[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7835-S7837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 299

  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. 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.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, my 
apologies to those on the floor who wish to speak. We have spoken a 
couple of times about this on the floor. I want to do it one more time.
  I appreciate the motion by the gentleman who had been my ranking 
member on the committee for 2 years before this current session of the 
Senate. The blue water Navy has been an issue that has been 
controversial. It has almost been passed a few times, and it has been 
defeated a number of times.
  Our veterans, today, who served in Vietnam and who have ended up 
contracting cancer--non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and things like that--do not 
have the luxury of presumption of cause on their service in Vietnam 
unless they served on the land. If they served on the land in the 
battlefield, they get the benefit, but if they served at sea, where 
most of this napalm and all of the other agents were delivered--on 
those ships--they don't have that benefit.
  The VA bifurcated a benefit of healthcare to our veterans--many of 
whom contracted cancer and many of whom have died--and said: If you are 
on the land, you get it. If you are on the sea, we will not let you 
have it.
  It is the wrong thing to do. No veteran who served on the land is 
more important or less important than the one who served at sea. We 
have a chance to do this, and we ought to do it. I am going to vote in 
favor of adopting the motion by the gentleman from Connecticut.
  Let me just say one other thing. There is a letter floating around 
about the cost of this and about the cost estimates we had. We got a 
new cost estimate yesterday after our having spent years in the 
committee trying to get a better cost estimate. We got one yesterday 
that was higher than the day before. I don't know what its credibility 
is. I am not going to cast aspersions on the credibility of the CBS. 
Obviously, nothing should surpass a promise we have made for healthcare 
coverage to our veterans that they are not getting. That is what we owe 
to them, and I hope everybody will vote to support the blue water Navy 
benefit with regard to the motion by the Senator from Connecticut.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I have great 
respect for my distinguished friends and colleagues, including my 
colleagues from Connecticut and from Georgia. I will also add that 
there is no doubt that all of us owe a great debt of gratitude to the 
brave men and women who fought and served in the Vietnam war. There is 
no question that they endured unspeakable hardships there and, of 
course, for many decades following their service.
  For some, one of these hardships involved exposure to Agent Orange. 
This very potent chemical was widely used by the U.S. military during 
the Vietnam war as part of its herbicidal warfare program, and it has 
proven to have been something that has caused major health problems for 
the service men and women who were exposed to it. So Congress passed 
the Agent Orange Act of 1991 to provide health benefits for those 
servicemembers who were affected by it.
  The act presumes the service connection for diseases caused by 
herbicides for Active military, naval, or air servicemembers when, and 
only when, there is scientific and medical evidence to support it.
  In 2002, the VA removed the blue water Navy veterans from the 
presumption of exposure, as they had looked at the data repeatedly 
under multiple administrations and had not found evidence to grant the 
presumption.
  The bill now under consideration would restore this presumption to 
the

[[Page S7836]]

blue water Navy veterans, but prudence demands that we wait until we 
have more complete information and evidence to make this presumption. 
In fact, previous studies have lumped all the branches of the services 
together into their analyses or they focused solely on the Army. In 
other words, they failed to differentiate between those who were Active 
on the ground and those who were serving on ships miles offshore.
  Now we have a chance to get that precise data. The VA is currently 
undertaking a study, slotted to be released in the early months of 
2019, that examines the myriad of health factors in Vietnam veterans 
and specifically includes a subsample of blue water Navy veterans.
  It is only right and only reasonable that Congress should examine 
this study before making any presumption of a service connection for 
all blue water Navy veterans from this war. The brave men and women who 
have sacrificed so much for our country should undoubtedly get the 
medical care they need in connection with their service.
  As Members of this body, it is also our duty to ensure it is done in 
a prudent and proper way, with all the relevant information available 
to us. Our veterans deserve no less, and it is for this reason that I 
have concerns with it.
  I have received calls from Secretary Wilkie and from four previous VA 
Secretaries, all of whom have said consistently that the VA has been 
strapped with difficulties in recent years. We have to make sure the VA 
has the tools it needs to offer the services it needs to offer to our 
veterans. Doing something that would offset that, as these VA 
Secretaries have concluded, would be unwise. On that basis, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. 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.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wisconsin.
  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today to ask the Senate to come 
together and do the right thing for our veterans by passing the blue 
water Navy legislation. I thank my colleague from Connecticut for his 
leadership, and I join him in appreciating the remarks of the Senator 
from Georgia in support of advancing this legislation in the final days 
of this session.
  As a result of the VA changing its policy, Vietnam blue water Navy 
veterans have to meet higher burdens of proof to receive healthcare and 
disability benefits that they earned due to their exposure to Agent 
Orange.
  I have heard from many veterans and their families from across 
Wisconsin asking that the Senate pass this bill because they don't have 
any more time to wait.
  A veteran's family from Reedsburg, WI, wrote to me. They wrote:

       Senator Baldwin, my brother-in-law did three tours off the 
     coast of Vietnam on an ammunition ship. He has contracted 
     brain cancer, lung cancer, diabetes and hearing loss. We have 
     submitted a request for compensation for these ailments. All 
     requests have been denied and we are still appealing. This 
     House bill passed unanimously and now languishes in the 
     Senate. My brother-in-law is in hospice with limited time 
     remaining. Please pass this legislation.

  I heard from a veteran from Stetsonville, WI. He said:

       I served in the U.S. Navy and spent 1966 aboard the USS 
     Intrepid as a gun fire controlman. I have been diagnosed with 
     stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and large hairy cell leukemia. 
     The lymphoma is currently in remission, but the leukemia is 
     untreatable.
       On August 10, 2018, I had open-heart quintuple-bypass 
     surgery as well. My children and grandchildren are suffering 
     from my exposure to the dioxins found in Agent Orange which 
     polluted the waters of the Tonkin Gulf. Please get the VA to 
     do its job of caring for, treating, and recognizing the 
     service-connected disability of the many Navy vets now 
     suffering.
       The money for this care was originally provided for, prior 
     to 1991, when the VA arbitrarily disallowed the gulf sailors. 
     It is time to correct this breach of promise to care for our 
     veterans, and I am asking for your help in getting the Blue 
     Water Navy bill passed in the Senate, as it was unanimously 
     passed in the House.


[[Page S7837]]


  I am disappointed that Senator Blumenthal's request to pass this bill 
was just objected to by my colleague from Utah. Some of my colleagues 
on the other side of the aisle have argued that we can't afford the 
cost of this legislation, but I heard no such objections when those 
same colleagues voted for a very partisan tax bill that gave huge tax 
breaks to the largest corporations and added $1.9 trillion to our 
Nation's debt. Now, when it comes to doing right by our Vietnam 
veterans who served this country and are now dying from their 
illnesses, we don't have the money to spend to help get them better or 
to help give their families a little more time with them. That is 
simply wrong.
  How much is it costing blue water Navy veterans who are trying to 
beat cancer? How much is it costing their caregivers who quit their 
jobs in order to take care of them? We have a moral obligation to fix 
this, and we have the opportunity to get this done right now.
  These veterans fought for us and are dying from their service-
connected illnesses. It is past time to do the right thing and pass 
this bill. We need to do it now, and we should not leave town until it 
is done.
  Thank you.
  I yield back to Senator Blumenthal.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. 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.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Connecticut.
  Right now, tens of thousands of American heroes are suffering and 
even dying while some folks in government are looking the other way, 
refusing to heed their calls for help. Our blue water veterans answered 
the call when their Nation needed them in the thick of the Vietnam war. 
They left their loved ones, boarded ships, fought the Viet Cong, and 
risked their lives hour after hour, day after day, in service to the 
country they love.
  We made a promise to them: Fight for us overseas, and we will fight 
for you when you get back home. When you step back on U.S. soil, we 
will bandage the wounds you earned in combat, making sure you never 
feel you sacrificed in vain.
  I am ashamed to say that promise has been broken. For decades now, 
our government has refused to give them the healthcare and disability 
benefits needed to treat diseases linked to Agent Orange exposure 
despite the fact that they serviced the very aircraft that sprayed and 
spread the chemical. Despite that they breathed in the air and brushed 
their teeth with water that was likely laced with the poison, they have 
not been given the healthcare they need.
  Those same healthcare benefits have been extended to other troops who 
fought in the same war during the same years, but because these blue 
water veterans fought the enemy on the water rather than on Vietnam 
soil itself, our government won't lift a finger to stop their 
suffering. Tell me that is fair. Tell me that makes a shred of sense. 
Tell me that our Nation should abandon the heroes who risked their 
lives for the rest of us, that we should leave them to die from cancer 
or heart disease or the litany of other diseases we know this chemical 
causes.
  Look, I have also gone to war, and just as those Americans lost their 
health, I was wounded for this country. But from the moment I woke up 
in Walter Reed, I knew that the VA would give me the care I needed to 
recover. These nearly 90 thousand veterans deserve the same. It is long 
past time we pass legislation ensuring that these heroes are not left 
in pain.
  Unfortunately, legislation that would recognize their sacrifice 
suffered a setback last week, but with the time remaining in this 
Congress, we still have the chance to make those veterans whole, to do 
the right thing, the obvious thing, the American thing.
  To every one of my fellow Senators, please, if we actually want to 
honor their service, we can't just give them an ovation on Veterans 
Day; we need to take action to help them lead full, healthy lives every 
other day of the year too. Right now, that means joining me in working 
to pass the Blue Water Navy Veterans Act before even one more hero dies 
a preventable death on our watch. It is the right thing to do.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. 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.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.

                          ____________________