McCaul, Texas colleagues urge VA to hire more staff at Houston Regional Office

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) joined 16 members of the Texas delegation in urging the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to consider increasing staff at the Houston Regional Office who assist congressional offices with the casework of United States military veterans.

Currently, there are only two full-time congressional liaisons that handle congressional casework, with only three others capable of assisting part time if delays exceed 30 days, according to a bipartisan Feb. 1 letter the lawmakers sent to VA Secretary Denis McDonough.

The lawmakers also noted that the three part-time staff have multiple duties preventing them from fully assisting with inquiries and casework. 

“The Houston Regional Office has informed our offices that it is responsible for more than one million veterans, representing 20 congressional districts,” Rep. McCaul and his colleagues wrote. “Our offices have also been informed that response times have increased from one to two days to three to four weeks.

“It is abundantly clear that two liaisons cannot feasibly meet this workload, and with a growing veteran population, these delays and backlogs will only get worse, further exacerbating the issue,” they wrote.

The members also pointed out that the volume of inquiries can vary, but according to the Houston Regional Office, there can be between 10-15 inquiries per day, with varying complexities that may take half a day to resolve or up to weeks for more complex inquiries, according to their letter.

“We ask that the Department of Veterans Affairs consider increasing the number of congressional liaisons in order to decrease our veterans’ wait times,” they wrote.

Among the lawmakers who joined Rep. McCaul in signing the letter were U.S. Reps. Kay Granger (R-TX) and Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX).