House subcommittee presses VA on Chapter 35 payment delays, long VR&E waits and VET TEC rollout

The House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee confronted Department of Veterans Affairs officials on long benefit delays and slow program rollouts Tuesday, pressing the agency for immediate answers for veterans and survivors hurt by recent service interruptions.

Ranking Member Chris Pappas opened the first substantive line of questioning by calling attention to Chapter 35 — education benefits for survivors and dependents — and told the panel he and other members learned the impacted caseload grew “from 750 people to over 75,000” through media reports. “They deserve an answer today,” Pappas said, urging the VA to send a political appointee to the committee’s upcoming hearing who will not “pass the buck.”

Kenneth Smith, executive director for Education Services at the Veterans Benefits Administration, acknowledged delays and apologized for slow communication. Smith said VA staff have been working through the agency’s shutdown-related backlog and promised the committee a full set of statistics at a staff briefing or the follow-up hearing scheduled in two weeks. “We will have a full set of statistics for you at that hearing or around Friday,” Smith said.

Members also pressed VA on the program-level experience veterans currently face. Acting Veterans Readiness & Employment director Chantille Stovall told the subcommittee the current counselor-to-veteran ratio is about 1:200, with 1,310 VRC positions allocated and 1,010 onboarded. Stovall said VR&E’s overall wait time for entitlement decisions has risen to 81 days — up from roughly 50 before the funding lapse and related shutdown impacts — and described steps to reduce backlog, including a national case-assignment strategy, volunteer overtime and “help teams” to accelerate orientations and entitlement decisions.

Committee members repeatedly tied these operational problems to real-world harm: delayed housing stipends and tuition, closed regional benefit offices during the shutdown and veterans unable to access TAP transition briefings. Representative Lauren Underwood (statement paraphrased from transcript) noted that the education call center closed during the shutdown, leaving more than 900,000 veterans unable to reach hotline support, and members urged the VA to improve outreach and congressional communication.

Lawmakers also probed VA’s timetable for implementing changes to VET TEC, the high‑tech training pilot authorized by the Elizabeth Dole Act. Several members expressed frustration that, although Congress authorized and appropriated funds, VA told the subcommittee it needs systems work to process new claims and payments. Smith said updates to claims and payment systems are necessary and that the agency is targeting a fiscal‑year 2026 (third‑quarter) rollout for the updated VET TEC implementation.

Throughout the hearing members emphasized the need for transparency and outcome tracking: “We need accountability,” Rep. McGarvey said, noting that many veterans exhaust benefits without gaining meaningful employment. Witnesses and members urged clearer performance metrics for short-term training and stronger safeguards against programs that enroll veterans but do not lead to stable careers.

The VA committed to furnish the requested Chapter 35 data and additional implementation details at the upcoming staff briefing and follow-up hearing. The subcommittee adjourned with the expectation of continued oversight and additional testimony from VA officials who can provide the promised statistics and a timeline for VET TEC deployment.