Ron introduces bipartisan bill to help veterans and their families

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Ron believes the finest among us deserve the very best, and that’s why he has introduced legislation to help veterans and their families receive benefits faster. He said, “This important bipartisan piece of legislation would improve congressional offices’ ability to assist veterans in receiving the benefits they were promised.”

From the Ripon Advance:

Bipartisan legislation introduced on Tuesday by U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) would take steps to process the benefit claims of veterans and their families faster.

The Working to Integrate Networks Guaranteeing Member Access Now (WINGMAN) Act would remove the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as a middleman between congressional constituent service representatives and veterans requesting help with claims.

Under the bill, constituent service representatives would be able to directly access the electronic veterans benefits claims system upon requests from veterans.

The change would enable constituent service representatives to have access to medical records, compensation information, pension information, exam records, rating decisions, statements of the case, supplementary statements of the case, notices of disagreement and form 9 files to assist with claims processing.

“America’s veterans are the finest among us,” Johnson said. “Since I joined the Senate in 2011, thousands of Wisconsin veterans have asked my office for help navigating the Department of Veterans Affairs’ bureaucracy and benefits backlogs. This important bipartisan piece of legislation would improve congressional offices’ ability to assist veterans in receiving the benefits they were promised.”