The 30-second Web video has the edgy quality of a campaign-season attack ad, including ominous music, grainy photos and a closing demand: “It’s time for new leadership.”
But the target is not an elected official, or a politician at all. It is President Obama’s secretary of veterans affairs, Eric Shinseki, the man being held accountable for his overwhelmed agency’s problems.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 10,000 workers who handle disability claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs will be required to work at least 20 hours of overtime each month in an effort reduce a sizable backlog, the department announced Wednesday.
The overtime requirement will last through September and comes as many federal workers face furloughs because of mandatory budget cuts. The VA was exempt from those spending reductions.
A letter signed by a bipartisan group of 67 senators was sent to the White House Monday urging President Obama to take direct action in resolving the backlog of veterans disability claims.
“We need direct and public involvement from you to establish a clear plan to end the backlog once and for all,” states the letter to Obama, which was put together by Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Dean Heller, (R-Nev.) and signed by more than two-thirds of Senate members.
Under pressure to reduce its immense inventory of disability claims for injured and sick veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced on Friday its plans to process 250,000 claims that are one year or older within the next six months.
The plan calls for regional offices of the Veterans Benefits Administration to issue so-called provisional rulings on all claims that are one year or older, provided a minimum level of evidence has been submitted to support those claims.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is under growing pressure to reduce a mountain of pending veteran disability claims, and a new voice has been added to the chorus — the U.S. Army.
The Army has spent tens of millions of dollars and doubled staffing for a joint program with the VA aimed at cutting the Army's backlog of soldiers waiting to leave the service because of being wounded, ill or injured.
WASHINGTON — Facing growing criticism from Congress, veterans’ groups and even late-night television hosts, the Obama administration announced on Friday that it would include significant increases for veterans’ programs, including money for mental health services, in the budget it unveils next week.
The president’s budget for the 2014 fiscal year will include $63.5 billion in discretionary funds for the Department of Veterans Affairs, a 4 percent increase over the current budget, said Denis R. McDonough, the White House chief of staff.
