S.Amdt. 5855

SA 5855. Mrs. SHAHEEN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5499 submitted by Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 7900, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2023 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle C of title VII, add the following:

SEC. 753. STUDY AND REPORT ON RATE OF CANCER-RELATED MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY FOR INDIVIDUALS ASSIGNED TO PEASE AIR FORCE BASE AND PEASE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE.

(a) Study.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall conduct, or enter into a contract with an appropriate federally funded research and development center to conduct, a study to assess whether individuals (including individuals on active duty in the Armed Forces or in a reserve component of the Armed Forces) assigned to Pease Air Force Base or Pease Air National Guard Base for a significant period of time during the period beginning on January 1, 1970, and ending on December 31, 2020, experience a higher-than-expected rate of cancer-related morbidity and mortality as a result of time on base or exposures associated with time on base compared to the rate of cancer-related morbidity and mortality of the general population of the United States, accounting for differences in sex, age, and race.

(b) Inclusion in Military Exposure Research Program.--

(1) In general.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, acting through the Office of Research and Development and the Office of Health Outcomes Military Exposures of the Veterans Health Administration, shall include Pease Air Force Base and Pease Air National Guard Base in the Military Exposure Research Program of the Veterans Health Administration and shall request from the Department of Defense and any applicable authorities of the State of New Hampshire access to any necessary data, personnel, and assistance necessary to navigate policies related to conducting research at an installation of the National Guard in New Hampshire.

(2) Satisfaction of study requirement.--If the Secretary of Veterans Affairs successfully includes Pease Air Force Base and Pease Air National Guard Base in the Military Exposure Research Program under paragraph (1), the inclusion of those installations in that program shall satisfy the requirement to conduct the study under subsection (a).

(c) Completion of Study; Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall--

(1) complete the study required under subsection (a); and

(2) submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the results of the study.

(d) Definitions.--In this section:

(1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term “appropriate committees of Congress” means--

(A) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; and

(B) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives.

(2) Significant period of time.--The term “significant period of time” has the meaning given that term by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or the entity conducting the study under subsection (a), as the Secretary determines appropriate.