Agent Orange Bill needs to do more

Received by email

I'm Jeff, and I write the VNVets blog.

This legislation goes a long way, but only applies to Vietnam Veterans. It is a bill that will make inclusive for Vietnam Navy AND Air Force Veterans, presumptive eligibility for Agent Orange benefits.

It is my belief that this will be a major step and a huge precedent for Agent Orange benefits and will lead to further legislation that will expand to include Korea, Guam, Panama, and many sites in the States.

Filner's bill strikes a death blow to the VA which has been steadily rolling back the great work of the Agent Orange Act of 1991. The DVA issued a precedent in 1992 that was implemented in 1993 stripping the Air Force veterans of presumption eligibility. In 1997 they issued another precedent that was implemented in 2002 stripping the Blue Water Navy Veterans from presumption. This bill reverses that by a simple amending of the original language in Agent Orange legislation.

Once in place is establishes the will of Congress on Agent Orange legislation. It will make life easier for those who have the scientific evidence to present to the Institute of Medicine to expand the coverage of the Agent Orange Act to other locations besides Vietnam. Won't be easy, but the path is there if this bill goes through.

What we are seeking tonight is Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans to join us in Washington at noon next Wednesday for Bob Filner's public introduction of the bill. We need a good presence there to support Filner and show the press what they've been ignoring. It is an opportunity we have been waiting for over the past few years.

Any BWN Veterans of Vietnam who can and wish to come along should contact me with their name, email address and home town at
emailvnvets@vetsnet.us

I hope to have confirmation that this will occur next Wednesday and info on where specifically to go sometime tomorrow,
BUT,
I must provide a list of at least a dozen names of BWN Vets who will be attending.

If this does not occur next Wednesday, it will occur in September, after the August recess. My fear is that if we wait until September, the bill will not have enough time to clear Congress before the election, which increases the chance that it will die on the floor.

Hence the urgency.

Pease feel free to visit the VNVets Blog and read about this [currently less detail than what I have posted here...we don't want to give the VA too much info in advance], and our efforts to date.

Thanks folks! I'm glad to be a part of this forum.

Jeffngfs66VNVets

http://vnvets.blogspot.com