Last year, when major veterans and military associations said their top legislative priority was to prevent funding disruptions by getting veterans health care budgets approved one year in advance, Congress delivered.

It will be much harder for lawmakers to fix the groups' top priority for 2010: the error-prone, cumbersome, backlogged claims process at the Veterans Affairs Department.

At a Jan. 20 roundtable organized by the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, 33 of the 40 groups that sent representatives said their top priority is reducing the backlog of claims and improving the process of applying for and receiving disability, education and survivor benefits.

Joe Violante, national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans, said he expects major veterans groups to provide Congress later this year a blueprint for improvements that will tackle the claims problems on a number of fronts, including improving accuracy, increasing the number of electronic claims and streamlining the process by eliminating steps.

As of Jan. 19, VA reported 489,345 pending compensation and pension claims, 37 percent of which have been in the pipeline longer than 125 days — VA's goal for completion.