Why it Matters
The VA disability claims backlog represents veterans waiting for decisions on benefits they earned through military service. The House Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing today put two Veterans Benefits Administration officials directly in front of lawmakers who have spent weeks publicly cataloguing what they see as bureaucratic dysfunction, software waste, and leadership gaps inside the agency responsible for processing those claims.
The Backlog Problem
The VA disability claims backlog has drawn sustained fire from both parties on the committee. In the weeks before today's congressional hearing, committee members made clear they weren't waiting for the hearing to sound the alarm.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) put it bluntly on April 6: "Empty leadership positions and too few appointed officials in senior roles means delayed care, broken promises, and veterans left waiting." Mace introduced the Accountable Leadership for Veterans Act, targeting what she described as the bureaucratic structure holding the agency back.
In a separate April 6 post, Mace also flagged a different dimension of the problem: "The VA spends nearly $1 billion a year on software, with insufficient tracking to ensure these resources are being used efficiently. Duplicate licenses. Unused licenses. Millions in preventable waste." Her proposed fix, the Veterans Affairs Management and Oversight of Software Assets (VAMOSA) Act, would require a full inventory of VA software contracts.
Industry Spent Heavily to Shape the Outcome
The lobbying data shows that organizations with direct financial stakes in how VA disability benefits are processed have spent aggressively over the past year to influence the policy landscape.
Veterans Guardian VA Claim Consulting LLC, which helps veterans navigate the claims process, spent $80,000 per quarter ($320,000 over the past year) lobbying on VA benefits claims policy and related legislation. The company's PAC, VETGUARD PAC, made direct contributions to committee members during the same period, including $3,500 to committee Chair Mike Bost and $2,500 to Rep. Jack Bergman, who sponsored two of the key bills Veterans Guardian lobbied on.
Trajector Medical, which provides medical evidence services for veterans benefits claims, filed lobbying reports across multiple quarters in 2025 and into 2026, focusing on the same cluster of legislation: H.R. 1656 (the PLUS for Veterans Act), H.R. 1732 (the GUARD VA Benefits Act), and H.R. 3132 (the CHOICE for Veterans Act).
REE Medical LLC spent $170,000 lobbying on VA benefits application oversight and accreditation reform, supporting H.R. 1578, the Veterans Claims Education Act of 2025.
UnitedHealth Group, which has interests in veterans healthcare contracting, filed quarterly lobbying reports throughout 2025 on veterans disability processing. Its PAC contributed $135,500 to members of Congress during the two-year period leading up to today's hearing, though none of those contributions appear directed specifically at Veterans' Affairs Committee members based on available data.
Customer Value Partners LLC lobbied in the second quarter of 2025 specifically on deploying electronic medical records within the VA and on streamlining AI utilization across the agency - a topic the committee flagged as a custom issue area for today's hearing.
What Congress Has Been Watching
The VA disability hearing in 2026 arrives alongside a pair of legislative proposals that, while not formally attached to the hearing, frame the oversight context.
H.R. 3571, the Veterans Administration Backlog Accountability Act of 2025, would require the VA Inspector General to report to Congress on the scope of the disability compensation backlog pending before the Veterans Benefits Administration and the Board of Veterans' Appeals. The bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs in June 2025 and has not advanced further.
H.R. 770, the Accountability for Veterans Act, would require the VA to report to Congress on why the appeals backlog exists and what steps can be taken to address it. It was introduced in January 2025 and remains in committee.
Neither bill has a committee member as its sponsor, but both reflect the broader congressional appetite for transparency on how the agency manages veterans' disability claims processing.
Who's Who
Two officials from the Veterans Benefits Administration are scheduled to testify: Margarita Devlin and Sandra Flint. Both represent the agency that sits at the center of the backlog controversy.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars submitted a statement for the record, as did the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, the union that represents many of the VA employees who process disability claims. The presence of AFGE is notable given the administration's broader workforce reduction efforts across federal agencies, which veterans advocates have warned could worsen processing times.
Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) flagged a separate threat to the system on March 30, warning that "claim sharks are now using robocallers and veterans' personal information to spam VA hotlines about their benefits, identify any increases, and send the veteran a bill for thousands of dollars." He announced legislation to address the practice.
The Bottom Line
Software issues carry direct implications for veterans disability claims processing: if the systems meant to adjudicate claims are duplicative or poorly tracked, the downstream effect means slower decisions for veterans.
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