Public policy participation.
Everything here can be checked against a government source. Formal comments we file on proposed VA rules become part of the permanent federal record. Our FOIA requests are logged from the day we file them. Our research reports publish their full datasets and methodology. This page is the one place that record lives.
2026
Agency Information Collection Activity Under OMB Review: Application for Disability Compensation Benefits
The five-page 21-526EZ drops the toxic exposure section, the secondary claim type and the on-form homeless questions, and VA has not told OMB what it did with the 37 comments on the 60-day notice.
Status: Posted to the public docket.
Agency Information Collection Activity: Income and Asset Statement in Support of Claim for Pension or Parents' Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (D.I.C.)
VA's burden figures for the pension and Parents' DIC medical expense form do not reconcile (30 minutes stated, 25 minutes implied). We ask VA to fix the arithmetic, define unreimbursed medical expenses with examples, add a worksheet, and point paper filers to the online tool.
Status: Posted to the public docket.
Inside VA's Contract Exam Program: Volume, Timeliness, Training and Oversight
Status: Published from FOIA cases 26-23677-F and 26-23670-F (both full grants) with the complete dataset and the 1,118-page training corpus.
PACT Act Grant Shares by Station of Jurisdiction: A 24.4-Percentage-Point Range
Status: Published from FOIA case 26-25137-F (full grant) with the complete dataset, after independent outside review.
The Quiet Doubling: DIC Denials Since FY2023
Status: Published from FOIA case 26-23676-F (full grant) with the complete dataset.
Agency Information Collection Activity: Application for DIC, Survivors Pension, and/or Accrued Benefits
Status: Posted to the public docket.
Agency Information Collection Activity: Mandatory Verification of Dependents
We support dependency verification and asked VA to resolve verifications from records it already holds where possible, support the 10 minute burden estimate with real measurement the way it measures its own processing time, make the deadline and consequences clear on the form, and complete and prepopulate the online verification flow.
Status: Submitted; comment period or agency review in progress.
The Slipping Schedule: How VA's Projected Rule Dates Move, Edition by Edition
Status: Published from our archive of every Unified Agenda edition since Fall 2018, with the complete dataset.
Underlying review data for OIG maternity care report 24-00818-208
Filed via FOIA.gov to the VA Office of Inspector General on August 12, 2026, confirmation ID 3097066. Requests aggregated, de-identified EHR review results (sample of 400, final 294) from OIG report 24-00818-208 (Review of VHA Maternity Care Coordination and Women Veterans' Experience, August 10, 2026), the survey instrument and aggregated results, the facility and VISN list, and measure specifications. Small-cell suppression under 10 offered proactively. Media requester classification and fee waiver requested. Acknowledged August 13, 2026 by the VA OIG Data, Privacy and AI Office (50CI) and assigned case number 26-00076-FOIA; the request is in processing. Records received September 2, 2026: VA OIG released the aggregated postpartum EHR review results (CY24 deliveries sample), the veteran experience survey aggregate results, the survey instrument screenshots, and a definitions and notes document from OIG report 24-00818-208.
Status: Records received and published as an original research report.
Rating Decision Quality: VA's Accuracy Reviews, Office by Office
Status: Published from FOIA case 26-23671-F (full grant) with the complete office-level dataset.
Agency Information Collection Activity: Request for Retroactive Induction for a Period Previously Completed Under Chapter 33 (VA Form 28-10286)
We support the purpose of VA Form 28-10286 and asked VA to measure the real burden of gathering supporting documents, show the basis for its respondent estimate, use payment records it already holds, make the withdrawal question accident proof, and give veterans the debt arithmetic before the transaction becomes final.
Status: Posted to the public docket.
Agency Information Collection Activity: Application for Disability Compensation Benefits (VA Form 21-526EZ)
We support shortening VA Form 21-526EZ and asked VA to publish the draft form for public review, give veterans a simple way to mark the type of claim for each condition, and keep the evidence notice, money warnings, and effective date guidance that protect claimants.
Status: Posted to the public docket.
Updated AI-assisted claims workflow statistics, Aug 2025 to present
Records received August 18, 2026: initial agency decision granting the request, with veteran claim and file numbers redacted under Exemption 6. The release (R2026_62698) contains 258,103 claim-level automation-completed pension, DIC, survivor pension, and burial claims closed August 2025 through July 2026, plus 6,796 Higher-Level Review and Supplemental challenges and 143 Board appeals on that pipeline. We recomputed and validated every figure against the claim-level rows before use. The accuracy and validation report items in the request were not addressed in the decision; a clarification request is with VBACO.
Status: Request pending with the agency.
The Purchasing Power of a 100 Percent VA Rating, 2000 to 2026
Status: Published with full dataset, methodology, and validation notes.
Processing Certain Veteran-Requested Veteran Readiness and Employment Benefit Changes Without Administrative Delays
The Veteran Benefit Desk supports the core goal of letting veterans quickly act on their own requests to suspend or end VR&E benefits, but asks VA to clarify the rule's scope, add a written-confirmation safeguard, and address how the change affects pending overpayment determinations under existing debt-collection regulations.
Status: Posted to the public docket.
Nondiscrimination in Federally-Assisted Programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs
The Veteran Benefit Desk urges VA to modify its proposed removal of disparate-impact protections under 38 CFR Part 18, asking the agency to clarify how intentional-discrimination claims will still be investigated and enforced in VA-funded programs, and to address transition protections for veterans with pending civil rights complaints.
Status: Posted to the public docket.
Expanding Access to State Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs
The Veteran Benefit Desk supports the purpose of RIN 2900-AS73, which requires VA disclosures to State Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs, and asks VA to add a direct cross reference to 38 U.S.C. 7332(b)(2)(G) in the text of 38 CFR 1.515, clarify the practical scope of the delegate definition for contracted personnel, and address how the mandate applies to prescriptions written before the effective date.
Status: Posted to the public docket.
PACT Act Claims by Month: Received, Completed, Granted, Denied
Status: Published from FOIA case 26-23669-F (full grant) with the complete dataset.
Compensation claims workload and backlog statistics
CLOSED, PUBLICLY AVAILABLE REFERRAL, AUDIT VERDICT: CONTAINED. VBACO email dated August 19, 2026 announced a publicly available determination but omitted the letter; we replied August 20 requesting it, and the FOIA officer resent it with the letter attached on August 21. The two day delivery gap is preserved in the email record. IAD dated August 19, 2026 (VBACO FOIA Officer): the requested workload records are publicly available on VBA's Detailed Claims Data page, home of the Monday Morning Workload Report, and the request was closed without further processing. Same day coverage audit completed August 22, 2026 (referral_audit_26-23668-F.md): the cited page is current (updated August 17, 2026) and carries weekly MMWR Excel workbooks covering the entire request period, FY 2023 through present, with archives reaching 2004. The workbook reports every requested element at regional office level: claims pending, pending over 125 days, completed claims month and fiscal year to date, average days to complete, and average days pending. Two caveats recorded for fairness: the cadence is weekly snapshots rather than the requested monthly breakout, so monthly series require stitching roughly 190 weekly files with month boundaries falling mid week, and VA publishes no single consolidated FY 2023 to present extract. Neither defeats the referral; the records are genuinely there, so this citation was proper and no appeal will be filed. The 90 day appeal window from the August 19 letter would close November 17, 2026, noted for completeness only. Extension history: VA extension letter dated July 28, 2026 (10 business days, to August 24); VBACO aggregation and delay letter dated August 18, 2026 grouped 26-23668-F, 26-23672-F, 26-23673-F, 26-23674-F, and 26-23675-F for fee assessment; VBACO confirmed the news media fee category on the batch.
Status: Request pending with the agency.
PACT Act claims outcomes
Full grant received July 17, 2026: monthly counts of PACT Act claims received, completed, granted, and denied from August 10, 2022 through July 16, 2026. VBA stated it does not track claims by presumptive condition category or exposure cohort, so that portion could not be provided. The complete dataset and analysis are published in our PACT Act Claims Report. VA's disposition was a full grant; the unproduced breakdowns reflect data VBA states it does not maintain.
Status: Records received and published as an original research report.
Contract examination vendor credentials and training
Full grant received August 11, 2026: 1,118 pages covering examiner credentialing requirements and the complete training curriculum (contract attachments and all certification courses). The release responds fully to the credentialing and training items; the aggregate quality assurance results item is not present in the released pages, and we are pursuing those records through an administrative appeal (filed with VA Office of General Counsel, August 12, 2026) and a targeted follow-up request (submitted August 12, 2026). Report in preparation. VA's disposition was a full grant; our completeness assessment differs on the aggregate QA results item, which was not produced and is under administrative appeal. Appeal update, September 2, 2026: the VA Office of General Counsel confirmed receipt of the administrative appeal and docketed it as OGC case 182299. OGC processes appeals first in, first out, assigns each to a FOIA attorney, and estimates the process may take several months or more before a written final determination. The acknowledgment letter is published in the Records Room.
Status: Request pending with the agency.
Rating decision quality and accuracy review data
Full grant received August 11, 2026: issue-based rating accuracy and error category counts for every regional office across four 12-month review windows (FY 2023 through May 2026), plus separate accuracy figures for the three Decision Review Operations Centers. Report in preparation.
Status: Request pending with the agency.
Dependency and Indemnity Compensation claims statistics
FULL GRANT. IAD letter dated August 18, 2026 (VBACO, Pension and Fiduciary Service search); records delivered via PAL August 19 and retrieved August 21. One Excel workbook, five sheets, nothing withheld: DIC claims received by FY (75,137 / 73,099 / 77,318 / 63,544 through 7/11), new recipients and award grants (45,070 / 46,153 / 55,700 / 42,485 through 6/30; this beneficiary series is also public in VA's Annual Benefits Report), denials (10,633 / 12,952 / 23,212 / 16,299), average days to complete by received FY (102.2 / 135.15 / 132.9 / 65.4), and granted claims split 38 USC 1310 vs 1318 by FY (cutoff clarified in writing by VBA on August 25, 2026: through July 11, 2026). Validation complete plus outside review adopted (see foia_26-23676-F_analysis.md): denials more than doubled from FY23 to FY25 (up 118.3 percent) on receipts up only 2.9 percent, and the denial share on the comparable claims basis (denials vs 1310+1318 granted claims) climbed from 23.1 to 32.4 percent; about one in four categorized grants comes through the 1318 pathway (25.8 to 27.9 percent, a split VA publishes nowhere). Caveats: the recipients measure and the granted claims measure use different units and do not reconcile (gap 5,612 to 9,728 per year; clarification questions drafted for VBACO); FY26 cutoffs differ across sheets and one is undocumented; FY26 average days is right censored and must not be read as a speedup. Clarification questions sent to the VBACO FOIA Officer August 20 and 21, 2026 (measure definitions, the June 30 cutoff, and the undocumented 1318 v 1310 FY26 cutoff). Response August 21: FOIA does not require the agency to answer questions or analyze data, but the officer volunteered to forward the questions to the data team. Any answer is voluntary; the published report's caveats already carry the ambiguity, so no publication change is needed either way. DEFINITIONS CLARIFIED ON THE RECORD: we emailed VBACO FOIA on August 20-21, 2026 and received a written response from the FOIA office (relaying the data team) on August 25, 2026 confirming (1) the DIC Grants sheet counts new recipients, equivalent to new DIC award beneficiaries for the fiscal year, (2) the 1310/1318 categories do NOT cover all granted DIC claims, (3) the grants sheet ends June 30, 2026 because its source reports end-of-month counts, and (4) the 1318 v 1310 tab runs through July 11, 2026. Still open: which grant categories fall outside the 1310/1318 pair (data dictionary follow-up request pending).
Status: Request pending with the agency.
C&P examination volume and timeliness by vendor
Full grant received August 11, 2026 from VBA Central Office: monthly exam requests, completions, and average days to complete for all four contract exam vendors, October 2022 through June 2026, in native spreadsheet format. VBA also stated that exam no-show rates, rescheduling rates, and insufficient examination counts are not captured data points by vendor. Report in preparation.
Status: Request pending with the agency.
How we participate
Read every proposed rule
We follow each VA rulemaking in the Federal Register from the day it is proposed, with its comment window and effective date.
File formal comments
When a proposed rule would change how benefits work, we file a comment in the public docket under our own name. It becomes part of the permanent federal record.
Track the outcome
We record whether VA answered our comment in the final rule and what actually changed, so this record shows results, not just filings.
The regulatory watch
Participation starts with watching. These are the standing trackers the policy work runs on.
The complete detail behind this record lives on three pages: every filed comment in full at Federal Rule Comments, every records request at the FOIA Log, and every dataset at the Research Hub. Journalists and researchers can start at the press and data page. To follow one issue end to end, from statute to rule to oversight, use the Issue Dockets.