U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, D-2nd District, speaks Sunday at a wreath- laying ceremony honoring veterans, firefighters, police and emergency workers, at St. Francis and Pine Grove cemeteries in Waterville. Michaud, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, on Wednesday joined lawmakers on Capitol Hill in pressuring the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs to address a bureaucratic backlog that has some veterans waiting years to receive disability claims.