Michigan congressman's first bill in Congress aims to simplify VA claims notices
Washington ― Michigan freshman U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett introduced his first bill in Congress on Thursday, aiming to simplify claims notices and make the correspondence that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs sends to veterans around the country more "user friendly."
The bipartisan legislation directs the department to contract with a federally funded research organization to recommend ways to make the claim notices the agency sends "clearer to claimants, better organized and more concise" and to find ways to alter the letters to reduce paper consumption and costs to the U.S. government.
"We're doing our best to make the process easier and far more clear for veterans who are applying for benefits or families who are applying on behalf of veterans. .... It can be burdensome and it can be bureaucratic," Barrett, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, told The Detroit News.
