The Department of Veterans Affairs is adding staff to keep up with the expected rise in the number of claims made by veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in conflicts ranging from Vietnam to Desert Storm and in the Middle East and Afghanistan, reports the Hill.
The move comes after Congress passed the "Honoring Our PACT Act," which provides care and benefits for 3.5 million exposed veterans, the largest expansion of vets' benefits since at least the GI bill.
"We are focused on hiring efforts up and down the organization," Joshua Jacobs, senior advisor performing the delegable duties of the undersecretary for benefits of the Department of Veterans Affairs, said recently during a hearing held by the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
"VBA has been preparing for PACT Act implementation since last year, hiring approximately 2,000 additional employees. In the next few months thanks to the toxic exposure fund we anticipate adding almost nineteen hundred more employees to our roles," Jacobs added.
Lawmakers are concerned whether the VA can pull it off and committee members say the claims could face a backlog stretching as far as February 2025.
"Unfortunately, you know many of these new hires won't be able to put a dent in backlog until they are fully trained," said ranking member of the committee, Rep. Mike Bost, R-Illinois. "Furthermore, mandatory overtime is costly and can lead to employee burnout."
But "[Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis] McDonough assured us he could implement it without crippling existing operations," he said. "I intend to hold the secretary to his word. Our veterans have waited too long for the VA to fall short now."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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