DeMint holding up bill to treat Marines and families

UPDATE

Lejeune health care bill is unstuck in Senate
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 18, 2012

A stalled veterans’ bill is now on track for Senate passage this week after a small change was made in a landmark program under which the Veterans Affairs Department would provide health care to people suffering from long-term effects of drinking contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Up to 750,000 people who lived or worked on the base from Jan. 1, 1957, through Dec. 31, 1987, would be eligible for care if they have a disability or disease linked to exposure to drinking water found to contain carcinogens.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., had used his Senate privileges to put a hold on the bill because it included no provision to allow VA to deny coverage even if an individual’s health problems clearly stemmed from some other cause.

DeMint and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairwoman, reached agreement Wednesday to add a section allowing VA to deny health care if “conclusive evidence” is available to show the individual’s disability or disease had a different cause than exposure to the contaminated drinking water at Lejeune.
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Vets bill held up by Lejeune toxic water issue
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jul 16, 2012

A South Carolina senator is holding up a landmark veterans’ bill that would provide health care for thousands of people suffering the ill effects of exposure to toxic water at Camp Lejuene because eligibility rules for the new benefits doesn’t include enough safeguards to prevent fraud.

Because of this objection from Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, the Senate has been unable to approve a comprehensive veterans’ bill that was agreed to on June 21 by members of the House and Senate veterans’ affairs committee.

The bill in dispute is the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012.

DeMint was not part of the negotiations, but Senate rules give every senator the power to temporarily block legislation and nominees, a power DeMint is using while trying to renegotiate details about how the Veterans Affairs Department to determine eligibility for health care for people who lived or worked at the Marine Corps base from Jan. 1, 1957 through Dec. 31, 1987.
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