Bill: Ease Agent Orange claims for Navy vets | Somerset VVA ...

Saying “time is running out” for blue-water Navy veterans of the Vietnam War who have had difficulty proving their ill health is the result of exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange , the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee has reintroduced legislation that would presume sailors who patrolled Vietnam’s shoreline faced the same risk as ground forces.

“We owe it to our veterans to fulfill the promise made to them as a result of their service,” said committee chairman Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif..

Filner has cited the same imperative in support of his effort to push through legislation providing pensions to World War II Filipino Scouts who served alongside U.S. troops but never got promised benefits.

He also is working on legislation that would provide a $1,000 monthly benefit to Merchant Marine veterans who aided the military during World War II.

In this case, Filner said that the Veterans Affairs Department, Congress and the courts have devised laws and policies that provide unequal treatment for Vietnam veterans .

His Agent Orange bill, HR 2254, would revise VA rules so that any Vietnam War veteran suffering from a health problem that could be the result of Agent Orange exposure would be presumed to have a service-connected disability. The bill would apply to veterans who received a Vietnam service medal and were deployed on the land or in the air and sea of Vietnam during the war.

“Time is running out for these veterans,” Filner said in a statement. “Many are dying from their Agent Orange-related diseases, uncompensated for their sacrifice.”

Current VA rules require someone to have set foot on land in order to have a presumption of a service-connected disability. Someone who was never on the ground can receive disability benefits and health care for Agent Orange-related ailments only if they can prove they were exposed — which is difficult to do, even though the herbicide was stored on U.S. vessels, Filner said.

From 1991 to 2002, Navy veterans who never set foot on Vietnamese soil were able to file claims just like soldiers, Marines and airmen who were on the ground. But after a policy revision in February 2002, the VA rescinded some disability awards and stopped granting new ones.

In May 2008, a federal court of appeals upheld VA’s “foot on the ground” rule, leading Vietnam-era Navy veterans to seek help from Congress. Filner introduced similar legislation last year but it did not become law.

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