Walz calls on House of Representatives to Pass Bi-Partisan "Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act"

Press Release

Today, Rep. Tim Walz joined a coalition of lawmakers and veterans service organizations at a press conference on Capitol Hill in calling upon the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the bi-partisan Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act. The bill provides presumptive Agent Orange exposure status to U.S. military service members who served in the territorial seas of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Rep. Walz is an original cosponsor of H.R. 969, which was introduced by Rep. Christopher Gibson [R-NY-19] on February 13, 2015. The bill has 319 cosponsors.

"This is about our Nation fulfilling its sacred duty of caring for those who have served and their families," said Rep. Tim Walz. "We have an indelible obligation to help Blue Water Navy veterans from the Vietnam War get the benefits they deserve. This is not something we can pass off or ignore. We must be data driven. When the Congress allowed the Agent Orange Act of 1991to expire last fall, the need for this Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans legislation became absolutely critical. Our Nation must exhaust every effort to identify, prevent, and heal the injuries, illnesses, and wounds our military service personnel received during their service."

"I support this legislation for Blue Water Navy Vietnam veterans," said Maynard Kaderlik of Montgomery, MN who serves as the National Agent Orange Committee Chair for the Vietnam Veterans of America. "We need this bill passed to help these veterans and their families through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs."

The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act (BWNVVA) would grant presumptive Agent Orange exposure status to U.S. service members who served in the territorial seas of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. This would enable eligible veterans to receive expedited consideration for Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits if they suffer from any of the diseases the U.S. government has linked to Agent Orange. This measure has received support from various veterans' organizations, including the Military Coalition, the American Legion, Military-Veterans Advocacy, Inc., and the Blue Water Navy Association.

Background: During the Vietnam War, more than 20 million gallons of "Agent Orange" were sprayed to remove jungle foliage. A toxic chemical in the herbicide has been linked to devastating health effects, including non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL), various cancers, Type II Diabetes, and Parkinson's disease. The Agent Orange Act of 1991 (AOA) empowered the VA Secretary to declare certain illnesses "presumptive" to exposure to Agent Orange and enabled veterans to receive disability compensation for these related conditions.

Why this legislation is needed: Veterans who served on open sea ships off the shore of Vietnam during the Vietnam War are sometimes called "Blue Water Veterans." In 2002, the VA stopped giving benefits to blue water veterans and limited the scope of the AOA to only those veterans who could provide proof of "boots on the ground" in Vietnam. This encompasses only ground forces and those that served in the inland riverine navy. As a result, veterans who served in the waters off of the Vietnamese coast or in bays and harbors were required to file individual claims to restore their benefits, which have then been decided on a case-by-case basis. Proving exposure is nearly impossible due to a lack of record keeping and the inability to know the precise location of dioxins in the air and water runoff.

The VA continuously denies these claims, despite studies showing higher rates of cancer and NHL incidence among shipboard veterans than those who fought on the ground in-country. Furthermore, additional studies, including those reviewed by the Institute of Medicine, show a plausible pathway for Agent Orange to have entered the South China Sea and other territorial seas via rainwater runoff, dirt, and debris from rivers and streams. Most alarmingly, a study has shown that the distillation process to convert salt water to drinking water concentrated the chemical and contaminated the shipboard potable water system.

The legislation: This bill partially restores the presumptive coverage that existed prior to 2002 and lifts the burden from the individual veteran to prove direct exposure to Agent Orange. This presumption currently exists for veterans who served on land and inland waterways, and therefore the bill places Navy personnel on the same playing field as those who served in-country. It would also reduce backlogged VA claims for veterans who are suffering from diseases that the U.S. government has linked to Agent Orange, therefore reducing the overall VA backlog.

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