{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://stevens.house.gov/media/press-releases/stevens-joins-bipartisan-push-resume-processing-military-personnel-records", "Stevens Joins Bipartisan Push to Resume Processing Military Personnel Records", "2020-11-24", "2020", "2020-11", "Democrat", "House", "MI", "Haley M. Stevens", "S001215", "stevens.house.gov", "stevens", "https://stevens.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2014 This week, Congresswoman Haley Stevens (MI-11) joined a bipartisan group of 233 Members of Congress to urge the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) to implement new policies so that they may resume processing military personnel, health, and medical records requests and address the growing backlog of requests due to the closure of the facility amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.\n\nIn a letter led by Reps. Van Taylor (TX-03) and Jimmy Panetta (CA-20), the bipartisan group of lawmakers asked NPRC Director Scott Levins \u201cto implement new policies and procedures that can both protect the NPRC\u2019s workforce and ensure our nation\u2019s veterans are getting the records they need and deserve in a timely fashion.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe COVID-19 pandemic has presented a significant challenge for all Americans and the Federal agencies who serve them, and efforts to protect workforce health and safety are absolutely of top importance,\u201d the lawmakers wrote. \u201cHowever, as more time continues to elapse, these delays are causing significant anxiety and hardship for many of our nation\u2019s veterans.\u201d\n\n\u201cMichigan veterans and their families have sacrificed for our country and are entitled to receive these benefits,\u201d said Congresswoman Stevens. \u201cThey deserve answers from the NPRC and a solution to resolve these unacceptable delays.\u201d\n\nAs a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, NPRC reduced on-site operations on March 23, 2020, only processing \u201cemergency requests\u201d and remains in the current status with no definitive timeline for addressing the backlog or improving processing times. Personnel records are needed for veterans, military, civil service retirees, and their dependents to qualify for a range of benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense.\n\nThe letter was signed by 233 Members of Congress, including 122 Democrats and 111 Republicans. The text of the letter can be viewed here or below.\n\n\u201cDirector Levins,\n\nWe write to voice our growing concern with the rising number of unprocessed requests for military personnel, health, and medical records from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) amidst the current pandemic. Except for a limited number of emergency requests, since March of this year, our constituents\u2019 requests for military personnel records from NPRC have largely been unfulfilled. Moreover, there remains no definitive timeline in which our constituent veterans can expect to have their requests processed. As you know, personnel records are needed for veterans and their dependents to qualify for a range of benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense.\n\nThe COVID-19 pandemic has presented a significant challenge for all Americans and the Federal agencies who serve them, and efforts to protect workforce health and safety are absolutely of top importance. However, as more time continues to elapse, these delays are causing significant anxiety and hardship for many of our nation\u2019s veterans.\n\nIt\u2019s for that reason we write to strongly encourage you to work to implement new policies and procedures that can both protect the NPRC\u2019s workforce and ensure our nation\u2019s veterans are getting the records they need and deserve in a timely fashion. We also ask that you provide our offices with a working plan including a timeline for how your agency intends to address the growing backlog of military personnel records requests. As many of our constituents have already been waiting for months to obtain their records, providing a plan and a timeline would offer a needed level of certainty in these difficult and uncertain times.\n\nThe NPRC serves as an important cornerstone in our nation\u2019s system to provide and care for veterans, but without your agency\u2019s needed services many of those who have worn the uniform are experiencing significant claims processing delays. We ask for your committed leadership to overcome these challenges and to assist in providing veterans with the records needed to pursue their earned benefits. As Members of Congress we stand ready to assist in these efforts.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-28T00:39:51Z"]], "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://stevens.house.gov/media/press-releases/stevens-joins-bipartisan-push-resume-processing-military-personnel-records"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.7205750811845064, "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"}