Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. LUTTRELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Bost for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to be here today to speak on S. 2513, the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2024. I am proud to lead the House companion to this bill, H.R. 1530.

Right now, the VA disability compensation claims process has too many barriers that prevent veterans from quickly receiving accurate decisions on their claims for VA benefits.

This bill would cut down on all the red tape. The bill would improve the quality of disability compensation exams by requiring VA to publish those exam forms online and ensure that veterans' representatives are notified of scheduled contracted disability compensation exams so that the veterans do not miss their appointments.

These are commonsense solutions to make the process for applying for disability benefits easier on veterans and their families.

As a veteran myself and chairman of the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, I know the difference these changes will make.

I also thank Representative Ciscomani and Representative Self for working with me on including their legislative proposals in my bill. Their provisions would help ensure that VA and the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims can hire and retain personnel required to process disability compensation claims and provide veterans with timely decisions on their claims.

These provisions are vitally important in light of the growing inventory of disability compensation claims after the implementation of the PACT Act. I am proud of this bill because it addresses many problems that the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs have tried to fix during this Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Pappas, Ranking Member Takano, and Chairman Bost for their leadership, and I urge my colleagues to support S. 2513.

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