; 2. all manual instructions, directives or other guidance which have been provided to the regional offices regarding the requirement for providing expedited consideration; 3. information concerning the person or persons responsible at each regional office for assuring compliance with the expedited consideration requirement; 4. any special procedures instituted to implement the legal requirement; and, 5. information concerning the methods used by the Veterans Benefits Administration to assure compliance with the expedited consideration requirement and the effectiveness of such methods. I am concerned that as a result of their efforts to meet production quotas for new claims, regional offices may be ignoring their responsibility to provide expedited consideration of these pending remanded claims. Veterans should not be asked to wait years for compliance with remands from the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims or for expedited treatment of remands from the Board of Veterans Appeals. I would appreciate you providing me a response to this letter no later than June 20, 2002. If you have any questions about this request, please contact Mary Ellen Mc Carthy, Democratic Staff Director, Subcommittee on Benefits at 202-225-9756. Sincerely,
LANE
EVANS -30-
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