Despite holding more than 700 votes this year, the House only managed to pass 26 bills that have made it into law, thanks to tiny majorities, divided government and a right wing bent on constraining government.
Federal officials have been contacting veterans who may have been injured by blast exposure in the service, including some who were cut off from health benefits.
Diverse data from the Million Veteran Program has already contributed to hundreds of medical studies, and the V.A. is continuing to recruit more participants.
More than half of the roughly 843,000 claims submitted since the legislation was signed have been processed. But there are still more than 384,700 applications pending.