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Three bills sponsored by U.S. Senator Larry Craig to improve benefits for veterans were approved recently by the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Among the legislation is an omnibus bill which includes a provision to allow veterans to hire attorneys to represent them in claims before the Department of Veterans Affairs, another bill to increase pay for disabled veterans, and a bill which authorizes the construction of VA hospitals throughout the country. All three measures now go to the floor of the Senate for further consideration.


A bill introduced by U.S. Senators Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) would allow veterans to hire lawyers to represent them in their efforts to obtain federal benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The legislation (S.2694 - the Veterans' Choice of Representation Act of 2006), if enacted, would repeal restrictions flowing from a policy born nearly 150 years ago when attending law school was not required to become a lawyer and many practicing law were considered ill trained and unscrupulous. Under current law, all 24 million living veterans are prohibited from hiring a lawyer to help them navigate the Veterans Affairs system. It is only after a veteran has spent months and even years exhausting the extensive VA administrative process that the veteran then may retain counsel - a process that often takes 3 or more years to complete. Under the current appeals system, about 85 percent of veterans choose to be represented by Veterans' Service Organizations or state veterans agency personnel.