The Lonestar Weekly: August 9, 2012

Statement

Dear Texan,

It might not be possible to ever adequately repay our men and women in uniform who voluntarily put themselves in harm's way so that their fellow Americans may live in peace and security. We can only hope to begin to repay this debt of gratitude by taking care of our veterans when they come home. With this in mind, I'm deeply troubled by the massive backlog of veterans' benefits claims in our state. According to the Texas Veterans Commission, since January 2010, the total pending caseload for disability claims in Texas has more than doubled from over 50,934 claims to 107,279 claims as of July 2012. Nearly 70,000 of the claims currently pending have been backlogged for more than 4 months.

I met with veterans in Houston this week to discuss this problem. They shared their experiences of enduring delays in the processing of their disability claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In addition to taking a toll on their health, these delays can also be a financial burden. It's an unacceptable situation, and I pledged to work with them to get the VA to address this problem. I've sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, reminding him of his pledge to expedite the claims process and asking him to address the dismal situation in Texas. For my part, I'll continue to do everything I can to see to it that this problem is solved.
Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator

Source