VA to Fast-Track 140,000 Burn-Pit Claims Under Pentagon Directive, $2.4 Billion Released Jan. 22

New Directive Clears Backlog Path

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15. The Department of Veterans Affairs will begin fast-tracking approximately 140,000 pending burn-pit disability claims on Jan. 22, according to two VA officials familiar with the plan. The acceleration follows a classified Pentagon directive issued Jan. 12 that redirects $2.4 billion in overseas contingency funds to cover initial benefit awards and claims processing overtime, the officials said.

The backlog has been especially severe for veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, where open-air burn pits disposed of everything from human waste to vehicle parts. VA data shows the average processing time for burn-pit claims reached 186 days in late 2025, more than double the department's stated goal of 75 days.

The directive, first drafted in December after pressure from veterans service organizations, orders the Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force to submit deployment records for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans within 72 hours of a VA request, rather than the current average of 11 weeks. The change is designed to break a documentation bottleneck that has left tens of thousands of claims stalled in what VA employees call the records hold status.

The money will be released in two tranches. The first $1.1 billion will reach the Veterans Benefits Administration by Jan. 22 to fund overtime at regional offices in St. Paul, Salt Lake City, and Winston-Salem, plus contract medical reviewers in Atlanta and Phoenix, the officials said. The remaining $1.3 billion will follow by Feb. 15, tied to a target of clearing 60 percent of the backlog by April 30.

Sources Describe Tight Timeline

A veterans-service-organization representative who attended a Jan. 13 briefing at VA headquarters said the plan was presented as a top priority for the new administration. The representative, who requested anonymity because the briefing was not public, said the acting secretary told attendees the department would treat burn-pit exposure as a presumptive condition for respiratory illness and certain cancers without requiring individual proof of causation.

The representative said the acting secretary displayed a slide showing that 38,000 of the 140,000 pending claims had already cleared medical review and were awaiting only service-record verification. Those claims are expected to be the first approved under the new process, with initial payments scheduled for the week of Jan. 26.

The change would mirror the PACT Act framework but would apply a lower evidentiary standard for veterans who served at 34 named bases and forward operating sites between 2003 and 2015, the representative said. The list includes Balad Air Base, Camp Taji, Forward Operating Base Warrior, Camp Victory, Al Asad Air Base, Kandahar Airfield, Bagram Airfield, and 27 smaller sites in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One of the VA officials said the new policy would rely on a Defense Department environmental exposure database that has never been fully shared with VA adjudicators. The database includes air-quality readings, incident logs, and burn-pit location maps from the named installations. The official said the first batch of records would be transferred to the VA by Jan. 25 under the terms of the Jan. 12 directive.

A military spouse advocate who works with the Armed Forces Family Readiness Council said families began receiving notices Jan. 14 that claims pending more than 180 days would be flagged for expedited review. The advocate, who has advised the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said the notification was sent through the VA's eBenefits portal and listed a dedicated phone line at the St. Paul regional office. The notices included a projected decision date of Feb. 10 for claims submitted before July 1, 2025.

Funding Mechanism and Legal Questions

The $2.4 billion shift does not require new congressional appropriations, according to the two VA officials. The money comes from reprogrammed overseas contingency operations funds that were originally designated for fuel, housing, and base support in Qatar, Kuwait, and Germany. The Jan. 12 directive classifies the transfer as a humanitarian and personnel-readiness expense, the officials said.

The 2019 regulation cited in the directive allows the Defense Department to transfer up to $4 billion in contingency funds for emergency personnel and readiness needs without prior congressional approval, provided the affected committees are notified within five days. The two VA officials said congressional leaders received informal notification Jan. 13.

A former VA general counsel official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person is not authorized to discuss internal deliberations, said the funding maneuver is likely to face scrutiny from the Government Accountability Office. The official said reprogramming notices normally require congressional notification 15 days before obligation, but emergency personnel actions can move faster under the 2019 Defense Department financial management regulation.

The veterans-service-organization representative said the group has retained outside counsel to monitor whether the funding transfer complies with the 2022 PACT Act's mandatory spending provisions. The representative said the organization supports the policy goal but wants to ensure the money does not come at the expense of other VA health-care accounts.

What Happens Next

The expedited process is expected to produce a surge of retroactive payments in late January and early February. The two VA officials said the average award for a single veteran with respiratory illness would likely fall between $1,200 and $2,800 per month, depending on disability rating, with lump-sum retroactive payments for claims pending more than a year.

Veterans advocates said they will monitor whether the expedited process leads to lower-quality decisions that are later reversed on appeal. The military spouse advocate said her organization plans to survey claimants weekly and publish a tracker showing average wait times by regional office.

Congressional aides said the House Veterans Affairs Committee plans to hold a closed hearing Jan. 27 to review the funding shift. The committee has requested testimony from VA officials and Defense Department comptroller staff. A Senate aide briefed on the plan said the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee is preparing similar oversight letters but has not scheduled a hearing.

Veterans service organization leaders said they expect the first public acknowledgment of the policy to come during a scheduled Jan. 20 appearance by the acting secretary at the American Legion's winter conference in Arlington, Virginia. The speech is listed on the conference agenda as a keynote address on toxic exposure and veterans benefits.

The acting VA secretary's office did not respond to a request for comment before publication. The Pentagon referred questions to the VA. The Alamo Post launched in January 2026.