Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. RUIZ. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an amendment to H.R. 4486, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.

This amendment is for the brave men and women who have served our country, our veterans. Right now, in my district and across the Nation, thousands of veterans who have sacrificed for our country are struggling to receive access to benefits that they have earned. This is due to the enormous claims backlog at the Veterans Affairs Administration.

Currently, California is home to almost 2 million veterans, almost 140,000 in Riverside County alone. There is an additional 40,000 veterans expected to return to the State every year for the next several years.

As our troops continue to return home and assimilate back into civilian life, it is critical we are able to keep faith with our veterans and ensure they have timely access to critical benefits.

Too often, Washington becomes bogged down with statistics on a page or numbers on a screen that show how this backlog is affecting veterans, but the people this is affecting are not just a statistic. They are men and women, like retired Air Force Master Sergeant Andrew Walker and his family from Beaumont, California, who I represent.

Mr. Walker and his family struggled with the VA, waiting years on end, without receiving the critical health benefits he earned and needed. Due to what seemed like an insurmountable claims backlog, Mr. Walker told me that he suffered pain and frustration, leading to hopelessness and despair. He felt dejected and lost. This is unconscionable and no way to treat a veteran and his family.

I am thankful I was able to help resolve Mr. Walker's claim, but the reality is there are many more stories just like this one that continue every day across the country. It is critical that we as a Nation work urgently to address the claims backlog.

That is why I am offering this amendment to advocate for an additional $5 million to fund the digital scanning of health and benefits files to reduce the backlog by redirecting funding within the general operating expenses account of the Veterans Benefits Administration.

This amendment simply directs funds towards the digital scanning of health and benefit files that will reduce the claims backlog without any new spending. As an emergency medicine physician, I understand the importance of efficiency in health care.

By committing resources to digitizing health and benefit files, we will further increase VA's capacity to tackle the claims backlog, ensuring veterans receive the benefits that they have earned in a timely manner.

Let us continue to bear in mind that these men and women have served this country and they have put their lives on the line. We must serve them by making certain that Congress focuses on eliminating the claims backlog for good.

I encourage my colleagues to stand up for veterans and support my pragmatic amendment to reduce the veterans' claims processing time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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