I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3504 

To provide for a 2 percent rescission of unobligated funds previously appropriated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 

to be used by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to hire claims processors. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 31, 2009 

Mr. MILLER of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Appropriations, and in addition to the Committee on 

Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide for a 2 percent rescission of unobligated funds 

previously appropriated under the American Recovery 

and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to be used by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to hire claims processors. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘VA Case Backlog Alle5 viation and Economic Stimulus Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) During recent testimony in front of the 

2 Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, officials from the 

3 Department of Veterans Affairs stated that there 

4 are approximately 140,000 cases in the Department 

5 claims adjudication system that have been pending 

6 for over 125 days without a decision. 

7 (2) The Department of Veterans Affairs contin8 ually maintains an unacceptably large backlog of 

9 veterans’ cases. 

10 (3) The Department of Veterans Affairs should 

11 never maintain a backlog of more than 50,000 cases 

12 which have been unresolved for more than 125 days. 

13 (4) The Department of Veterans Affairs was 

14 appropriated $1,357,000,000 for fiscal year 2009 

15 for compensation and pension claims processors. 

16 (5) The Department of Veterans Affairs has 

17 seen an increase of 1,800 people to help with com18 pensation and pension claims processing since 2008. 

19 (6) Public Law 111–5, the American Recovery 

20 and Reinvestment Act of 2009, appropriated 

21 $787,000,000,000 in stimulus spending. 

22 (7) A large majority of the stimulus funding 

23 has not been obligated as of the date of the enact24 ment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 3. RESCISSION OF 2 PERCENT OF UNOBLIGATED STIM2 ULUS FUNDS. 

3 (a) RESCISSION.—Effective on the date of the enact4 ment of this Act, there are hereby rescinded 2 percent of 

5 the total amount of the unobligated balances of the discre6 tionary appropriations made available by division A of the 

7 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public 

8 Law 111–5). 

9 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts subject to the rescis10 sion under subsection (a) shall be available to the Sec11 retary of Veterans Affairs to hire Department of Veterans 

12 Affairs claims processors. 

13 (c) ASSIGNMENT OF CLAIMS PROCESSORS.—In hir14 ing claims processors pursuant to subsection (b), the Sec15 retary of Veterans Affairs shall ensure that such proc16 essors are assigned proportionately to each State accord17 ing to the percentage of veterans residing in that State. 

18 SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

19 Not later than one year after the date of the enact20 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 

21 submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Sen22 ate and House of Representatives a report on the transfer 

23 of stimulus funds to the Department of Veterans Affairs 

24 pursuant to section 3 and the status of the backlog of 


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1 claims for benefits under the laws administered by the 

2 Secretary. 

Æ 


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