"Now it is time for the government to do its duty toward our veterans...Our military doesn’t leave our soldiers behind, and neither should our government."
Congressman Alan Lowenthal on Wednesday introduced an amendment to a military construction and veterans’ programs funding bill aimed at helping to clear a national backlog of Department of Veterans' Affairs disability benefit cases currently impacting hundreds of thousands of American veterans.
The amendment increases total funding allocated to addressing the backlog issue by $10 million.
Co-sponsored with Rep. Jim Costa, the amendment passed by a voice vote of the full House and was added to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2015, which passed the House by a vote of 416-1 Wednesday evening.
The amended funding bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
“It's not only about eliminating the current backlog, it's also about preventing future backlogs. There are now roughly 350,000 veterans that have been waiting more than 125 days to get their benefits. This is wholly unacceptable,” Congressman Lowenthal said.
“These brave Americans didn't ask us to delay their deployments for 125 days when the country needed them. Whether it was in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq – these Americans did their duty. Now it is time for the government to do its duty toward our veterans. As the President said, this is a national priority. Our military doesn’t leave our soldiers behind, and neither should our government.”
Congressman Alan Lowenthal represents the cities of Long Beach, Lakewood, Signal Hill, Avalon, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Cypress, Westminster, Garden Grove, Buena Park, Anaheim, Midway City and Stanton in California’s 47th Congressional District. He can be followed on Facebook, Twitter, or his website.
