HEWITT - Governor Rick Perry made a stop in central Texas on Monday.

He spoke to veterans at the Hewitt Veterans Foreign Wars post.

The Governor said the state will fund an initiative to reduce a backlog of thousands of pending veterans benefits claims.

Earlier this month the governor authorized the Texas Veterans' Commission to help expedite the backlog. Perry says it is taking entirely too long.

Out of the 38,000 claims statewide waiting to be processed, 18,000 of those are in Waco.