Benefits for Burn Pit-Exposed Veterans

Floor Speech

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Mr. RUIZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, the Burn Pit Registry Enhancement Act, which passed the House unanimously yesterday, and to urge a vote in the Senate.

The Burn Pit Registry Enhancement Act would strengthen the registry by allowing a registered veteran's data to be updated by their family with his or her cause of death.

This data is crucial to identify the vast array of illnesses that are causing young burn pit-exposed veterans to die and will help doctors recognize early symptoms of life-threatening conditions and save lives.

As a Nation, we have a responsibility to provide our veterans with the benefits they have earned and deserve. We bear that responsibility even more heavily when the use of burn pits by our own military is causing veterans to develop rare pulmonary conditions and cancers.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the Senate to take up my legislation and uphold our commitment to taking care of our veterans. Alejandro Camacho's Story

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Mr. RUIZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to tell the story of my constituent, Alejandro Camacho, of Palm Desert, a veteran who has been affected by our military's use of toxic burn pits, and to call for action.

After graduating from La Quinta High School, Alejandro served our Nation in the U.S. Marine Corps. From March to September 2009, he was stationed in south Sinjar, Iraq.

At great personal sacrifice to himself, Alejandro served as a member of the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, even missing the birth of his own son, Jacob, while he was stationed overseas.

Every single day in south Sinjar, Alejandro breathed in toxic fumes, particulate matter, and carcinogens from the batteries, medical waste, and jet fuel that was burned in large burn pits on his base.

When he returned home, the effects of breathing in those toxic fumes started taking a toll on his body. In 2019, Alejandro was diagnosed with embryonal carcinoma, an aggressive form of testicular cancer. He and his doctor believed his diagnosis to be linked to his exposures to fumes from burning jet propulsion 8 fuel, a known human carcinogen.

When Alejandro underwent the excruciating chemotherapy process, his body fell apart. He lost 50 pounds. He lost feeling in his hands and feet, and he constantly heard ringing in his ears.

Despite being deemed 40 percent disabled, despite his repeated exposure to jet fuel fumes, and despite the diagnosis, the VA denied his claim for coverage. Do you know why? Because the VA said there wasn't ``enough evidence'' to establish a connection between his burn pit exposure and the cancer he developed.

Mr. Speaker, I am an emergency medicine physician and a public health expert, and in public health and in medicine, it is practice that if there is a high enough suspicion based on the evidence available of a harm that causes a severe enough illness, then we need to act on that suspicion.

We can't afford to wait decades, like we did with Agent Orange, for that perfect study to establish a perfect causality between burn pit exposure and cancers and pulmonary conditions our veterans are developing and dying from right now. There is enough evidence to act.

We must act for veterans like Alejandro and help him get the healthcare and benefits he earned when we sent him to war for our country. Alejandro is now cancer free, but the fight continues to get him the benefits he deserves.

We are making real bipartisan progress on this front, with legislation like the Honoring our PACT Act, which takes an aggressive and comprehensive approach to the urgent healthcare crisis that veterans like Alejandro are facing.

This legislation will keep our Nation's promise to our veterans that we will take care of them after they serve our Nation. It contains my bill, the Presumptive Benefits for War Fighters Exposed to Burn Pits and Other Toxins Act. It creates a presumption of service-related illnesses due to burn pits in order to take care of our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I urge this body to take up this bill to support Alejandro and the rest of our heroes in uniform.

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