I 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3087 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 26, 2009 Mr. Butterfield introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a deadline for decisions with respect to claims for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

1.

Findings

Congress makes the following findings: (1)As of May 18, 2009, the pending workload for pension and compensation claims was 725,051, and of this total, 146,565 or 20.2 percent of such claims had been pending for more than 180 days (the criteria used by the Department of Veterans Affairs for backlog). (2)The claims backlog of the Department of Veterans Affairs was 803,000 on January 5, 2009, and the backlog hit 915,000 on May 4, 2009, a staggering 14 percent increase in four months. (3)The issue of backlogs has become so dire that veterans now wait an average of six months to receive disability benefits and as long as four years for their appeals to be heard in cases where their benefits were denied. (4)The importance of receiving timely benefit decisions is evidenced by the fact that the suicide rates among veterans in January and February of 2009 were higher than the number of combat deaths in war zones during that same time period. (5)The four step process for a veteran to get a local determination with respect to the veteran’s claim for benefits currently does not have a time period in which the determination is required to be made. (6)Section 5108 of title 38, United States Code, provides, “When there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding any issue material to the determination of a matter, the Secretary shall give the benefit of the doubt to the claimant.”.

2.

Deadline for decisions with respect to claims for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs

(a)

Deadline for decisions

Section 5104 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (c)The Secretary shall make a decision with respect to each claim for benefits under the laws administered by the Secretary, and notify the claimant of such decision, by not later than 18 months after the date on which the claim is submitted to the Secretary. Any claim for which the Secretary has not made a decision by the deadline under the preceding sentence shall be automatically approved. . (b)

Applicability

(1)

In general

Subsection (c) of section 5104 of title 38, United States Code, shall apply with respect to a claim submitted on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. (2)

Claims submitted before date of enactment

(A)

Deadline

By not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall— (i)make a decision with respect to each claim for benefits under the laws administered by the Secretary that is submitted before the date of the enactment of this Act; and (ii)provide notice of such decision to the claimant who submitted the claim. (B)

Automatic approval of delayed claims

Any claim covered by subparagraph (A) for which the Secretary does not make a decision by the deadline under that subparagraph shall be automatically approved.

3.

Taskforce on claims process

The Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall establish a taskforce to monitor the process by which claims for benefits under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs are decided. Such taskforce shall be responsible for ensuring that such claims— (1)are not denied arbitrarily so as to avoid responsibility for the cost of the claim; and (2)are decided in an appropriate manner.