During a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing before the Congressional Recess, Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) spoke about the benefits of the Veterans' Readiness and Employment program.
00:00I'd like to now yield to my very good friend and ranking member, Mr. Pappas, for his opening remarks.
00:05Thank you very much, Chairman Van Orden, for holding today's hearing on the Veterans Readiness and Employment Program, otherwise known as VR&E.
00:12We know VR&E is designed to help disabled veterans gain meaningful employment and independent living after their time in service.
00:19However, this committee is rightfully concerned about the overall outcomes and effectiveness of the program based on data about its performance
00:25and issues veterans have raised about response and wait times, among others.
00:29And I hope to learn more today about the ways in which we can improve the program so that service-connected disabled veterans are receiving the support they need and have earned
00:36and ensure that their transition to civilian life is a success.
00:40One area that I would like to focus on is the caseload ratios for counselors, which since 2018, VA established should be at 125 veterans per one counselor.
00:50Since the passage of the PACT Act, however, caseloads exceed this ratio nationwide, and in some areas, the ratio is currently 204 to 1.
00:58Additionally, in many regional offices, a veteran waits on average a month or more to meet with a counselor, with Boston experiencing an average wait time of 33 days,
01:07Phoenix, 68 days, Atlanta, 77 days, and San Diego, 159 days.
01:14This means that veterans are waiting longer, counselors are being strained, and veterans are not receiving the best quality of services, and we need to fix that.
01:21So while improvements can be made to the program overall, the solution to truly ensuring veterans are accessing and able to make the most of the VR&E program comes down to one critical factor, staffing.
01:33For example, VA recently brought down the wait times in Southern California, and Southern California brought them down dramatically,
01:39and the solution was more staff to lessen workload per counselor, process veteran information faster,
01:45and give veterans specialized attention and resources that they require.
01:49I'm also aware that VA is in the process of modernizing its case management system and implementing the use of AI tools such as the electronic virtual assistant to help schedule appointments with counselors.
02:00While these initiatives surely will help make casework more efficient, it's highly unlikely that this will be enough to help VA keep up with the expected increase in caseloads as VA itself has forecasted.
02:10We also cannot expect VA to improve its performance in the already understaffed program, with VA's recent announcement projecting an expected loss of 30,000 employees by the end of this year.
02:21We also acknowledge that VA counselors in general have a high turnover rate, but that's mostly because their caseloads have become unmanageable.
02:28So I share the chairman's concerns about veterans staying in the VR&E program for a long period of time,
02:33but I don't necessarily agree that instituting time limits is the correct course of legislative action.
02:38VR&E counselors do need flexibility in determining individual veterans' situations and circumstances rather than putting additional administrative burdens on them to prove why a veteran needs more time.
02:50Addressing the retention of counselors and getting their caseload down to VA's recommended ratio of 125 to 1 is a better use of our time.
02:57VA data shows that regional offices that are adequately staffed are performing well both in terms of maintaining manageable caseload
03:03and number of days for veterans to have their initial meeting with a counselor.
03:08Unfortunately, only 28 percent of regional offices are at or below the targeted caseload, with the national ratio currently at 175 cases per counselor.
03:16So there's significant room for improvement there, and I hope that this committee agrees that this is a problem that needs to be addressed.
03:22The services a veteran receives should not be dependent on where a veteran chooses to live after military life,
03:28nor should it depend on VA's plans to cut staffing that will undermine critical programs like VR&E that veterans rely on after having served their country.
03:36So leaving veterans to their own devices upon leaving the service or critically undermining the VR&E program effectiveness
03:42would be a terrible disservice to veterans and their families, and in the end will only hurt veterans trying to secure the help that they deserve.
03:49So I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing, and I yield back.
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