Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff’s bipartisan law to help veterans access their service benefits has helped clear a backlog of more than 400,000 records requests, enabling Georgia veterans to more quickly access their records and claim their benefits.
In 2022, Sens. Ossoff and Mike Rounds (R-SD) passed into law their bipartisan Access for Veterans to Records Act, which required the National Archives of the United States (NARA) to create and implement a plan to clear a backlog of hundreds of thousands of record requests.
Veterans are often required to present their military records to access critical care and benefits they earn through their service to the nation and often must go through NARA to receive them.
According to NARA, the agency has now successfully cleared their backlog, meaning the majority of veterans requesting their separation documents from NARA receive them in less than one week.
“If veterans cannot access their service records, they cannot claim and receive the benefits and care that they’ve earned through their service,” Sen. Ossoff said. “That’s why I wrote and passed the bipartisan Access for Veterans to Records Act, which required the National Archives to clear out this backlog — and now they have cleared that backlog.”
Sen. Ossoff continues to advocate on behalf of Georgia’s veterans and their families.
Last week, Sens. Ossoff and Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced the bipartisan SCHEDULES Act which would require the VA to establish a time standard between medical referrals and appointment times at VA hospitals and community care centers.
In October, Sen. Ossoff also launched an inquiry with the VA into excessive delays with the VA Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA), which decides whether or not veterans are entitled to claimed veterans’ benefits and services.
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