Dear Sir,

As a disabled veteran and veteran's advocate, my testimony was read into the record during your committee meeting in March along with that of Professor Linda Bilmes of the Kennedy School of Business. Since that time, I have been in contact with Professor Bilmes concerning her proposals for changes, have concluded that her basic premises are valid and well thought out, and have interviewed her on SVR Radio. Chairman Filner will be on this week's show.

I would appreciate your attention to her recommendations as she asks why honorable veterans claims are reviewed ad infinitum like we are criminals instead of being approved, paid, and randomly audited like income taxes and Medicare/Medicaid claims.

The revision would eliminate the need for multiple layers of adversarial administrators, lawyers, claim adjudicators, and untrained service representatives as well as reducing the backlog and speeding the claims process. The conversion of some employees to claim auditors as well as the hiring of some additional auditors for random sampling would restore much in that there is currently no veteran that believes the "system" is not meant to deny their legimate earned benefits.

Hiring no amount of claims adjudicators will solve the current problem which undeniably stems not from the influx of claims, but from the massive and ever-changing promulgation of legalistic rules and regulations and from the pervasive attitude of the VBA and VHA that their job is to save money, and deny benefits.

Please consider that if these changes were made, there would be no reason claims could not be approved in 30 days and payments made in 60 days with the total reduction of hundreds of millions of dollars in administrative, judicial, and other costs.

Now is the opportunity to send the correct message to the DVA that their total disregard of the mission, the findings of OMB and other experts, and non-adherance to the recommendations of the Congressional Oversight Committee will no longer suffice. Please assist all veterans by making these changes law.

Sincerely,

Kurt Priessman