[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 19376]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. BURR:
  S. 1518. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to furnish 
hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care to veterans who 
were stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, while the water was 
contaminated at Camp Lejeune; to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that 
will ensure the Department of Veterans Affairs provides health care to 
veterans and their families who were stationed at Camp Lejeune, North 
Carolina during the years when the base's well water was contaminated 
by numerous known and probable human carcinogens.
  Thousands of Navy and Marine veterans and their families who lived on 
Camp Lejeune have fallen ill with a variety of cancers and diseases 
believed to be attributable to their service at the base in the years 
before the EPA designated the base as a Superfund site in 1988.
  A recent National Research Council report on the contaminated water 
at Camp Lejeune assessed that there are numerous adverse health effects 
associated with human exposure to the chemicals known to have been in 
water at Lejeune that was used for drinking and bathing.
  Many years have passed while Lejeune veterans and their families have 
waited for some hope of progress on this issue. Some have died waiting. 
Today, there is much that we now know that was not known in the past, 
especially a growing body of scientific information about the adverse 
effects these chemicals have on the human body.
  The Lejeune veterans and their families deserve clarity on the cause 
of their conditions and closure on this tragic situation. It is vitally 
important we give those who are sick the benefit of the doubt. If a 
veteran or military family member was stationed at Camp Lejeune during 
the time the water was contaminated, they should be able to come in to 
a VA medical center for needed health care. This bill is a step toward 
providing the veterans of Lejeune and their loved ones with the respect 
they deserve. Quite frankly, it is the morally right thing to do.

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