President Donald
Trump signed legislation granting presumptive status for disability
benefits to an estimated 90,000 Navy veterans who served in the seas
around Vietnam during the war. (AP Photo)
The “blue water” Vietnam veterans benefits act is now law.
Late Tuesday night, President Donald Trump signed the legislation,
which grants presumptive status for disability benefits to an estimated
90,000 Navy veterans who served in the seas around Vietnam during the
war.
Unlike their fellow service
members stationed on the ground and on inland waterways, those veterans
faced additional paperwork barriers to prove exposure to toxic defoliants during their deployments, even after developing identical serious cancers and respiratory illnesses.
"Instead
of providing adequate care to our veterans who have fought and suffered
for their country, government officials who have the power to provide
them with care are needlessly debating a settled issue and placing the
onus on veterans to prove that they were harmed. America owes our
veterans a debt, and we are failing in our duty to pay that debt."
By: Rear Adm. Christopher W. Cole, National Executive Director of the Association of the United States Navy
Advocates
had long complained that put an unfair burden on the aging veterans,
since water monitoring records from decades ago were inaccessible or
non-existent. The higher proof of exposure blocked most so-called “blue
water” veterans from eligibility for benefits, which can total several
thousand dollars a month.
A
federal appeals court in January overturned Veterans Affairs officials’
policy of denying the Navy veterans claims, and lawmakers followed in
subsequent months with a legislative fix to reinforce the legal ruling.
Last
week, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said during a Senate hearing that even
before passage of the new legislation, department staff have already
begun processing the claims.
“We
are working with the Department of Defense and the Department of Navy to
make sure that we have those adequate lists (of eligible veterans),” he
said. “I cannot tell you now the numbers. I can tell you we are working
on them. I will promise to come back to (Congress) if we need
additional resources.”
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