KXXV: Texas Congressman Williams criticizes VA Claims Backlog

In Waco the wait time for a VA claim is about 150 days or four months longer than the national average. In November of 2012 Senator John Cornyn said Waco had the longest wait time and the most backlog than any other office in the nation.

Despite that, the former regional director of the Waco office received more than $53,000 in performance bonuses for 2011.

Texas Representative Roger Williams said, "how the heck can a guy get a bonus for that kind of job performance. That's wrong too. And that's tax payers money so we need to address that. The first thing we need to do is understand who we are there to serve and that's the veterans."

The VA told us it's not going to comment on individual decisions for bonuses, but they do say they will not be issuing bonuses for the 2012 fiscal year and that money will go to help fix the backlog.

Congressmen Williams called out the VA, saying the backlog has reached a "critical tipping point." He wrote a letter to the VA expressing his concerns about the situation.

In it ,he says, "this backlog crisis is a crisis that may worsen over time as more men and women begin to return home from Iraq and Afghanistan."

The Department of Veteran Affairs is requiring workers to go on overtime to help combat claims backlog issue. The VA has made initiatives to help speed up the process of getting rid of the issue.

While he applauds the VA for making the effort to adjust the backlog, Congressman Williams did say they have to focus on what got them, "in this mess."