Blumenthal & Banks Introduce Legislation to Streamline Veterans' Benefits Appeals Process

[HARTFORD, CT] – Today, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and Jim Banks (R-IN) introduced the Veterans Appeals Efficiency Act of 2025. This bipartisan legislation would give the Board of Veterans’ Appeals new tools and address procedural problems to streamline veterans’ appeals, providing them with quicker access to the VA benefits they have earned.

“Navigating the VA appeals adjudication process can be an onerous and uphill undertaking for many veterans and their families. This legislation rightfully streamlines and shortens the bureaucratic appeals process to ensure our heroes receive the benefits they have earned in a more timely manner,” said Blumenthal.

“This bill cuts red tape and speeds up the appeals process so veterans get the benefits they’ve earned without unnecessary bureaucracy and delays,” said Banks.

The Senators’ legislation is strongly supported by the Yale Law School Veterans Legal Services Clinic.

“The Veterans Appeals Efficiency Act of 2025 advances common-sense changes that will materially assist veterans and relieve the burdens and frustrations of recycled claims and delayed relief,” said Professor Michael Wishnie, director of the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School. “I’m grateful to Senators Blumenthal and Banks for their leadership on this legislation. Thousands of veterans will benefit from providing VA and the Veterans Court tools that are already available to civilians when they challenge government mistakes. Our nation’s veterans deserve no less.”

Among its many provisions to improve veterans’ appeal process, the Veterans Appeals Efficiency Act would:

• Allow the Board of Veterans’ Appeals to aggregate veterans’ appeals that involve common questions of law or fact;
• Expand the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims authority to certify class actions, including veterans who are still waiting for the Board to decide their appeals;
• Require VA to better track the timeliness of claims and appeals, including claims that were never decided due to a veteran’s death;
• Direct the Board to issue guidelines for when and how a veteran’s appeal can advance to the front of the line; and
• Build on Blumenthal’s landmark Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017, by giving the Board and Court more tools to process veterans’ benefit claims appeals more accurately and efficiently.

The bill text is available here.

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