As the Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Disability Affairs and Memorial Assistance, I take my responsibility to our nation’s veterans very seriously. The men and women who risk their lives for our country deserve the best medical care and benefits we can provide. The US still has hundreds of thousands of troops serving overseas in harm’s way, and it is our solemn duty to make sure they are taken care of when they return home.

I am tremendously proud that during my time in Congress I have been able to support historic increases in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the new Post 9/11 GI Bill which offers veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan the promise of a quality education and major reform of the veterans and many critical reforms to improve the delivery of VA healthcare and benefits. However, there is still so much to be done.

There are a host of issues that the VA Committee is going to address this year, but above all I am committed to working with the veteran community and the VA to find a way to reduce the backlog of pending claims. Below, please find more about this issue and some of the other critical issues I am working to address.

Our nation must do a better job of caring for our current and future veterans. It is unconscionable that we ask the men and women of our Armed Forces to be ready to defend America at a moment’s notice, and then force them to wait months or years to receive the assistance they’ve earned through their service and sacrifice.

By some estimates there are currently almost 1.1 million backlogged claims at the VA. This number is only expected to increase in the near future with the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the VA’s recent commendable decision to recognize Gulf War Illness and new presumptions for Agent Orange. Even the VA itself recognizes that claims system needs to be reformed and rebuilt from the ground up. My Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs subcommittee will focus on this issue in detail and reducing the claims backlog will be my top priority in the Committee.

My conversations with veterans in the Hudson Valley and the many veterans organizations in Washington have led me to focus my efforts at reform on a few key issues: modernizing the VBA’s technology, changing the culture at VBA to focus on quality and simplifying the claims process. If Congress can give the VA the tools to achieve these reforms, the VA will be able to process claims quickly and accurately.

Presumption of Service Connected Disability for Veterans Suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

The VA just announced that it is making it easier for veterans to apply for and receive benefits and healthcare if they are suffering from PTSD. Veterans who show that they served in a warzone and are diagnosed with PTSD will now be on a fast track to receiving benefits. Thousands of veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan may now be eligible for benefits and healthcare, even if their claim was previously denied. No longer will soldiers who experienced shocking and inhuman events on the battlefield have to "prove it" to a skeptical caseworker.

PTSD claims are some of the most complicated and time consuming for the VA to process. The rule change will dramatically simplify this process, and potentially reduce the unacceptable backlog of disability claims, which now exceeds 1.1 million. On average it takes the VA over 160 days to decide a claim, up to three years to complete an appeal. The new rule will accelerate PTSD claims decisions, freeing up VA employees to help other veterans.

For years, achieving this change has been one of my highest priorities in Congress. Least year I introduced the COMBAT PTSD Act (H.R. 952), which focused exclusively on creating a presumption of service connected disability for veterans diagnosed with PTSD. I also discussed the issue with President Obama during a meeting at the White House in early 2009, which led to a meeting with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. By August of 2009, the VA announced that it was drafting the rule.

As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, it is my responsibility to make sure the VA implements this new rule quickly, effectively and fairly. In today’s modern conflicts, everyone serves on the front lines. Our veterans who fight to defend our freedom overseas shouldn't face another battle when they return home.

In 2008, Congress enacted the new GI Bill for the 21st Century - the "Post-9/11 GI Bill" - to restore the promise of a full, four-year college education for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. The measure took effect on August 1st, 2009 and veterans can now apply for a certificate of eligibility for new college benefits at the VA website.

After World War II, the first G.I. Bill provided a college education and job training to nearly 8 million veterans, opening the door for millions of families to live the American Dream. For every dollar invested in the G.I. Bill, seven dollars of economic activity was returned. This also helped to set the American economy on the right course after a draining war.

Previous GI educational benefits pay only about 70 percent of a public college education and 30 percent of a private college education. The Post-9/11 GI Bill fully restores full, four-year college scholarships for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans –equal to the educational benefits available after World War II. This bill will make Iraq and Afghanistan veterans part of an American economic recovery, just as the veterans of World War II helped grow and strengthen the American middle class.

There have been a number of problems implementing the Post-9/11 GI Bill since it went into effect in summer 2009. This includes delays in benefits, problems with direct deposits for some beneficiaries, and disparities in the value of the benefits in different states. Some veterans also found they were unable to use their benefits at some technical schools, apprenticeship and life long learning institutions. I introduced legislation, H.R. 4203, to ensure all veterans could use direct deposit for their GI Bill benefits, and I am working with my colleagues on the VA Committee to address all of these issues.

H.R. 5892, the Disability Claims Modernization Act, legislation I wrote to overhaul the way the VA processes veterans' disability claims has become the law of the land. This legislation truly came as the result of the tireless work of veterans and their families to finally receive the treatment and benefits they deserve. Hundreds of veterans have contacted my office seeking help with their long-overdue claims. They told stories of waiting months and years to receive benefits – benefits earned by their selfless sacrifice -- being given the run around by a Veterans Administration plagued by archaic processing systems and a lack of accountability.

As Chairman of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, I held a series of hearings in Washington, DC, and a field hearing on October 8, 2007 in New Windsor, NY about this unacceptable situation. With the information obtained during these hearings and from meetings with countless veterans, I crafted the Veterans Disability Benefits Claims Modernization Act to overhaul the outdated veterans disability claims process and replace it with one that reflects today's medical conditions and diagnoses, eliminates the unnecessary backlog, accelerates approvals by separating easy to confirm disabilities from more complicated ones, and other improvements.

H.R. 5892 comprehensively modernizes the Veterans Benefits Administration and arms it with the up-to-date tools and paradigms it needs improving accountability, timeliness, and quality. Once fully implemented, this bill will help VA become a 21st century, world-class entity that reflects the selfless sacrifices of those it serves – our veterans, their families, and survivors. I recently held a hearing to review the job the VA is doing to implement the changes requires by H.R. 5892, and I intend to continue holding the VA responsible for implementing these reforms.

One of my first votes in Congress was to increase the VA healthcare budget by nearly $3 billion. Since then, I have continued to support historic budgets for VA healthcare, including new investments in research and treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury, advanced prosthetic research and long term care for elderly veterans who need specialty care.

In 2009, Congress took another historic step by funding the VA healthcare system a year in advance for the first time. No longer will the VA be crippled by late budgets from Congress. This was an important step forward that allows the VA to hire doctors and nurses as planned, keep building new community clinics to serve veterans in rural areas and continue critical research without having to wonder where the money will come from.

Herbicides like Agent Orange used by the military in Vietnam and other places have led to the death and illness of thousands of veterans who honorably served their country. It took far too long for the US Government to acknowledge that it poisoned our soldiers, and now it is taking too long for the VA to get benefits to the men and women whose lives have been greatly impacted by these deadly chemicals.

I am happy that the VA announced in September 2009 that it is adding three diseases to the presumptive list – Parkinson’s disease, ischemic heart disease and hairy cell leukemia. This means that Vietnam Veterans who have these diseases can receive healthcare and benefits from the VA without having to go through a lengthy process to prove their disease was caused by Agent Orange.

If you or a loved one is a Vietnam Veteran who has one of these diseases, visit the VA’s Agent Orange website to explore if you are eligible for benefits. The VA recognizes these diseases as being associated with Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam. I will keep working hard in Congress to make sure that all veterans suffering the affects of being poisoned by Agent Orange receive the healthcare and benefits they deserve.

I will work to insure all veterans receive the benefits they have earned. We must end the practice of reducing a veteran’s pension because he is also receiving disability pay. No other federal employee faces this tax and this discrimination against veterans is unfair.

The veterans of the Lower Hudson Valley deserve great medical care. I will monitor the CARES process closely to ensure that its decisions serve veterans and not VA bureaucrats.