Express Appeals Act Passes the House

2/9/2016

I’ve heard from too many veterans in El Paso that they have waited years to get an answer to their VA service-connected disability appeal. Based on your input I offered the Express Appeals Act (H.R. 800) which passed the House today, unanimously.

This bipartisan legislation will:

• Create a five-year, pilot program to process fully developed appeals (the program is voluntary).

• Empower veterans to make their own case, and have the option to obtain an expedited result to their appeal, in lieu of the nearly three years, they must wait to have their appeal decided traditionally.

• Give veterans an option to file an Express Appeal with the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA), by including all evidence believed relevant to their appeal up-front (new evidence can be introduced later in the process, in limited circumstances).

This bill does not solve all the issues with appeals but if passed by the Senate and signed by the President, gives our veterans the option to get a quicker answer to their appeal. I am encouraged that a companion bill was offered in Senate at the end of January.