Two members of the Florida congressional delegation rounded up more than 70 congressional representatives urging the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) increase access as congressional staffers want to help clear the VA’s backlog.
U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, D-Ill., sent a letter to U.S. VA Sec. Robert McDonald, urging him give congressional staffers’ read only access to VA benefit matters. The congressmen insisted this would give congressional staffers more information and would help ease frustrations from constituents.
"After sacrificing so much in service to our nation, it is disgraceful that veterans are still waiting for their claims to be processed to access the benefits they have earned," Murphy said on Wednesday. "By allowing our staff, who are already working closely with the VA, to access these electronic records directly, we can cut through some of the red tape to update our veterans in a more timely manner. I hope the VA will work with us to enact this common-sense change so we can better serve our nation's heroes."
Murphy and Yoho had worked on the matter before. Back in April, the two Florida congressmen gathered more than 100 of their colleagues to press McDonald for their offices to have electronic access to VA claims in order to help constituents. On Wednesday, Yoho pointed to that effort and said he hoped VA would respond to this latest request.
"A year ago, this coming April, we sent a letter to Secretary McDonald requesting that read-only access be granted to our congressional staff so they may better serve the veterans we represent,” Yoho said. “This request is a win-win for everyone; veterans, the VA, and congressional staff. It is unfortunate that our veterans continued to wait extended periods of time for their claims to move through the VA backlog. Granting read-only access will help expedite the claims process and help alleviate the workload faced by the VA and the congressional staff processing these claims. Our veterans have given our country so much, have honorably served, and red tape should not meet them during their time of need."
Yoho, Murphy and Davis garnered almost 75 members of the House to sign on their letter to McDonald which was sent off on Tuesday. Other members of the Florida delegation who signed include Republican U.S. Reps. Carlos Curbelo, Ron DeSantis, Mario Diaz-Balart, Rich Nugent Tom Rooney, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Dennis Ross and Democratic U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson,
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
