To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a plan to reduce the current backlog of veterans claims.

SA 3158. Mr. CORNYN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 3254, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2013 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle H of title X, add the following:

SEC. 1084. PLAN TO PARTNER WITH STATE AND LOCAL ENTITIES TO
ADDRESS VETERANS CLAIMS BACKLOG.

(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Department of Veterans Affairs defines any claim
for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs as backlogged if the claim has been pending
for 125 days or more.
(2) According to the Department, as of November 24, 2012,
there were 899,540 pending claims, with 604,583 (67.2
percent) of those considered backlogged.
(3) The Department's data further shows that, on November
22, 2010, there were 749,934 claims pending, with only
244,129 (32.6 percent) of those considered backlogged.
(4) During the past two years, both the overall number of
backlogged claims and the percentage of all pending claims
that are backlogged have doubled.
(5) In order to reduce the claims backlog at regional
offices of the Department of Veterans Affairs located in
Texas, the Texas Veterans Commission announced two
initiatives on July 19, 2012, to partner with the Department
of Veterans Affairs--
(A) to assist veterans whose claims are already backlogged
to complete development of those claims; and
(B) to help veterans who are filing new claims to fully
develop those claims prior to filing them, shortening the
processing time required.
(6) The common goal of the two initiatives of the Texas
Veterans Commission, called the ``Texas State Strike Force
Team'' and the ``Fully Developed Claims Team Initiative'', is
to reduce the backlog of claims pending in Texas by 17,000
within one year.
(7) During the first two months of these new initiatives,
the Texas Veterans Commission helped veterans complete
development of more than 2,500 backlogged claims and assisted
veterans with the submission of more than 800 fully developed
claims.
(8) In testimony before the Subcommittee on Disability
Assistance and Memorial Affairs of the Committee on Veterans'
Affairs of the House of Representatives on September 21,
2012, Diana Rubens, Deputy Under Secretary for Field
Operations of the Veterans Benefits Administration, indicated
that the Department of Veterans Affairs has experienced
positive outcomes in projects with the Texas Veterans
Commission, stating that both Veterans Service Organizations
``and state and county service officers . . . are important
partners in VBA's transformation to better serve Veterans.''.
(9) At the same hearing, Mr. John Limpose, director of the
regional office of the Department of Veterans Affairs in
Waco, Texas, testified that the ``TVC is working very, very
well'' with regional offices of the Department in Texas,
calling the Texas Veterans Commission a ``very positive story
that we can branch out into . . . all of our stakeholders.''.
(b) Report.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 60 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
shall submit to Congress a plan to reduce the current backlog
of pending claims for benefits under laws administered by the
Secretary and more efficiently process claims for such
benefits in the future.
(2) Contents.--The report required by paragraph (1) shall
include the following:
(A) A summary of all steps the Secretary has taken thus far
to partner with non-Federal entities in support of efforts to
reduce the backlog described in paragraph (1) and more
efficiently process claims described in such paragraph in the
future, including two previous initiatives by the Texas
Veterans Commission, namely the 2008-2009 Development
Assistant Pilot Project and the 2009-2011 Claims Processing
Assistance Team.
(B) A plan for the Secretary to partner with non-Federal
entities to support efforts to reduce such backlog and more
efficiently process such claims in the future, including the
following:
(i) State and local agencies relating to veterans affairs.
(ii) Organizations recognized by the Secretary for the
representation of veterans under section 5902 of title 38,
United States Code.
(iii) Such other relevant government and non-government
entities as the Secretary considers appropriate.
(C) A description of how the Secretary intends to leverage
partnerships with non-Federal entities described in
subparagraph (B) to eliminate such backlog, including through
increasing the percentage of claims that are fully developed
prior to submittal to the Secretary and ensuring that new
claims are fully developed prior to their submittal.
(D) A description of what steps the Secretary has taken and
will take--
(i) to expedite the processing of claims that are already
fully developed at the time of submittal; and
(ii) to support initiatives by non-Federal entities
described in subparagraph (B) to help claimants gather and
submit necessary evidence for claims that were previously
filed but require further development.
(E) A description of how partnerships with non-Federal
entities described in subparagraph (B) will fit into the
Secretary's overall claims processing transformation plan.
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