Is Contacting A Senator A Good Idea Or Waist Of Time For A Claim

[ytheydothis]

field claim in May of 2010 had a completion date of Dec 2012 and was told had everything they needed to process claim claim was in prep for decision phase as of Nov 2012 checked ebenefits back in gathering evidence with a new completion date of Aug of 2013 to Feb of 2014 my Vet Rep said will be sending me paper work to contact Sen. any other advice would be appreciated

[deanbrt]

The first time it will be pro forma. Don't expect much. Later on they may be helpful. It was true for me.

[OLDDUDE63]

I have been since March 2011 on my claim .It has been in gathering evidence all that time. I have contacted my Congressman and Senator 3 times now ! All I get back from them is a form letter

[71M10]

Well you really have to ask yourself this question; What will I gain by contacting a Senator/Congress Critter? There really is little they can actually do. If it is just about the long wait, and you don't have any solid tangible indication that your claim is drastically taking longer than the normal claim, than I don't think you would gain anything. In fact you might increase the processing time because they will yank it out of line to look at it and send the form letter to you congress critter saying, "we reviewed the claim and it is processing normally...Large backlog....patience....time to get records....thank you for your concern for our veterans!" Where it gets put back in the stack is anyones guess.

If you have an indication in writting from the VA that clearly lets you know that something has jumped the tracks and isn't being processed properly and your attempts at written communication with the VA to straigten things out seem to not be effective, a properly worded inquiry from a congress critter can possibly get things back on track. An example from my VA adventure, filled paperwork for 18YO son to stay on award due to schooling. VA tells me they are processing that but then indicate that since I claim I was never married to his mother I need to provide a copy of the divorce decree or seperation agreement? If I was never married How would I have either of those documents????? Someone clicked the wrong checkbox somewhere in VA land and couldn't fathom there was a mistake.

My congressional inquiry quickly got them back on track.

The risk portion of a congressional inquiry is does it cause someone in your local VARO to get upset? A whole lot of things can be done to delay things that will not leave fingerprints or seem out of place. Will your congressional inquiry hit the rater or DRO with your file when they are having a bad day?

The unfortunate reality is unless the congressmen is part of the Veterans oversight committee, they are not really feared and they really can't force much action.

Just some things to think about.

[Capt.]

Hello all,

Excellant advice Deanbrt and 71. Congressmen and Senators really cannot do much especially early on in the claims process. I would not do anything until the process has moved it somewhere or you get to the point that the VA has it off track. It could very well make someone at Regional Office look at your claim and they might hold a grudge. I think that may have happened with me and do not really know alot of veterans where this has helped a whole lot. I would let your claim "process" as slow as it may take because there is not many veterans that have made it quickly thru the process. NEVER GIVE UP . God Bless, C.C.

[ytheydothis]

Just to add it was my VA Rep who suggested it, also my Sen is the Ranking Member on the Senate Commitee on Veteran Affairs if that mean anything...Thanks for the info, will discuss with the Rep if its even worth it considering the info you guys weighed in on I think 30 months is long enough with out a decision thanks

[Notorious Kelly]

Y,

the suffering endured by veterans in the long claims wait is nothing short of criminal.

From the posts I've read contacting pols is a dart throw- can help, hurt or have no impact.

At this point in the game I lean towards raising as much hell as possible to expose the lip service that "We support the troops".

By this I don't mean being rude to anyone in the process; just stating facts and naming names.

Hang in there Brother.