S.Amdt. 6113

SA 6113. Ms. ERNST 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 ON PREVALENCE AND MORTALITY OF CANCER AMONG AIRCREW OF THE NAVY, AIR FORCE, AND MARINE CORPS.

(a) Study.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall seek to enter into an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine under which the National Academies shall conduct a study of the prevalence and mortality of cancers among covered individuals.

(b) Matters Included.--The study under subsection (a) shall include the following:

(1) Identification of chemicals, compounds, agents, and other phenomena that cause elevated cancer prevalence and mortality risks among covered individuals, including a nexus study design to determine whether there is a scientifically established link, based on scientific association, between such a chemical, compound, agent, or other phenomena and such cancer prevalence or mortality risk.

(2) An assessment of not fewer than 10 types of cancer that are of concern with respect to exposure by covered individuals to the chemicals, compounds, agents, and other phenomena identified under paragraph (1), which may include colon and rectum cancers, pancreatic cancer, melanoma skin cancer, prostate cancer, testis cancer, urinary bladder cancer, kidney cancer, brain cancer, thyroid cancer, lung cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

(3) A review of all available sources of relevant data, including health care databases of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense, the national death index, and the study conducted under section 750 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 116-283; 134 Stat. 3716).

(c) Submission.--

(1) Study.--Upon completion of the study under subsection (a), the National Academies shall submit to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Air Force, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate, and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives the study.

(2) Report.--Not later than December 31, 2025, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives a report on the study under subsection (a), including--

(A) the specific actions the Secretary is taking to ensure that the study informs the evaluation of disability claims made to the Secretary, including with respect to providing guidance to claims examiners and revising the schedule of ratings for disabilities under chapter 11 of title 38, United States Code; and

(B) any recommendations of the Secretary.

(3) Form.--The report under paragraph (2) shall be submitted in unclassified form.

(d) Covered Individual Defined.--In this section, the term “covered individual” means an individual who served in the regular or reserve components of the Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps, including the Air National Guard, as an air crew member of a fixed-wing aircraft, including pilots, navigators, weapons systems operators, aircraft system operators, and any other crew member who regularly flew in an aircraft.