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THE WASHINGTON POST |
| © 2002, The Washington Post Document Dated: Nov-26-2002 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39252-2002Nov25.html Progress the Department of Veterans Affairs has made in slashing a huge backlog of benefit requests could be threatened if Congress fails to approve a federal budget by February, VA Secretary Anthony J. Principi said. Principi said he increased the agency's compensation and pension work force over the past year by 1,200 people and they helped cut the backlog of claims from 600,000 in March. He had planned to hire 150 additional employees, including some registered nurses whose medical training would help them navigate the complex disability claim system. "If we don't get a budget by January, February, I'm going to start cutting back" on new hires, Principi said in a recent interview. When the 2002 fiscal year concluded in September, VA had reduced the backlog on claims of all types to 470,205. Disability claims fell from a March high of 422,935 to 348,702. As posted by Grant Szabo Editor/Founder, Gulf War Veteran Resource Pages http://www.gulfweb.org/doc_show.cfm?ID=774 |