Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 299

Floor Speech

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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.

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.

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