[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 194 (Monday, December 10, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S7383]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              BLUE WATER NAVY VIETNAM VETERANS ACT OF 2017

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the November 
29, 2018, letter from the Congressional Budget Office regarding H.R. 
299, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2017, be printed in 
the Congressional Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                      Congressional Budget Office,


                                                U.S. Congress,

                                Washington, DC, November 29, 2018.
     Hon. Mike Enzi,
     Chairman, Committee on the Budget,
     U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: On May 15, 2018, the Congressional 
     Budget Office transmitted an estimate of the budgetary 
     effects of H.R. 299, a bill 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 ordered reported by 
     the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs on May 8, 2018. 
     Among other things, the act would provide disability 
     compensation to more of the veterans who served in the 
     territorial seas of Vietnam during the Vietnam War under the 
     assumption that they had been exposed to Agent Orange, a 
     blend of herbicides used by the Department of Defense to 
     remove dense tropical foliage. CBO estimated that those 
     provisions would increase direct spending by about $900 
     million over the 2019-2028 period.
       The bill that was passed by the House amended the earlier 
     version to expand the nautical area in which veterans would 
     be presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange. That change 
     would increase CBO's estimate of the costs of the legislation 
     by about $250 million to account for the additional veterans 
     that would be affected.
       Since the original estimate was prepared in May, CBO has 
     obtained new information that would affect future estimates 
     of similar legislation. In total, we expect that accounting 
     for this new information would increase the estimate of the 
     legislation's effect on direct spending by at least $1 
     billion over 10 years.
       First, CBO now expects that more veterans would be affected 
     by enactment of the bill than previously estimated. The 
     Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) already presumes that 
     veterans who served aboard certain U.S. Navy ships on the 
     dates they were near the coast of Vietnam were exposed to 
     Agent Orange. Using information about the crew size of those 
     listed ships, CBO estimated that about two-thirds of veterans 
     who served in the geographic area covered by the bill would 
     obtain compensation under current law. Thus, in its estimate 
     for H.R. 299, CBO projected that only one-third of veterans 
     in the covered population would be newly eligible for 
     disability compensation under that bill.
       We have since learned from additional discussions with VA 
     that there is considerably more uncertainty than we 
     originally anticipated about the number of veterans that, 
     under current law, VA would presume to have been exposed 
     because of service aboard those vessels. Specifically, there 
     is a greater likelihood that less than two-thirds of veterans 
     who served in the geographic area covered by the bill would 
     obtain compensation under current law.
       To account for that uncertainty CBO would, in future 
     estimates expect that half of affected beneficiaries would 
     obtain benefits under current law, and thus would not be 
     affected by enactment of H.R. 299. That estimate is in the 
     middle of the range of possible outcomes. Using that updated 
     estimate would mean that fewer veterans would be expected to 
     receive benefits under current law and more would get 
     benefits as a result of H.R. 299. The increase in the number 
     of affected veterans would result in additional retroactive 
     payments to veterans whose disability claims previously have 
     been denied by VA and also would increase the number of 
     recurring disability payments.
       In addition, on the basis of new information from VA, CBO 
     also would increase its estimate of the number of surviving 
     spouses of deceased veterans who would receive compensation 
     because the cause of those veterans' deaths would be presumed 
     to have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange.
       Finally, CBO would estimate that spending subject to 
     appropriation would increase for additional personnel to 
     process disability claims. Such spending would allow VA to 
     handle new claims more quickly. Although H.R. 299 would not 
     require VA to hire more personnel to process these additional 
     claims, the department has indicated that it would need to do 
     so in order to avoid a lengthy backlog.
       CBO will incorporate this new information into its future 
     estimates of the budgetary effects of such legislation.
       If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
     pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Logan 
     Smith.
           Sincerely,
                                                       Keith Hall,
     Director.

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