FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—President Donald Trump’s Department of Veterans Affairs processed more disability benefits compensation and pension ratings claims in a single year than ever before, The Daily Signal has learned.

“Under President Trump, VA is making major improvements to better serve veterans, and this announcement underscores that fact,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement. “We look forward to implementing more reforms to increase customer service and convenience for those we are charged with serving.”

Democrats have argued that Trump’s cuts to “waste, fraud, and abuse” would harm veteran care. But in fiscal year 2024, VA processed a total of 2,517,519 ratings claims. This year, the department set a new record of 2,524,115 ratings claims issued by Aug. 8, nearly two months before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

Since Trump’s inauguration, the backlog of veterans waiting for benefits has dropped by more than 37%, after rising 24% during the Biden administration.

“The reality is we’re actually helping veterans,” Collins told The Daily Signal in June. “We’re actually putting the VA back in the proper mode of being a service organization, and not a jobs program and not something that’s just perennially complained about on the Hill.”

In July, the agency completed more than 300,000 ratings claims in a single month for the first time ever.

VA is processing claims 17.8% faster in 2025 than in 2024, even as receipts are 10% higher than this time last year.