Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2018

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 299) to amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify presumptions relating to the exposure of certain veterans who served in the vicinity of the Republic of Vietnam, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 299, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2018, which was introduced by Representative Valadao of California.

H.R. 299, as amended, would finally extend the presumption of exposure to Agent Orange to blue water Navy veterans. I am grateful to Mr. Valadao for introducing this long overdue bill, but I also thank my colleagues on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs for working with us in a bipartisan manner to find an acceptable way to pay for this bill.

As many of you know, Agent Orange was used in Vietnam to defoliate areas in the jungle where enemy forces would come and ambush our troops. Unfortunately, many Vietnam veterans have developed diseases as a result of their exposure to Agent Orange.

Currently, VA only extends a presumption of exposure to Vietnam veterans who actually set foot in Vietnam or served in the inland waterways, or the brown water Navy, we call it. Blue water Navy veterans who served offshore of Vietnam were excluded from the presumption. VA denies these benefits because it claims there is not enough scientific information to determine whether blue water Navy veterans came into contact with herbicides in amounts meaningful to cause disease.

Mr. Speaker, I have read the science, and, unfortunately, we will never be able to prove whether blue water Navy veterans were harmed by herbicides. But I have said this before and I will say it again: When too many years have passed--over four decades, in this case--to meaningfully determine the science, the presumption should be heavily in favor of the veteran.

Moreover, I am pleased that the bill would help veterans who may have been harmed by exposure to herbicides while serving areas outside the Republic of Vietnam.

H.R. 299, as amended, incorporates a proposal authored by Representative Tom MacArthur, which would extend the presumption to veterans who served in or near the Korean Demilitarized Zone beginning on September 1, 1967, which is the month when the military began testing herbicides in that area. The end date of the presumption period would remain the same as it is now, which is August 31, 1971.

This legislation would also require VA to identify U.S. military bases located in Thailand where Agent Orange was used and when it was used.

Additionally, this bill includes a proposal authored by Representative Westerman of Arkansas, which would require VA to provide benefits for children who were born with spina bifida if one or both parents may have been exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Thailand, just as VA does for children with spina bifida if their parents served in Vietnam or the Korean DMZ while Agent Orange was used.

The manager's amendment makes some technical changes to ensure that

all Vietnam naval veterans who served within 12 miles offshore of Vietnam during the war are eligible for the presumption. The manager's amendment also makes technical changes to clarify the intent of this bill, including ensuring surviving spouses are eligible for retroactive benefits and authorizes VA to start paying benefits before the final regulations are issued.

Additionally, H.R. 299, as amended, would include several improvements to the VA's home loan program, introduced by several Members, including changes to VA's home appraisal system, which was introduced by Representative Arrington; and expansion of the conforming loan limit, which would allow veterans to use their earned VA loan benefits in more expensive areas, if they qualify. This provision was introduced by Representative Zeldin.

Extension of the waiver of home loan funding fees to recipients of the Purple Heart who are still serving on Active Duty was introduced by Representative Herrera Beutler, and temporary increases to VA's home loan funding fees for nondisabled veterans, to offset the cost of this bill.

I want to thank all of our VSO partners for their support and for helping us craft a bill that finally addresses the plight of blue water Navy veterans. Specifically, I want to thank the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, the Disabled American Veterans, the American Legion, the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Fleet Reserve Association, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Blue Water Vietnam Veteran Association, Military Veterans Advocacy, and the Military Officers Association of America.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 299, as amended, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the kind words from my friend Mr. Takano. We worked together closely on the committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Valadao), the lead sponsor of this bill, who has doggedly pursued this. This issue has been a problem for decades. Finally, tonight, on the House side, we are going to come to a conclusion.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), vice chair of the committee and one of the most ardent supporters of our Nation's veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from American Samoa (Mrs. Radewagen), one of the senior members of our Veterans' Affairs Committee and an incredible support for our Nation's heroes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman), chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee and a Vietnam veteran.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Zeldin), a former member of our committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman), my good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bacon), an Air Force career officer.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers and am prepared to close, so I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record letters of support for H.R. 299 from the 10 veterans service organizations I mentioned earlier.

Veterans of Foreign Wars

of The United States,

Kansas City, MO, May 7, 2018.

Hon. Johnny Isakson,

Chairman, Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Washington,

Mr. Speaker, the VA estimates that there are 6.6 million living Vietnam-era veterans; there are 58,220 who died in that war; and there only will be about 4.4 million remaining in just 10 short years. That means we will lose 2.2 million Vietnam-era veterans in the next 10 years, which is an average of about 523 Vietnam-era veterans per day.

We must now act because, if we don't, blue water Navy veterans may not be around to receive the benefits they and their loved ones have been waiting on for so long. We owe it to the brave men and women veterans who served offshore during the Vietnam era to cease waiting on perfect science and provide compensation benefits for conditions they may have developed because of exposure to Agent Orange.

I am not the only one who believes this. H.R. 299 has broad bipartisan support: 330 cosponsors. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that H.R. 299, as amended, does the right thing for our blue water Navy veterans.

Mr. Speaker, this is personal for our Vietnam-era veterans like myself. I served and walked the territory not long after in Korea, over 40 years ago.

We have done great work on the committee: We passed an accountability bill this year, a way to speed up disability claims. The Forever GI Bill funded the Veterans Choice Program. We just passed the VA MISSION Act, just a few of the things that our committee in a bipartisan way, has done.

But there is a little inconvenience out there that we have 90,000 blue water Navy veterans who are being left behind--not after today.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the other side of the aisle. We worked hand in hand.

And I thank the staffs--I don't think they get enough credit--for the hard work that the staffs do behind the scenes. When we seem to find a blind alley and can't get to a conclusion, they continue to work in a bipartisan way to find a way to get to yes.

I also thank all of the outside groups that kept this issue in front of us for decades.

When I got the chairmanship a year and a half ago, I said one of the things that I will base my chairmanship on is if we can get this solved and do the right thing for our blue water Navy veterans. Today, we are going to do the right thing in this House and send it to the Senate, where they will do the right thing.

Mr. Speaker, once again, I encourage all Members to support H.R. 299, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I thank my colleague and friend Senator Isakson, as well as the ranking member, Senator Tester, for their leadership on the Veterans' Affairs Committee in this past session. I have been proud and honored to work with them, and I look forward to doing so in the next Congress on issues so important and challenging. We have a responsibility to meet the needs of our veterans.

In that spirit, I ask unanimous consent that the Veterans' Affairs Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 299, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2017, and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that the bill be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I greatly respect my colleague from Utah, and I thank our friend from Georgia for his positive remarks on this topic, but more than words are necessary; we need action. We need dollars and cents to brave Americans who undertook to serve this country, who risked their lives, and who have suffered for years and years from the severe health effects of their contact with Agent Orange and other toxins on the battlefield. They deserve the same benefits as their comrades who served on land. They served in the territorial waters. Year after year they have been denied simple justice--action that fulfills our obligation to them. I greatly respect the words, the rhetoric, the pledges, but asking them to wait denies them justice.

There is an adage we quote frequently: Justice delayed is justice denied. That maxim has particular force here because these veterans, very simply, are passing away. They will be denied the benefits they are owed by this Nation. They will be deprived of the just compensation for injuries they received, like their fellow veterans who served boots on the ground on land, if they are not compensated for the injuries they received when they served in those territorial waters off Vietnam.

This measure has been brought to the floor before. Last week, I joined my colleagues Senators Tester, Gillibrand, Daines, and Brown to demand that simple justice for blue water Navy veterans. Today I am joined by Senator Baldwin of Wisconsin, my very distinguished colleague and friend, to whom I will yield shortly.

Our calls to unanimously pass H.R. 299 were blocked, and that is why we are back here again. In these closing hours of this session, we have the opportunity and obligation to do right by those veterans and to follow our words by our actions. Today the Senate has another chance, even in these last hours, to right a wrong.

Currently, the VA gives the benefit of the doubt to some veterans who have been exposed to toxic substances but not to others. Despite the fact that defoliants were indiscriminately used, only some of those veterans who were affected by them--those veterans suffering from cancer and skin disease and other aftereffects--are eligible for healthcare and benefits to address the health effects of their exposure.

Others, like Gerry Wright of Connecticut, are forced to shoulder the burden of proving they are suffering from this toxic exposure.

I ask my colleagues to reconsider their opposition. I ask them to think about the veterans of their own States who suffer from these kinds of diseases. I ask them to consider men and women like Eugene Clarke of Redding, CT. Because of his experience in Vietnam, he has spent most of his years fighting on behalf of veterans who served there and veterans who served in Korea in the 1960s. He has been a champion. His advocacy, backed by strong support from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, shine a light on these problems.

Today only veterans who were served on the Korean DMZ, from April 1968 through August 1971, are eligible for presumption, despite the fact that from 1966 through 1969, about 55,000 servicemembers were sent to Korea each year.

Mr. Clarke was instrumental in providing evidence that defoliants were sprayed during testing prior to 1968. His efforts have inspired me and my colleagues to introduce the Fairness for Korean DMZ Veterans Act. He is a veteran of that experience. He has fought for the Korean veterans, but he has also added his weight in support of the Vietnam veterans who served after he did.

Two years ago, I pledged to Mr. Clarke that I would fight as long and as hard as possible to make sure veterans who served in the Korean DMZ receive compensation and healthcare if they suffer from agent orange- linked illnesses. I am here today because of him, because of Korean War veterans, and because of Korean veterans who served in the DMZ.

I ask my colleagues to reconsider their opposition. In the limited number of days left in the 115th Congress, we have this important opportunity. We have this tremendous opportunity for anybody who cares about not only the veterans of Vietnam but also their descendants by extending healthcare, vocational training and rehabilitation, as well as providing a monetary allowance to children suffering from the aftereffects through their parents.

I ask my colleagues to do the right thing.

I yield to my colleague from Wisconsin.

Mr. President, in closing, I am grateful to my colleague from Wisconsin and my colleagues across the aisle. This measure was bipartisan. It was passed unanimously in the House of Representatives. It should be unanimous here. The money is not a problem. The money is there. The predictions about outlandish possible financial exposure are simply products of fantasy. I know my Republican colleagues almost unanimously on the other side of the aisle understand that simple fact. But even if the costs were higher than they are projected to be, we have an obligation to do the right thing. We have a moral duty to make sure we fulfill our promise.

I know the Presiding Officer has been a strong advocate for our veterans. I know my fellow members on the Veterans' Affairs Committee join me in this belief.

The costs of this program are the costs of war. They are the costs of keeping our troops on the DMZ in Korea. They are the costs of having sent them to Vietnam. They are the costs of sending our troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, and this measure would provide a study of the possible effects in terms of their health from those kinds of poisonous and toxic exposures. The modern battlefield is filled with toxins and poisons, and the injuries that result from them are the costs of war. We need to recognize that fact and refuse, absolutely reject the possibility that we will continue to delay even longer the justice these men and women deserve.

I can pledge to my colleagues that if we fail to do it this session, we will be back again next session. The costs to our conscience, if not to our budget, will rise in the meantime.

I am pleased to call on my very distinguished colleague and military veteran from Illinois, Senator Duckworth.

Mr. President, I wish to close by thanking my colleagues, Senator Duckworth and Senator Baldwin, and say that I would like to end this session on a positive note. I am going to be proud to yield to one of my very good friends and one of our most distinguished colleagues, Senator Shelby from Alabama, who has done such important work on appropriations and our budget. I thank him for it.

I hope that in the next session, this great body will see it in its heart, as well as mind and conscience, to do the right thing--not sometime in the next 2 years but in the first days and weeks so that these veterans have simple justice. I will champion it. I know colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join us, and we can get it done. We must.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I yield the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 299, as amended, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act. It has taken years of dedicated advocacy and bipartisanship to get us here today. I would especially like to recognize Ranking Member Walz, who could not be here today but was a driving force behind this legislation.

H.R. 299 is an important step toward rectifying a longstanding injustice for veterans who were made sick from exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam more than 50 years ago.

Passage of this legislation will extend eligibility to 90,000 veterans who served in Vietnam and may have been exposed to this dangerous chemical. Some thought this day would never come for the blue water Navy veterans. Finding over $1 billion in the Federal budget is not an easy task. Many people even said it was impossible.

I thank the chairman for sitting down with the veteran service organizations, working with staff, and agreeing to find an alternative funding source to right this wrong. I am proud that this committee was able to, once again, reach a bipartisan agreement to move forward with legislation that does what is right for our Nation's veterans.

While there was disagreement about the pay-for in the past, the solution in this bill is fair. It does not cut benefits for one group of veterans to pay for the benefits of others. It requires all veterans, whether they served on Active Duty, in the Reserves, or as guardsmen and -women, to pay for the same VA home loan funding fee.

With the move to an operational Reserve, reservists and guardsmen and -women are deploying alongside Active Duty servicemembers into harm's way. It is fair for VA to charge the same fee across the board. The funding fee allows the VA to continue guaranteeing home loans to current and future servicemembers and veterans. Disabled veterans are exempt from paying the fee.

Now, we were able to do this by working together, and I want to thank Chairman Roe for identifying the solution. A special measure of credit must also go to the Vietnam Veterans of America for their steadfast advocacy for blue water veterans. Because of VVA's efforts, it is my hope that never again will another group of veterans face the same problems that they did.

I would also like to add that, before we take this historic vote, we must remember toxic exposures continue to occur. Since 9/11, servicemembers have been exposed to burn pits and mefloquine, both of which are likely causing serious health complications.

And we can't forget our servicemembers who have been exposed to atomic radiation and those struggling with Gulf War illnesses. Not every exposure can be avoided, but their risks should be tracked, understood, and mitigated. The servicemember must receive timely healthcare and disability compensation if exposure causes adverse health conditions and disease.

We must build a system that proactively identifies, investigates, diagnoses, treats, and heals toxic exposures, as well as one that also holds the Department of Defense accountable.

My feeling is that, if we are using presumptions, it means that we are already losing the battle. It means we haven't documented who was exposed to what, so we are just going to assume that everyone was exposed.

H.R. 299 makes other important reforms, including adjusting the date of the presumption for veterans exposed to Agent Orange and in the Korean DMZ, so that those exposed during a period of testing become eligible. It directs the Secretary to reach out to veterans who have previously been denied to inform them of the new law and how to file a new claim.

The bill also requires that VA use language that is easily understood. H.R. 299 also expands the presumption for Agent Orange exposure to children born with spina bifida to veteran parents exposed in Thailand.

Lastly, the bill mandates that VA report to Congress within 180 days after enactment on the result of the epidemiological study conducted on Gulf War veterans who are suffering from Gulf War illness.

I am proud that we are fixing this broken promise to the blue water veterans today; but there are many others in the making, and we need to address them as soon as possible.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney), my good friend and colleague, who has been with this issue since four Congresses ago. He is the original, first Democratic cosponsor on the current bill before us. It is my honor to yield to him.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining on my side?

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to offer my reflections on the persistence of both Chairman Roe and Ranking Member Walz. I think it is a great injustice that Mr. Walz could not be here today because I know how hard he worked with Chairman Roe to find a pay-for.

Let me say, also, for the folks back in my own district, in Riverside County, Riverside County has the eighth or ninth largest absolute population of veterans in the Nation, depending on what year you are counting. But every year, we have an event known as West Coast Thunder of mostly Harley-Davidson riders who ride from the Harley-Davidson shop to Riverside National Cemetery. Most of those riders are Vietnam veterans. I know back home in my district that the veterans support committee is going to be thrilled that Congress came together on this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Correa), my good friend and fellow member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and the former chairman of the California State Assembly Committee on Veterans Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I again want to thank Chairman Roe for bringing forth this very important legislation. I also want to acknowledge, again, the ranking member, Tim Walz, for working so hard to bring this legislation to the floor. It was a long time coming. It was introduced four Congresses ago.

I believe that this is a shining moment for the Veterans' Affairs Committee and a shining moment for this Congress, for the people of this country to see us come together and do something that has been long overdue for our Vietnam veterans, often who were not welcomed home in the way that they should have been. This is a small gesture of what we can do to make amends for that lack of a proper welcoming home. This is a very proud moment for me.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 299, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object and to take a couple minutes to give the Members the facts they need to make a decision tonight, I want to say a couple things.

I am chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. There are many Members in this Chamber who know their responsibility to that committee is greater than any other. I come down tonight to speak on an issue that has been bothering me and has been festering for years, but nobody has ever done anything about it. Nobody has ever done the hard work of saying this is what we need to do, and this is why we need to do it this way.

Well, the House has finally done it this year, and we have done it.

Granted, this is a UC motion and not a debate on the floor. It is because we finally addressed all the issues everybody said about the blue water bill that they didn't like, except that some people would like to say it differently.

Some people want another study even though we have studied it enough to do it. Some people want to wait until the VA says they need to do this, that, or the other. Some people say the VA could call and will tell you the other. Somebody said we don't even have the right numbers of how many people this might affect. Nobody has the right number about how many people will get sick in the future from a disease we don't know exists until the time they contract it.

What happened in this case is very simple. The Veterans' Administration, years ago, decided if someone contracted one of the cancers of which a contributing factor was napalm and Agent Orange, they qualified for benefits, except if they served on the blue water, which is not the rivers, and didn't serve on the ground, then they didn't. So in other words, we have ground troops who fought in Vietnam. We have river fighters in Vietnam who get the benefit. If you served on a Navy ship carrying napalm, but you never touched the ground and only stayed on the blue water, you are not eligible. So we have two classes of victims who are veterans of the United States of America who fought and risked their lives who have been trying for years to get an equal treatment with their other brothers.

This was done for many. I am not going to go over the things I have heard because some of them are outrageous. Nonetheless, everybody looked for a way to try and get some of the benefit back once the VA had it taken over.

What the Congress is about to do--and the House has now passed a bill unanimously this year that will benefit this motion. The Senate has had two hearings, and we have done a lot of work on it. I have done a lot of work on it because I knew how big the issue was. I talked to the people in the VA. I realize everybody in here can go find somebody who says they don't like it. There are people at the VA who don't like it, but let me tell you what I don't like: I don't like having two classes of beneficiaries for disease and health. I don't like not shooting straight with the same people who ought to qualify for the same thing. I really don't like putting off the decision 1 more year until we get one more study. This thing has been studied as long as it needs to be studied. We have the best information we possibly can get. I tried my best to give some of the Members the exact information they asked me for, but the CVA will not give it to me because they don't have it because it is predictive in the future, not present experience.

So I would ask every Member, before they consider casting a ``no'' vote against this UC, to think about what you are doing. You are saying no to those who had a benefit taken away from them by the VA itself. You are putting off a decision we are going to have to make in the future. You are not allowing us to do what we really ought to do. I would ask each of you to search your heart, search your past, and think about the veterans in your State and cast a vote for doing the right thing for the right people at the right time and not object to the motion made by the Senator from New York.

I have no objection.

Mr. President, I want to thank my colleagues Senator Brown, Senator Tester, most importantly, Senator Gillibrand, and our good friend Senator Isakson.

Senator Isakson and Senator Gillibrand and I worked together closely on this issue when I was the ranking member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. We engaged the VA through hearings, through meetings, through any way that we could reach the VA so that it would grant the presumption to all veterans who served in the territorial waters of Vietnam during the Vietnam war and were exposed to Agent Orange, to give them simple justice, and to treat them with the same presumption of service-connected disability as their fellow veterans who served in the Vietnam conflict with boots on the ground. If they served in those territorial waters, they deserve that same presumption.

Beyond the abstraction here, I want to talk about the face and voice of this problem, which, for me, is my good friend Gerry Wright.

Gerry Wright rode across this country on a motorcycle. The mantra on the motorcycle was ``Sprayed and Betrayed.'' Gerry Wright is a victim of Agent Orange. He suffers from some of the same conditions as those brave veterans who served with boots on the ground. He joined me, along with Paul Scappaticci, Cinthia Johnson, and Gary Monk on Veterans Day. Just as he rode across the country, we came together to raise awareness about this issue.

If Americans saw and heard those faces and voices, if my colleagues heeded their call, there would be no objection in this body to this legislation. It is all of us who share a responsibility, and it is the VA that has to acknowledge responsibility, as well, for its opposition over the years and its actions blocking simple justice for these veterans.

In the absence of justice from the VA, we have fought over these years--just as the blue water Navy veterans have fought for decades--to achieve that justice, and 5 months ago, that justice seemed within reach when the House unanimously passed, 382 to 0, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act.

The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee held a hearing on this legislation in August. Members had more than sufficient time to consider the language. There are more than ample funds to cover it. There is no reason--none whatsoever--for delaying this legislation, which has such broad support from the Veterans Service Organizations, stakeholders, and members of this body.

I want to remind my colleagues that this legislation also includes a provision that I led with Senator Moran and Senator Tester that would treat with fairness our Korean veterans. It is called the Fairness for Korean DMZ Veterans Act, ensuring all veterans who served in the Korean DMZ, when Agent Orange was used there, that they will also receive the healthcare and benefits they deserve. This measure is about justice for our Vietnam veterans, for our Korean war veterans, and it is a symbol, as well as a tangible and profoundly significant benefit of our commitment to cover the cost of war. This measure is not about a gift. It is not about charity. It is about what we owe the veteran. It is about keeping faith, making sure that we leave none of those veterans behind, and that we give them the simple justice they deserve. They have fought for this recognition over years, and ``sprayed and betrayed'' will be the appropriate designation if we fail in this duty for them.

Again, I thank Senator Gillibrand and Senator Daines for their leadership, and I urge my colleagues to support this measure.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.