mr. ronald abrams, joint executive director of the national veteran legal services program, and zach hearn. your complete, written statement will be entered into the record. you are now recognized five minutes for your testimony. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, ranking member, members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss complex claims, a topic that is near and dear to veterans like me and those who represent vca. the most experienced eyes amongst property to adjudicate. these can be the oldest claims in the inventory, claims with multiple issues or the most complicated circumstances to up ravel such as military sexual trauma, pts, and catastrophic disability. since membership is predicated on disability, that's my focus. pd service officers have expertise in developing, advancing the most complex claims in the system. we're special multicompaniation or smc claims are the exception for the representatives, and they are counted for pda, so we appreciate the long overdue focus on complex claims. veterans benefits administration has made tremendous strides i

we may get to questions after mr. hearn. f not we'll go to recess and questions after we come back. >> good afternoon, mr. chairman. ranking member tie titus, and members of the committee. we're here to talk about the implementation of special operations lanes. va created these to address accurate sei. what we never talk about why accurate sei matters. va estimates they will process over a million claims again this year. the difference between their goal of 98% accurate sei and 97% is over 10,000 veterans who may not get the better -- beforts they earned. we know the real gap in accurate sei is far more than 1% as well. that is why the american legion is constantly raising the importance of accuracy. those who wind up on the wrong end the accuracy rate may be stereo. why still problems? it's a complicated system. it takes experience and attention to details to get thicks right. putting experience pearls tell me on tougher claims is good start. when they -- across the country with the right personnel to execute this plan it wi

we may get to questions after mr. hearn. f not we'll go to recess and questions after we come back. >> good afternoon, mr. chairman. ranking member tie titus, and members of the committee. we're here to talk about the implementation of special operations lanes. va created these to address accurate sei. what we never talk about why accurate sei matters. va estimates they will process over a million claims again this year. the difference between their goal of 98% accurate sei and 97% is over 10,000 veterans who may not get the better -- beforts they earned. we know the real gap in accurate sei is far more than 1% as well. that is why the american legion is constantly raising the importance of accuracy. those who wind up on the wrong end the accuracy rate may be stereo. why still problems? it's a complicated system. it takes experience and attention to details to get thicks right. putting experience pearls tell me on tougher claims is good start. when they -- across the country with the right personnel to execute this plan it wi

mr. zach hearn, deputy director for claims at the american legion. finally, the third panel we will hear from mr. tom murphy, director compensation service or company name by ms. edna macdonald, director for national regional office. the third panel will host ms. ms. sondra mccauley, deputy assistant inspector general for audit and evaluations with office of inspector general u.s. department of veterans affairs who will be accompanied by mr. brent arronte, director of san diego benefits inspections division. additionally the hearing record will include written statements from disabled american veterans. the tragedy assistance program for survivors than ms. schaffer's wife of the veterans with instructions complete, thank you for being here today. i now yield to the ranking member for her opening statement. >> well, thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you wrote in this important hearing. i also like to thank the witnesses here today for their time and trouble to come and share information with us. first, i want to applaud the va for reducing the benefit