The Department of Veterans Affairs has grown into a behemoth with more than 270,000 employees who maintain 131 cemeteries, operate 152 hospitals and disburse benefits to more than four million veterans. Last year, veterans filed more than 1.3 million claims, double the number in 2001. The Department of Veterans Affairs added nearly 4,000 new workers since 2008, but the agency has completed less than 80 percent of its inventory. The Department of Veterans Affairs completed one million claims for the third consecutive year.