Originally published: 2026-02-23T16:00:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced that the backlog of VA disability compensation and pension benefit claims is consistently below 100,000 for the first time since May 2020, during the first Trump Administration.
Hitting this milestone means the department has now cut the backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits by 63% since Jan. 20, 2025, after it increased 24% under the Biden Administration.
A VA claim for compensation or pension is considered backlogged once it has been pending in the claims inventory for more than 125 days. In 2013, 70% of claims were older than 125 days — the most ever — compared to just 17% today.
Reducing the claims backlog is an urgent priority for Secretary Collins, as it was well above 100,000 from 2021 to 2024 and stood at 264,717 on Jan. 20, 2025. During President Trump’s first administration, VA reached the lowest disability claims backlog Dec. 21, 2019, at 64,783 claims.
“Under President Trump, VA is providing Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors all of the benefits they have earned as quickly and conveniently as possible,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “VA’s claims processing productivity is the highest it has ever been, and we look forward to continuing to provide record levels of service to Veterans and VA beneficiaries.”
This milestone is one of many landmark VA achievements during the second Trump Administration, including:
- Opening 33 new VA health care facilities, expanding health care access for Veterans around the country.
- Processing more than 3 million disability compensation and pension claims in FY2025, an all-time high that shattered the previous record set in FY2024.
- Offering Veterans more than 2.2 million appointments outside of normal operating hours, which give Veterans more timely and convenient options for care.
- Permanently housing 51,936 homeless Veterans across the country in FY2025, the highest total in seven years.
VA encourages all Veterans to visit choose.va.gov to learn more and apply for the care and benefits they have earned.
Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.
