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Floor Speech

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Mr. MORAN. Madam President, it is an honor to be here on the Senate floor tonight to talk about a topic, and it is an honor to have you in the Chair as I do so.

I rise late this afternoon to discuss a piece of legislation that will be before the Senate perhaps for a good portion of this week and maybe even into the next. It is the most comprehensive toxic exposure package the Senate has ever considered in our Nation's history.

Since September 11, 2001, up to 3.5 million deployed servicemembers have potentially encountered toxic exposures from burn pits. During a deployment to a war zone, military personnel are often exposed to toxic hazards, many of which have been associated with chronic health issues.

Not really as an aside but unrelated to this piece of legislation, a cause I now undertake and have been pursuing since this topic arose is to make sure that in the future, there are no burn pits that our service men and women encounter in their service to our Nation. While we are preparing to take care of those who have experienced burn pits in the past, let there be no more burn pit experiences.

Until almost 2010, the U.S. military kept burn pits on bases for the disposal of chemicals, plastics, medical waste, and other substances that were just burned with jet fuel, creating toxic substances, toxic smoke.

Currently, the VA can provide service-connected disability claims related to burn pit exposures; however, due to lack of evidence, scientific data, and information from the Department of Defense, at least 70 percent of the claims are denied.

Over the past 2 years, nearly every veterans service organization has testified before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs and emphasized the importance of fixing the process the VA uses to provide healthcare and benefits to toxic-exposed veterans. Jon Tester, the Senator from Montana, the chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, and I have worked in a bipartisan fashion with these veterans organizations, with veterans, with advocates, with the VA, and with our Senate colleagues on and off of the committee to craft a comprehensive bill to deliver all generations of toxic-exposed veterans long-overdue healthcare and benefits.

Three weeks ago, Senator Tester and I announced the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022. It has many priorities, but among those, this historic legislation will, one, expand VA healthcare eligibility; two, improve the VA's presumption process; three, bolster the VA's toxic exposure training and resources; four, strengthen toxic exposure research; and five, set up VA and veterans for success.

Last week over Memorial Day, our country paused to remember and honor those who served our Nation. My expectation--my guess is that almost every Member of the U.S. Senate in some fashion over the weekend spent time with veterans, paying respect, giving them honor.

One Kansas veteran, when I was in Wichita, told me that he and his dad both served in the U.S. Navy and that both had an experience with exposure to hazardous and toxic materials. He said he didn't believe that either one of them suffered any major health issues from their exposure. It caused me to think that this is a veteran who is not necessarily going to care about this legislation, but what he said was that it was a concern that there would not be any help from the VA if they did, and they lived in fear and uncertainty.

The veteran who didn't think he or she had any negative consequences from exposure to toxic substances still worried about ``What would happen if I did? What would happen if my health deteriorates'' and worried that the VA would not be there for them or their families.

After hearing the news of our comprehensive toxic exposure bill, this veteran said:

You have now changed that for thousands of veterans and their families.

The uncertainty, the fear is diminished and maybe gone.

It is time to advance this legislation and bring us one step closer to connecting all generations of toxic-exposed veterans with the care they need and deserve and to provide veterans with certainty and support.

I honor, I thank, I have great gratitude for every generation of veterans, and in my family's lifetime, those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are among the most significant to us. But Vietnam is a part of my life as a 16-year-old boy, a junior in high school. In fact, if you were a senior in my high school--my high school of 71 kids in my class, so I know them all--if you were just a year older than me, you served in Vietnam. And I saw how they were treated when they returned from their service, and they were treated terribly by fellow American citizens.

As a 16-year-old kid, I told myself, I am going to do everything I can to honor and respect those who serve, see if I can compensate for the circumstances these people--many of whom I knew personally--can I compensate for what they are experiencing today in the early 1970s and the midseventies?

I never expected to be a Member of the U.S. Senate. Nothing in my life would suggest that that would be the case--the grace of God, the kindness of Kansans. But upon my arrival in Congress, in the House and now the Senate, it became important for me to do something more than just honor and respect veterans, to do something more than saying ``thank you,'' to do the things that I can do as a Member of a legislative body to make certain that the Department of Veterans Affairs does its job but most importantly, that I as a Member of Congress do mine.

It is important for us to pay respect, but it is also perhaps even more important for us to make certain those who serve our Nation receive the care and benefits that they are entitled to and that they deserve. It is beyond just saying ``thank you''; it is saying ``thank you'' by action.

It is time to advance this legislation and bring us one step closer to connecting all generations to the circumstances that war brought to them and their families. And I hope that after Memorial Day, we brought back with us as we return this Monday--Memorial Day being a week ago today--that we brought back with us a sense of what their sacrifice means and commit to living our lives and doing our jobs worthy of their sacrifice.

Decade after decade, service men and women have deployed to countries around the globe in defense of freedom, and we have seen just within the last year that there is no moment in which everyone is safe. There is no moment in which we may not have to ask people to continue to serve, to serve longer, or to begin their service in defense of freedom in the United States and freedom around the world.

Unfortunately, throughout history, many of them were exposed to harmful toxins during that service that resulted in life-altering health conditions.

Too many veterans--far too many veterans--face too many battles when they return home and are seeking the care and benefits they desperately need. Our veterans deserve better, and they are tired of waiting for solutions.

This week, this body--the U.S. Senate--will discuss the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Act at great length, and I look forward to speaking more about this historic legislation on the Senate floor and with my colleagues so that we can deliver to all generations of toxic- exposed veterans the relief, the assistance, and maybe, yes, just the lack of fear, the lack of uncertainty that they deserve.

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