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Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Terry Everett (R-AL) warns of further hearings on the VA’s disability claims process, and, if necessary, the investigation of criminal wrong-doing. |
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| Ranking Democratic Member Corrine Brown (D-FL), left, grills a panel as Chairman Everett and Counsel Kingston Smith listen. At right, the VA’s Joseph Thompson, Under Secretary for Benefits, Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), outlines his department’s efforts to improve the disability claims process. He was accompanied by Robert Epley, VBA’s Director of Compensations and Pension Service, foreground, and Patrick Nappi, VBA’s Deputy Under Secretary for Field Operations. | |
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| At left, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) listens to a constituent, Johnny Nixon, testify on his experiences with the VA claims adjudication process. Another veteran who experienced long delays, Eugene Birge, waits to testify. Rep. Bill McCollum (R-FL), right, asked to testify about VA claims processing in his Congressional District. | |
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| At left, Michael G. Sullivan, VA’s Assistant Inspector General, reports on his department’s investigation of the VA disability claims process. He was accompanied by Deputy Assistant Inspector General Michael Slachta, Jr. At far right, Cynthia Bascetta, Associate Director, Health, Education and Human Services Division, General Accounting Office (GAO) tells the Subcommittee about the GAO investigation of VA. She was accompanied by the Division’s Assistant Director Irene Chu, partially hidden, and Helen Lew, Assistant Director of the GAO’s, Accounting and Information Management Division. Behind the witnesses are charts showing the complexity of the VA’s disability claims process and the resulting delays. | |
