{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://davidson.house.gov/2021/4/davidson-to-personnel-records-chief-america-keeps-its-promises-to-veterans", "Davidson to Personnel Records Chief:  \u201cAmerica Keeps its Promises to Veterans\u201d", "2021-04-06", "2021", "2021-04", "Republican", "House", "OH", "Warren Davidson", "D000626", "davidson.house.gov", "davidson", "https://davidson.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014On Monday, Representative Warren Davidson (R-OH) visited the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Davidson embarked on this fact-finding mission after months of unsatisfactory progress from the NPRC in clearing a nationwide backlog of veterans\u2019 records requests. The visit coincides with today\u2019s release of a bipartisan letter, signed by 185 representatives, regarding NPRC that was penned by Reps. Davidson, Deborah Ross (NC-D), and House Committee on Veterans\u2019 Affairs Ranking Member Mike Bost (R-IL).\n\nAt his NPRC meeting on Monday, Rep. Davidson learned that despite unprecedented cooperation between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Archives and Records Administration to vaccinate NPRC employees\u2014the Office of Personnel Management and the National Archives are limiting the facility to 25% capacity. At this rate, the backlog will not be eliminated until the end of FY 2022. Records requests that took only 10 days to fulfill before the pandemic, will take years without further action.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m disappointed that there is no plan to staff the center to capacity, despite prioritizing employees for vaccines. Congress sent millions of taxpayer dollars to the National Archives to address this problem. 2022 is too long to wait for America to keep its promises to our veterans,\u201d Davidson said after meeting with the NPRC. \u201cAs a former Ranger, I know challenges are real, but I also know leaders find a way to accomplish their missions in the face of challenges. Congress has provided the resources and NPRC\u2019s timeline is simply unacceptable.\u201d\n\nThe bipartisan letter from Reps. Davison, Ross, and Bost to the Biden Administration and the National Archives, calls attention to the significant backlog of veteran records requests that has mushroomed during the COVID 19 pandemic.\n\nThe letter, signed by 121 Republicans and 64 Democrats, asks the President to prioritize NPRC employees for vaccinations and testing, as well as to properly staff the call center. The representatives also hope to see a plan to get employees back to work full time and consider hiring additional employees or adding extra shifts to eliminate this backlog.\n\n\u201cMore than 870,000 North Carolinians are veterans, and we owe them an enormous debt of gratitude for their service to our country. The records request backlog at the National Personnel Records Center is a disservice to them and their families, and it is an issue the Biden administration must remedy quickly,\u201d said Congresswoman Ross.\n\n\u201cThis backlog is preventing veterans from gaining access to essential services, including education benefits, healthcare services, and COVID-19 vaccinations. Our veterans and their families deserve better. I urge the administration to use every available resource at its disposal to ensure all veterans have access to the services they have earned. I\u2019m honored to join my colleague, Congressman Davidson, in bringing to light this critical issue.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s past time for the National Personnel Records Center to resume their normal operations in a safe manner,\u201d said Ranking Member Bost. \u201cWithout question, the NPRC provides an essential service. They play a vital role in supporting VA to help veterans access the benefits they have earned. I thank my friend, Rep. Davidson, and our 185 other colleagues for joining me in sending this letter to the President and Director on behalf of the almost half a million veterans who are stuck waiting.\u201d\n\nVeterans advocacy groups, Concerned Veterans for America and Military-Veterans Advocacy endorsed the letter.\n\n\u201cIn an already challenging time, veterans should not have to bear the consequences of bureaucratic red tape. Each day waiting on records stuck at the National Personnel Records Center is a day critical services or care are out of reach. We thank Representative Davidson for his leadership and join him in calling on the VA to do everything possible to care for those who served our nation,\u201d said Nate Anderson, Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) Executive Director.\n\n-###-\n\nBACKGROUND ON NPRC BACKLOG\n\nJust under 500,000 records requests remain unfilled by the National Personnel Records Center, which is the national depository for all service records. Veterans need these records to access VA benefits they earned while serving the country. Everything from medical care to student loans to burial services\u2014and even COVID vaccinations\u2014require proper documentation.\n\nWithout these records, veterans have had to wait inordinate periods of time to access their promised benefits. Others, unfortunately, have been buried without honors as their families could not obtain the records in time.\n\nThe COVID 19 pandemic caused the NPRC in St. Louis Missouri to shutter. As the requests continued coming in, the center attempted to reopen the facility at limited capacity for emergency requests, but a surge in COVID cases caused the center to close a second time.\n\nIn December, Congress allocated relief funds to the center, in hopes that an infusion of funds would help the center to resume full operations. So far, that has not happened.\n\nLast week, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that NPRC employees would be prioritized for vaccinations, an important first step in addressing this embarrassing oversight.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:42:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://davidson.house.gov/2021/4/davidson-to-personnel-records-chief-america-keeps-its-promises-to-veterans"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6470258813351393, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}