Trump cites shorter veterans’ claims backlog in Veterans Day message

President Donald Trump has proclaimed 11 November Veterans Day, saying in his annual message that the US Department of Veterans Affairs has reduced its claims backlog by more than 70% during his second term.

Trump also said the department processed a record 3.1 million disability claims “this year”. The proclamation does not specify whether that figure refers to the calendar or financial year, or give the starting and ending counts for the backlog comparison.

The VA said in September that it had processed more than three million disability benefit claims by 18 September in the 2026 financial year, surpassing the previous full-year record of 3.001 million in 2025. It also said the average time to complete a decision had fallen from 141.5 days when Trump took office in January 2025 to 75.6 days in September 2026.

The backlog measure covers certain disability compensation and pension claims awaiting a decision for more than 125 days. It does not cover all the department’s pending work, and appeals are tracked separately. The figures alone do not establish how much of the reduction resulted from particular measures taken by Trump’s administration.

The quality of decisions also matters to veterans seeking benefits. An investigation by The Beam, distributed by the Associated Press, found that the proportion of decisions sent back for further evidence gathering and reconsideration in higher-level reviews rose from about 23% in the 2021 financial year to 35% in 2026. Those figures concern reviewed decisions, not all claims.

The VA said in September that its claims-processing accuracy had improved to 94%, a different measure from the higher-level review figures. It denies that its automated decision-support tool causes errors; the review statistics do not distinguish between human and automation errors.