The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that the backlog of VA disability compensation and pension benefit claims is “consistently” under 100,000 for the first time since 2020.
The last time the backlog was this low was in May 2020, during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.
“Under President Trump, VA is providing Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors all of the benefits they have earned as quickly and conveniently as possible,” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins said in a news release.
This milestone means the department has now slashed the backlog of veterans waiting for VA benefits by 63% since Trump returned to office in January 2025 after it rose 24% under the Biden administration, according to the release.
HIDDEN CAUSE OF VETERANS’ STRUGGLES DRIVES RENEWED URGENCY IN VA MESSAGING
The department said that reducing the claims backlog has been an urgent priority for Collins.
The claims backlog was well above 100,000 from 2021 to 2024 during the Biden administration and was at 264,717 when Trump returned to office. During Trump’s first administration, the department reached the lowest disability claims backlog on Dec. 21, 2019, when it was at 64,783 claims.
A VA claim for compensation or pension is considered backlogged once it has been pending in the claims inventory for more than 125 days, the department said.
In 2013, a record-high 70% of claims were more than 125 days old. Today, that figure has dropped to just 17%, according to the department.
“VA’s claims processing productivity is the highest it has ever been, and we look forward to continuing to provide record levels of service to Veterans and VA beneficiaries,” Collins said in the release.
The department said this is one of several nationwide achievements during Trump’s second term, which also include opening more than 30 new VA health care facilities, expanding veterans’ access to healthcare and permanently housing more than 50,000 homeless veterans in fiscal year 2025 — the highest total in seven years.
“We’re not just talking about the American Dream; we’re making it more accessible for the heroes who defended it,” Collins wrote on X.
