Chairman Tierney's Statement on GAO Report Critiquing Military Disability Evaluation System

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Chairman John F. Tierney issued the following statement with respect to a newly issued Government Accountability Office (GAO) report he requested as part of his sustained oversight on this issue, which details the significant challenges remaining in how the military evaluates service member disabilities:

The GAO’s investigation includes a number of very troubling findings, including that 70 percent of service members are at facilities with shortages of staff designated to help them during their vital disability evaluations. The GAO finds, in fact, that timeliness of evaluations seems to be getting worse and not better. Moreover, the pilot program that is supposed to provide vast improvements is, itself, running into serious challenges.

“This latest GAO report shows the government is simply failing too many of our wounded heroes. I will continue to use the oversight authorities of Congress to ensure that the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs work quickly and cooperatively to dismantle the long-standing bureaucracies which have led to intolerable wait-times and inefficiencies in the military disability evaluation process. Our nation’s heroes deserve better, and we must keep our promises to provide them the care, respect, and services they have rightfully earned.

A link to the full GAO report can be found on the National Security Oversight Subcommittee’s website: http://nationalsecurity.oversight.house.gov/ .