Blackburn says VA has backlog of 1 million veteran claims as resources go to illegal migrants

"It is absolutely maddening," Blackburn said.

By Charlotte Hazard
Published: January 23, 2024 4:16pm

The Department of Veterans Affairs has a backlog of one million claims for healthcare and benefits from veterans as sources are diverted to illegal immigrants, according to Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

"We checked this week, it is up to one million claims for healthcare and benefits," Blackburn said on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast. "As we were doing some oversight work of the VA, we realized that what they were doing was using some of their resources and their money to allow veterans – to approve veterans for community care – and to process claims, or to approve community care, for illegal immigrants, not for veterans, and then also to process claims for illegal immigrants."

According to an ICE report, in fiscal year 2022, the VA processed healthcare claims for illegal immigrants totaling more than $63.6 million in medical services.

"When you've got a backlog of a million veterans that are waiting to get healthcare, and are waiting to get benefit answers, and you find out that money that should be being used to solve their situations is being used for illegal immigrants ... it is absolutely maddening," Blackburn said.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., introduced legislation last month to stop VA resources from being used to provide taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal immigrants.

Blackburn described the number of claims from veterans on a backlog as "alarming."

“While the current backlog of VA disability compensation claims stands at 406,864, VA is currently delivering more benefits, more quickly, to more veterans than ever before – and we’re doing it dramatically increasing the staff that processes veterans’ claims, increasing the productivity of our employees, and taking steps to automate the claims process," the VA said in a statement to Just the News.

https://justthenews.com/government/f...ims-sources-go