King Reintroduces Legislation to Overhaul Broken VA Appeals Process

Press Release

U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) today joined Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) to reintroduce legislation that would overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs' broken appeals process. The process has not been updated since 1933, and more than 450,000 appeals are currently pending. Because of redundancies and inefficiencies in the current process, most veterans wait years for a decision on their appeals. By replacing the current process, the Department of Veterans Affairs Appeals Modernization Act would expedite appeals before the Board of Veterans Appeals and give veterans clear options after receiving an initial decision.

"A disabled veteran deserves more than a place on a waiting list or getting tied up in a VA backlog. But, too often, Maine veterans are paying the price for bureaucratic failures and that's not only wrong, it's unacceptable," Senator King said. "Veterans deserve a full, fair, and timely review of their appeals and our legislation will help accomplish that."

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