Legislation to restore Agent Orange benefit

Navy vets would be covered

By TOM KANE

WASHINGTON, DC - An Agent Orange bill, HR 2254, would revise VA rules so that any Vietnam War veteran suffering from the effects of Agent Orange exposure would be presumed to have a service-connected disability.

“From 1991 to 2002, Navy veterans who never set foot on Vietnamese soil were able to file claims, just like soldiers and Marines who had ‘boots on the ground,’ but the VA stopped granting the benefits,” said Tom McDonnell, Wayne County director of Veterans Affairs at the Wayne County Commissioners meeting on May 19.

Representative Bob Filner, D-CA, has introduced the legislation to restore the benefits to sailors.

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

The bill would revise VA rules so that any Vietnam War veteran?boots or no boots?suffering from a health problem that could be the result of Agent Orange exposure would be presumed to have a service-connected disability.

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

“It had been accepted that because naval vessels moved in close to shore, sailors could contact the exposure,” McDonnell said. “For some reason, the VA rescinded the benefit after a federal court of appeals upheld the VA’s ‘boots on the ground’ rule, leading Navy veterans to seek help from Congress.”

McDonnell urged the veterans, their families, friends and citizens in general to contact their congressperson to enlist support in passing the legislation.