What is Congressional Assistance?
It has been “X” months since you filed the VA formal claim, and your sole correspondence from the VA consists of periodic form letters apologizing for the delay. Your calls to the VA inquiring about status reveal only that the claim is still pending, but your client is getting exasperated hearing that the average processing time for approving VA claims is less than “X” months.
Congressional assistance is when a private constituent requests a member of Congress to inquire on their behalf in the administrative proceedings of a governmental agency, in this case the Department of Veterans Affairs. The purpose of doing so is to force the VA to pull a specific claim from their backlog and expedite it. The actual result is not always that, it seems. There are reports of success from various internet forums dedicated to veterans’ benefits – people who swear that, had it not been for Senator So-and-So, their VA claim would never have been approved. But there are even more grumblings on the same forums that such congressional inquiries merely elicit a form letter, and then your file returns to the backlog BUT at the end of the queue. This is horrific enough to scare you off from considering making any such inquiries, but at times of sheer desperation it can be a tool to make the VA respond, or to be able to get a copy of a VA response. Then sometimes a client’s family will demand it because apparently it had been done successfully by their hairdresser’s brother-in-law’s grandfather. Therefore, you should be aware of the option of requesting congressional assistance with a VA pension claim, how to do it, and when it may be appropriate to do so.
How do you file a Congressional?
First, you need a member of Congress. Our firm generally uses a senator. I don’t know that there is any advantage to having a senator rather than a member of the House of Representatives making the inquiry. However, you must be aware that not all members of Congress may be receptive to making such inquiries. If their platform and/or expressed political views suggest that veterans’ benefits may not be a priority, you may need to approach with caution. Most members of Congress have websites that post information for the types of assistance they provide. Members of Congress who do count a large number of veterans among their constituents may even regularly reach out to explain what specific services they can provide for them. This assistance generally requires a privacy release form that must be signed by the veteran or other type of claimant so the VA will release information to the congressperson’s office.
Our firm sends the privacy release form with a letter requesting assistance on behalf of our client, and includes a timeline of the claim highlighting any major dates relevant to the claim process. We also mention in this letter any circumstances that may merit that the claimant’s request be considered with utmost urgency. This would include statements, if applicable, as to the claimant’s terminal condition, advanced age, and/or financial hardship. Once their office files the inquiry with the VA, that agency must respond within a certain amount of time, even if it is just a form letter apologizing for the delay. The congressperson’s office generally then forwards a copy of the VA correspondence to the claimant.
When do you file the Congressional?
This is the hardest question to answer, and the only quick and easy way to do so is as follows: It depends.
You may be pressured by your client to file a request for congressional assistance at any point after submitting the formal claim, when presumably the VA should have everything it needs to decide the claim. Your client can also certainly request assistance on their own without your firm’s involvement. However, given the mixed results, I would recommend that you consider it primarily as a last resort, meaning you should exhaust all other means first, like calling the VA for status inquiries and to follow up on submitted requests to expedite a claim due to terminal condition, advanced age and/or financial hardship. You also need to decide, given the average amount of time it is taking for the VA to process your firm’s claims, at how many months you are going to seriously consider requesting congressional assistance.
Our firm currently uses the one-year mark after filing a formal claim to start considering this option, but this is subject to change as we see claim processing times change over the years. Bear in mind that processing times vary regionally, and that overuse of your local congressperson will not earn you much love from his or her office. Reserve the request for congressional assistance for those VA claims that truly seem to have dropped off the face of the earth, or for those claimants who may end up in extreme financial straits or who for medical reasons may not survive to receive the benefits to which they are entitled unless they are awarded right away.
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By Sabrina A. Scott, Paralegal, The Elder & Disability Law Firm of Victoria L. Collier, PC, and Director of VA Services for Lawyers With Purpose.
Victoria L. Collier, Veteran of the United States Air Force, 1989-1995 and United States Army Reserves, 2001-2004. Victoria is a Certified Elder Law Attorney through the National Elder Law Foundation; Author of “47 Secret Veterans Benefits for Seniors”; Author of “Paying for Long Term Care: Financial Help for Wartime Veterans: The VA Aid & Attendance Benefit”; Founder of The Elder & Disability Law Firm of Victoria L. Collier, PC; Co-Founder of Lawyers with Purpose; and Co-Founder of Veterans Advocate Group of America.
Remember the majority of Senators and Congresspeople never served so they really do not understand or care for veterans except when they are running for re-election. Or, when they can all jump to their feet at the State of Union address to look like they care.
If someone wishes to debate this let me point out that the VA system has not changed. If you feel that incorrect I suggest you put away the Kool-Aid and wake-up.
Posted by: J Woodward | 06/04/2018 at 08:13 PM
I'm a 0% service connected disabled veteran suffering from PTSD, MST, MDD, Panic Attacks, Anxiety Disorder, Chronic Back Pain, Crying Spells, and other issues. I need help as they keep turning me down and it is clear and unmistaken error. I'm also register as chronic homeless on a program (CHEP) at Perry point VA Medical Center Maryland. Please help me, I'm fighting for my life at the age of 57 and don't know if I have any more fight in me. I'm tired.
Posted by: Robert B. Green, Sr. | 08/21/2019 at 08:13 AM
0% veteran fighting with no strenght left to fight is and on going problem for veterans I suffer from ptsd anxiety disoreder,crying spells,loss of hearing,, vision as well, back problems leg problems im registered at the Charlie Norwood VA,that want assists me with a hearing aid device,,yet I manage to not hear an ambulance, and pull out in front of it,and almost kill myself after the incident my family tells me to get a haering aid ,,and the Charlie Norwood VA refuses to do so,leaving me in deperession deeper and deeper everyday with thought of suicide,and no one cares im freaking sick of the bad treatment I cant take anymore,,said with tears
Posted by: carlton floyd | 10/05/2019 at 12:25 PM
Why dose the VA clearly make a unmistakeable error on purpose to deny claims and have illegal exams to deny claims
Posted by: Darren Rray Andrews | 08/24/2021 at 07:43 AM