{"id":21550,"date":"2024-01-24T16:06:02","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T21:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&#038;p=21550"},"modified":"2024-01-24T16:06:03","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T21:06:03","slug":"breaking-sen-ossoffs-bipartisan-law-clears-backlog-of-veterans-records-requests-at-national-archives","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/breaking-sen-ossoffs-bipartisan-law-clears-backlog-of-veterans-records-requests-at-national-archives\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Sen. Ossoff\u2019s Bipartisan Law Clears Backlog of Veteran\u2019s Records Requests at National Archives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Washington, D.C. \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff\u2019s bipartisan law to help veterans access their service benefits has helped clear a backlog of more than 400,000 records requests, enabling Georgia veterans to more quickly access their records and claim their benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2022, Sens. Ossoff and Mike Rounds (R-SD)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrdw.com\/2022\/12\/16\/ossoff-bill-veteran-benefits-gets-final-congressional-ok\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">passed into law<\/a>&nbsp;their bipartisan&nbsp;<em>Access for Veterans to Records Act,&nbsp;<\/em>which required the National Archives of the United States (NARA) to create and implement a plan to clear a backlog of hundreds of thousands of record requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Veterans are often required to present their military&nbsp;records&nbsp;to access critical care and benefits they earn through their service to the nation and often must go through NARA to receive them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to NARA, the agency has now successfully cleared their backlog, meaning the majority of veterans requesting their separation documents from NARA receive them in less than one week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf veterans cannot access their service records, they cannot claim and receive the benefits and care that they\u2019ve earned through their service,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Ossoff said.&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cThat\u2019s why I wrote and passed the bipartisan&nbsp;<em>Access for Veterans to Records Act<\/em>, which required the National Archives to clear out this backlog \u2014 and now they have cleared that backlog.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff continues to advocate on behalf of Georgia\u2019s veterans and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week, Sens. Ossoff and Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced the bipartisan&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/HEY24021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>SCHEDULES Act<\/em><\/a><em>&nbsp;<\/em>which would require the VA to establish a time standard between medical referrals and appointment times at VA hospitals and community care centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In October, Sen. Ossoff also&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/23.10.04_Letter-on-BVA-Wait-Times-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">launched an inquiry<\/a>&nbsp;with the VA into excessive delays with the VA Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA), which decides whether or not veterans are entitled to claimed veterans\u2019 benefits and services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"># # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C. \u2014\u00a0U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff\u2019s bipartisan law to help veterans access their service benefits has helped clear a backlog of more than 400,000 records requests, enabling Georgia veterans to more quickly access their records and claim their benefits. In 2022, Sens. Ossoff and Mike Rounds (R-SD)&nbsp;passed into law&nbsp;their bipartisan&nbsp;Access for Veterans to Records Act,&nbsp;which [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21550","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/21550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/21550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21552,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/21550\/revisions\/21552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}