H.R. 3047 has only been out since
July and is loosely tied to the
public hearings and floor votes
of the Veterans Disability Benefits
Commission. I know because I personally
entered an Endorsement on behalf
of Vets for Justice on a piece of
this legislation in one of my
Commission speeches.

3047 is titled the Veterans Claims
Processing Innovation Act, and you
can fish out the language for it
at www.house.gov, click on Find
Bills and click on Thomas Legislative,
and then type in the bill number
H.R. 3047 and it will come smiling
up on your screen.

This bill is not a panacea for
the entire VA claims crisis, but
it is a good start and should
be supported by Veterans and Activists
if you can find the time. It has
been paired with a second legislative
effort by Congresswoman Ginny Brown
Waite, and I'll cover that one later
on (currently posted on the Republican
Page of the House Veterans Affairs
Committee website).

H.R. 3047 attempts to do a handful
of things:

1. It withholds work credit at the
VARO level on Vet cases UNTIL
such time that the BVA issues
a ruling in that case. No more
numbers hoaxes from the VARO's
while we all sit in queue.

2. It attempts to force the VA
to transitioning all Veterans
disability claims to Electronic
submissions, and uses Artificial
Intelligence to render the
adjudications.

A footnote: during the deliberations
at the VDBC Commission on this
point, the Commissioners emphasized
that the VA should also make provisions
for cases to jump out of the system
and ask for human raters if they
hold complicating factors in their
cases. Duly noted, the commissioners
said not all cases can fit in the VA
box (one size does not fit all).

3. H.R. 3047 also stipulates that the
right of VA claims, passes to the
next survivor if a Veteran dies
while the claim is in progress.
This was a VDBC floor vote and I
was in the room for that when
they took it.

4. Yet more training for VA Raters.


This is a pretty good handful to have
in one single Bill, and there is little
reason for Veterans to Oppose it.