[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1359 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1359

      To provide for the reconsideration of claims for disability 
 compensation for veterans who were the subjects of experiments by the 
Department of Defense during World War II that were conducted to assess 
    the effects of mustard gas or lewisite on people, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 2, 2017

 Mrs. Walorski (for herself and Miss Rice of New York) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' 
  Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a 
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To provide for the reconsideration of claims for disability 
 compensation for veterans who were the subjects of experiments by the 
Department of Defense during World War II that were conducted to assess 
    the effects of mustard gas or lewisite on people, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Arla Harrell Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) During World War II, the Government carried out a 
        program of testing mustard gas and lewisite exposure on members 
        of the Armed Forces. This program was classified and 
        participating members were threatened with dishonorable 
        discharges and imprisonment if they revealed their 
        participation.
            (2) On July 12, 1973, a fire at the National Personnel 
        Records Center destroyed more than 16,000,000 official military 
        personnel files. The records affected more than 80 percent of 
        members and former members of the Army who were discharged 
        between November 1, 1912, and January 1, 1960. As a result, due 
        to no fault of their own, veterans who were subjected to 
        testing under the program are unable to rely on a full and 
        complete record of their service to produce proof that they 
        were subjected to such testing.
            (3) The Armed Forces did not fully acknowledge its role in 
        the program until the last of the experiments was declassified 
        in 1975, 30 years after testing under the program was completed 
        and 2 years after the fire destroyed military records at the 
        National Personnel Records Center.
            (4) The oath of secrecy was not effectively lifted until 
        1991, 46 years after the testing was completed, further 
        hampering the ability of veterans to provide proof that they 
        were subjected to the testing.
            (5) The Department of Veterans Affairs is relying on 
        incomplete information to adjudicate claims, which often 
        provides conflicting data regarding veterans' mustard gas or 
        lewisite exposure due to recordkeeping failures outside of the 
        veterans' control.
            (6) The Department has rejected approximately 90 percent of 
        claims for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary of 
        Veterans Affairs relating to mustard gas or lewisite exposure.
            (7) Veterans who participated in the mustard gas or 
        lewisite testing were not afforded the same opportunity to 
        provide evidence of their exposure for disability compensation 
        and ought to be afforded unique consideration.

SEC. 3. RECONSIDERATION OF CLAIMS FOR DISABILITY COMPENSATION FOR 
              VETERANS WHO WERE THE SUBJECTS OF MUSTARD GAS OR LEWISITE 
              EXPERIMENTS DURING WORLD WAR II.

    (a) Reconsideration of Claims for Disability Compensation in 
Connection With Exposure to Mustard Gas or Lewisite.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in 
        consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall reconsider 
        all claims for compensation described in paragraph (2) and make 
        a new determination regarding each such claim.
            (2) Claims for compensation described.--Claims for 
        compensation described in this paragraph are claims for 
        compensation under chapter 11 of title 38, United States Code, 
        that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs determines are in 
        connection with exposure to mustard gas or lewisite during 
        active military, naval, or air service during World War II and 
        that were denied before the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (3) Presumption of exposure.--In carrying out paragraph 
        (1), if the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or the Secretary of 
        Defense makes a determination regarding whether a veteran 
        experienced full-body exposure to mustard gas or lewisite, such 
        Secretary--
                    (A) shall presume that the veteran experienced 
                full-body exposure to mustard gas or lewisite, as the 
                case may be, unless proven otherwise; and
                    (B) may not use information contained in the DoD 
                and VA Chemical Biological Warfare Database or any list 
                of known testing sites for mustard gas or lewisite 
                maintained by the Department of Veterans Affairs or the 
                Department of Defense as the sole reason for 
                determining that the veteran did not experience full-
                body exposure to mustard gas or lewisite.
            (4) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than once every 
        90 days thereafter, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
        submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report 
        specifying any claims reconsidered under paragraph (1) that 
        were denied during the 90-day period preceding the submittal of 
        the report, including the rationale for each such denial.
    (b) Development of Policy.--Not later than one year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the 
Secretary of Defense shall jointly establish a policy for processing 
future claims for compensation under chapter 11 of title 38, United 
States Code, that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs determines are in 
connection with exposure to mustard gas or lewisite during active 
military, naval, or air service during World War II.
    (c) Investigation and Report by Secretary of Defense.--Not later 
than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Defense shall--
            (1) for purposes of determining whether a site should be 
        added to the list of the Department of Defense of sites where 
        mustard gas or lewisite testing occurred, investigate and 
        assess sites where--
                    (A) the Army Corps of Engineers has uncovered 
                evidence of mustard gas or lewisite testing; or
                    (B) more than two veterans have submitted claims 
                for compensation under chapter 11 of title 38, United 
                States Code, in connection with exposure to mustard gas 
                or lewisite at such site and such claims were denied; 
                and
            (2) submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a 
        report on experiments conducted by the Department of Defense 
        during World War II to assess the effects of mustard gas and 
        lewisite on people, which shall include--
                    (A) a list of each location where such an 
                experiment occurred, including locations investigated 
                and assessed under paragraph (1);
                    (B) the dates of each such experiment; and
                    (C) the number of members of the Armed Forces who 
                were exposed to mustard gas or lewisite in each such 
                experiment.
    (d) Investigation and Report by Secretary of Veterans Affairs.--Not 
later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall--
            (1) investigate and assess--
                    (A) the actions taken by the Secretary to reach out 
                to individuals who had been exposed to mustard gas or 
                lewisite in the experiments described in subsection 
                (c)(2)(A); and
                    (B) the claims for disability compensation under 
                laws administered by the Secretary that were filed with 
                the Secretary and the percentage of such claims that 
                were denied by the Secretary; and
            (2) submit to the appropriate committees of Congress--
                    (A) a report on the findings of the Secretary with 
                respect to the investigations and assessments carried 
                out under paragraph (1); and
                    (B) a comprehensive list of each location where an 
                experiment described in subsection (c)(2)(A) was 
                conducted.
    (e) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The terms ``active military, naval, or air service'', 
        ``veteran'', and ``World War II'' have the meanings given such 
        terms in section 101 of title 38, United States Code.
            (2) The term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the 
                Committee on Armed Services, and the Special Committee 
                on Aging of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the 
                Committee on Armed Services of the House of 
                Representatives.
            (3) The term ``full-body exposure'', with respect to 
        mustard gas or lewisite, has the meaning given that term by the 
        Secretary of Defense.
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