Clear Communication for Veterans Claims Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my support for H.R. 1039, the Clear Communication for Veterans Claims Act.

When a veteran applies for benefits at VA, the agency corresponds with that veteran at multiple points in the process regarding their claim. This communication is often through letters that can be densely laden with legal jargon and confusing information, which makes it hard for the veteran to understand what is required of them or the benefits decision VA has arrived at. This can lead the veteran to miss important deadlines or fail to submit proper documentation, which can ultimately lead to the rejection of their claims.

Under the Biden administration, VA already launched an internal review of these notice letters and had already redrafted many of them to be more direct and easier to understand, but VA could also use some outside help in reviewing the literally thousands of different possible letters they might send to a veteran.

H.R. 1039 seeks to provide that assistance. Specifically, it mandates that VA make its notice letters--documents that explain decisions on benefits--shorter, clearer, and easier for veterans and their families to understand. This bill requires the VA to contract with a third party to assess and recommend improvements to these letters, which often contain complex legal language that confuses veterans.

The bill also sets deadlines for action: The VA must contract with a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, or FFRDC, to evaluate these communications within 30 days of the bill's enactment and submit its recommendations within 90 days. This effort aims to streamline the claims process and reduce the stress and confusion many veterans face when dealing with their benefits.

Mr. Speaker, in spite of my support for the substance of this measure, I want to raise concern with the majority's choice to offset the cost of this bill by continuing to divert pension payments from the oldest and most sick veterans in VA's system. I understand that this offset has been used in the past and has existed in some form since the 1960s. However, given that this administration, with the enabling of a feckless Republican-led Congress, has been working overtime to hollow out VA, we must rethink whether or not it is appropriate to continue its use.

Aside from the moral failing of cutting one veterans' benefit to pay for another, VA's pension programs are designed specifically to support the poorest and sickest veterans and their survivors. Therefore, this continued reduction in pension payments poses real risks when the other services these veterans might need to fall back on are also being cut.

Mr. Speaker, again, I support the substance of this bill, but I think we should have a very serious conversation about the majority's choice to perpetuate cutting veterans' pensions, and I believe that we should include this item in any negotiations with the Senate before this bill becomes law.

Mr. Speaker, with those concerns in mind, I support this legislation and ask my colleagues to do the same.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. Budzinski), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Technology Modernization.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask all of my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source