Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 1483 - Revision of Decisions Based on Clear and Unmistakable Error

(House)
(Evans (D) IL and 22 cosponsors)

The Administration opposes H.R. 1483, which would subject decisions by the Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA) to revision based on new avenues for appeal, thereby potentially reopening cases dating back to 1933. H.R. 1483 would increase the BVA's significant backlog of cases and the costs associated with adjudicating benefit claims, while not offering claimants any greater opportunity for remedy than currently available.

Nearly all BVA decisions entered today may be appealed to the Court of Veterans Appeals for correction of alleged errors. Moreover, current law affords unsuccessful claimants the right to petition the BVA's Chairman at any time for reconsideration of adverse decisions made even decades ago. Although denials of these petitions are not themselves judicially reviewable, there is no indication that BVA has failed to correct errors of the "clear and unmistakable" sort that are the subject of this legislation.

Scoring for Purposes of Pay-As-You-Go

H.R. 1483 would affect direct spending; therefore, it is subject to the pay-as-you-go requirement of the Omnibus Budget and Reconciliation Act of 1990. OMB's preliminary scoring estimate is that the bill would increase direct spending by an insignificant amount.