The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has made "significant progress" in trying to work through its backlog of more than 800,000 disability claims, Nextgov reported last week. Since March, the VA has cut the total number of pending claims by roughly 74,000, Thomas Murphy, director of the VA Compensation and Pension Service, said at a hearing of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee last week. He credited much of that to the switch to the automated Veterans Benefits Management System.
Despite the progress, committee chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called the current backlog "unacceptable." He said his committee will continue to keep a close eye on the situation. Article