The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday that it now has fewer than 100,000 disability claims older than four months, a number one-sixth the size of a long-term backlog that reached a record 611,000 claims in 2013.
Allison Hickey, the agency's undersecretary for benefits, said the backlog of 98,535 claims older than 125 days is the lowest since the agency started measuring it in 2007.
The agency has reduced the backlog in part through use of mandatory overtime for employees in the benefits division, a practice that Hickey said officials hope to stop next month.
Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, credited agency workers for "putting in extra effort" to reduce the backlog and deliver long overdue benefits to more veterans.
A Section on 08/25/2015