August 21, 2006 The Honorable John A. Boehner House Majority Leader H-107 Capitol Building Washington, D.C. 20515-6501 Dear Representative Boehner:                 On June 8, 2006, you met with the veterans and military service organizations. I believe that these meetings are very worthwhile and important to all the participants, and, as the newly elected National Commander of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), I would hope that you would continue to meet with us on a regular basis.                 I am encouraged to hear that you mentioned at the June 8 meeting that you were opposed to allowing attorneys into the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) claims process. Currently, there are two bills introduced in the House to remove the restriction on attorneys charging veterans fees to represent them during the claims process. These bills are H.R. 4914 and H.R. 5549, introduced by Representatives Lane Evans and Jeff Miller, respectively. H.R. 5549 is a companion bill to Senator Craig’s bill, S. 2694. Although the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee held a hearing on this bill on June 8, they refused to allow the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) the opportunity to testify. I am enclosing a copy of the letter DAV National Legislative Director Joseph A. Violante sent to the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee regarding our opposition to that legislation and responses to some of the comments and questions which went unanswered during the hearing.                 As you know, on August 3, 2006, the Senate passed S. 2694, which includes provisions that would allow lawyers to charge veterans for advice and assistance in filing and pursuing benefit claims. This legislation suggests that veterans cannot obtain benefits without hiring lawyers to fight the government in much the same way adversaries fight each other in courts through lawsuits. No disabled veteran should have to hire a lawyer to obtain the disability compensation or other benefit a grateful nation has provided. As a condition for receiving disability compensation or other veterans’ or survivor benefits, no disabled veteran or widow should have to surrender part of his or her benefits to a lawyer. If the House of Representatives agrees and this legislation is enacted, it will pit veterans and the Department of Veterans Affairs against each other in the role of adversaries and move closer to a situation in which veterans no longer receive special considerations and assistance in negotiating an informal claims process, but rather will be expected to fight the VA as an opponent to obtain veterans’ benefits.                 Though the DAV acknowledges that the VA’s claims processing system suffers from problems with quality and timeliness, authorizing attorneys to charge veterans for claims assistance will do nothing to solve those problems. Indeed, the greater likelihood is that involvement of attorneys will make the situation worse. In addition to pushing the system toward one that takes on the characteristics of adversarial litigation and diverting benefits from intended beneficiaries into the pockets of third parties, it will undoubtedly create new administrative burdens for decision makers and require additional employees to monitor fee agreements and process awards of attorney fees. Realizing this, the VA also strongly opposes this pending legislation.                 I urge you to oppose the enactment of any bill or any similar provision that would allow attorneys to charge fees for benefits counseling or assistance in filing and prosecuting claims for veterans’ benefits. Thank you for your consideration of our views, and I look forward to hearing from you regarding your position on this legislation. Sincerely, BRADLEY S. BARTON National Commander BSB:lmb Enclosures c:              Chairman, House Veterans' Affairs Committee Buyer  Printer-Friendly Version