Members of the House Committee of Veterans Affairs have asked the Department of Defense to help address a backlog of veterans's records.
Reps. Mike Bost (R-IL), Mark Takano (D-CA), Oversight Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), James Comer (r-ky); Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Jody Hice (R-GA), Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA), and Glenn Grothman (R-WI) made the request in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III
“Veterans and their families depend on timely access to personnel records in order to receive life-saving medical care, emergency housing assistance, proper military burials, and other vital benefits earned through service to our country. We urge DoD to support the NPRC’s (National Personnel Records Center) work and to ensure that we uphold our solemn pledge to care for our nation’s veterans,” the lawmakers wrote.
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According to the National Archives, many of the records at NPRC exist only in paper form and cannot be accessed remotely. While NARA has been able to address emergency requests, since workplace restrictions were implemented last year in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the NPRC has been unable to process thousands of requests for veterans’ records.
On May 10, NARA Chief Operating Officer William J. Bosanko wrote a letter to DoD requesting assistance for pandemic recovery operations at the NPRC.
Specifically, NARA is requesting support to conduct off-site sorting and batching of military personnel folders for refiling, on-site searching and retrieval of veterans’ records, and assistance with digitizing separation documents that veterans depend on to demonstrate their eligibility for federal benefits.
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In April, Bost and 186 lawmakers sent a letter to President Joe Biden and the NARA director calling for quick action to address the backlog of half a million veteran claims, especially given the emergency funding for resources given to the NPRC.
Bost and a group of Republican lawmakers sent another letter early last month on this issue to the Archivist of the United States requesting a briefing on how the NPRC is planning to work through the backlog and fulfill veterans’ requests.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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