National Personnel Records Center
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. CASSIDY. Madam President, I rise today kind of expressing the frustration of many of my constituents. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had Federal Agencies and employees not working at all--not from home, not in the office, period. Have not had a lick of work for over 14 months.
In April, the Senate Finance Committee had a hearing entitled ``The Social Security Administration During COVID: How the Pandemic Hampered Access to Benefits and Strategies for Improving Service Delivery.''
Now, following the hearing and in response to my concerns that seniors in my State with issues getting their Social Security benefits are not being sufficiently served due to field and local offices being closed, my office got a letter from Commissioner Andrew Saul. The letter states:
I urge you to encourage the unions to continue engaging in meaningful dialogue with management that includes a focus on the very best service to the public.
That is a nice way of saying: We need help getting the unions to the table so we can get Federal employees back to work.
Now, we are talking about mandatory services, reopening Social Security offices for in-person visits in a postvaccine world to assist elderly Americans--my grandparents, your grandparents--having issues with their benefits. This isn't happening because government employees are not showing up.
It brings to mind an old quote from an old Governor in Louisiana, Earl Long. They asked Governor Long: How many people do you have working at the capitol? And he looks off into space, and he goes: Working? About two.
Now, in this case, that is the way it is going with this. The situation at the Department of Veterans Affairs, in connection with the National Archives and specifically the National Personnel Records Center, is even worse. According to the National Archives, the backlog of veterans' records grew to more than 499,000 requests in April of 2021. They estimate it will take 18 to 24 months to clear once the National Personnel Records Center is staffed at full capacity.
I just want to make this point. We have 499,000 ignored document requests from veterans. The people who have served our country are not being served in their current life.
Despite the widespread availability of vaccines and the recent relaxation of COVID-19 guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Personnel Records Center only moved to phase 2 on March 29, 2021. In phase 2, the National Personnel Records Center has 25 percent of staff onsite. There are supposedly 200 employees per shift, 2 shifts a day, 6 days a week, but they are only processing emergency requests--for example, immediate burials, hospitalizations, and for the homeless.
In the Veterans' Affairs Committee, we led a push to enable National Personnel Records Center employees to get vaccines from the VA's allotment in an attempt to increase staffing. In the latest information provided to my staff, only 36 National Personnel Records Center employees took advantage of this availability. This is 36 out of 600.
Now, these aren't just numbers on a poster. There are real consequences. These are people's lives.
My constituent Mr. Albert Duplantis, 69 years old, of Lake Charles, LA--there is Mr. Duplantis when he was in the Navy, and there you see him now. He served our country during Vietnam stationed on the USS Pyro.
He has diabetes mellitus type II, atrial fibrillation, and hypertension--claimed as due to Agent Orange. He needs treatment for his heart condition, but he cannot get the medical records he needs because the National Personnel Records Center is not processing the needed military record during COVID-19, the one that the VA needs to make this happen.
Now, his application for medical treatment for his heart condition-- this is a heart condition, by the way--was received by the VA in December 2019. That is 2019. In an early response, the VA provided a possible date of completion of March 23, 2021. Now, from 2019, December, to March 23, 2021, that date has come and gone, but Mr. Duplantis's application is stuck in limbo until the VA receives his military records from the National Personnel Records Center.
Let me repeat. A treatment for heart disease has been held up since 2019 because of the inaction of the National Personnel Records Center. We are over 1 year into the pandemic. We have had access to vaccines, the masks are off, and still records are not being processed. And Federal employees are sitting at home, collecting a paycheck, without working. We are talking since March of last year. We are now in May of this year. They have not shown up for work 1 day, nor have they worked from home, and we have a man who can't get his records for heart disease.
This is unacceptable. With vaccines widely available, there is no excuse for mandatory work not being done. If you are not willing to do your job, you shouldn't have a job. This great American went to war for our freedom, but Federal employees won't go to the office to file his paperwork. There are other veterans besides Mr. Duplantis unable to receive medical treatment and other benefits they are entitled to.
This weekend we will observe Memorial Day, a time where we honor and mourn the men and women of the U.S. military who died during their service to this great country. This is a reminder of the sacrifice willingly risked--and unfortunately it occurred--and they did this, they signed up for this, without flinching. We should repay our veterans and do more for them just by doing the job that should be done.
The National Personnel Records Center needs to get their house in order. They need to go back to work. Our veterans deserve better. Mr. Duplantis deserves medical treatment.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source