Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Legislation killed due to cost, according to senator
WASHINGTON, DC – A bill overwhelmingly supported by the U.S. House of Representatives was killed in the Senate on Monday, when Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming objected, citing the increasing cost of care for U.S. Navy veterans exposed to Agent Orange and various herbicides during the Vietnam War.
House Resolution 299, the “Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2017” would have provided Veterans Administration benefits, in the form of health care and disability compensation, to thousands of naval veterans serving in Southeast Asia, including Korea, from 1962 to 1975, with health problems from “presumed to have been exposed during service to an herbicide agent”.
Agent Orange in particular, a dioxin-based herbicide, has been linked to respiratory cancer, Parkinson’s and heart disease and other conditions.
Veterans of the ground actions in Vietnam have been eligible for the benefits since the Agent Orange Act of 1991, but naval personnel operating off the coast of Vietnam and Thailand have been excluded, due to a VA decision in 2002 to only include coverage for those “one the ground” in Vietnam.
H.R. 299 initially passed the House by a vote of 382-0 in June, but has since been stalled in the Senate, due to request from the VA for more scientific evidence.
On Monday, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand,(D-N.Y.), sought unanimous consent on the Senate floor to pass the bill. Unanimous consent can be blocked if one opponent objects. In this case, Enzi was the lone senator to object.
Almost immediately, Senator Enzi faced backlash from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which issued a statement on Monday, accusing Enzi of “obstruction, and stating that “the VFW nor its members will not forget this.”
B.J. Lawrence, national commander of the VFW, further stated that “[Enzi’s] obstruction forsakes our nations promise to take care of those who were injured or made ill due to their military service.”
In a statement to the Daily News, Senator Enzi’s office stressed the increase in cost of the legislation as the reason for opposition to the bill. While the legislation would cost an estimated $1.1 billion over 10 years, the VA has argued that the price could balloon to up to $5.5 billion.
According to the statement, “Senator Enzi has the utmost respect for our nation’s veterans and believes that the federal government has a responsibility to them. Senator Enzi has some budgetary concerns with the ‘Blue Water Navy’ bill.
“Since the House passed the bill, members have been made aware of potential cost growth with the legislation, which if not addressed could negatively impact not only the nation, but the VA itself and thus the services we provide our veterans. A recent letter from the Congressional Budget Office stated that the bill would cost at least $1.3 billion more than the original estimate. The VA’s analysis shows the cost could be nearly five times what Congress assumed it was when the House of Representatives passed it.
“Senator Enzi has also heard concerns from veterans that the bill would increase home loan fees for veterans that are trying to buy a house. In his conversations with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Senator Enzi has heard that the bill would also be difficult to administer. The legislation is also not clear enough on who would qualify, and significant uncertainty remains about the population of eligible veterans.
“As Senator Enzi said on the Senate floor Monday, ‘There is clearly more work to do just on figuring out the spending and administration of this, and the deficit impacts that this bill will have, while we still want to make sure that the veterans that are having a problem get the solutions they need…If [veterans have] a problem we need to take care of it. I think we need to just spend a little bit more time doing it.’
“Senator Enzi is not the only Senator with concerns, but he is working with his colleagues to find a solution to allow the bill to move forward. We can do better and should. Our veterans in every generation deserve that.”
Senator John Tester (D-Mont.) derided the move to block the bill as a “thumb in the eye” to millions of veterans.
“These are the folks who came back from war and there was nobody waiting for them at the airport. Nobody. And now we’re going to deny them the benefit that they have earned because they were exposed to Agent Orange, and there is no doubt they were exposed to Agent Orange,” Tester said from the senate floor on Monday, in support of the bill.