Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) has introduced the "Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act" (S.681), which would clarify a presumption for filing disability claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for ailments associated with exposure to Agent Orange herbicide during the Vietnam War.

Congress should recognize that so-called "blue water" veterans who served off the coast of Vietnam were exposed to Agent Orange herbicide. This bill authorizes presumptive status for VA disability claims associated with Agent Orange exposure for this group of veterans.

This bill is a companion bill to H.R. 969, which was introduced earlier by Rep. Chris Gibson (N.Y.). FRA staffers are scheduled to meet with HVAC staff to ask for a hearing, markup, and Committee approval of this important legislation.  

Shipmates are strongly urged to use the FRA Action Center (action.fra.org/action-center) to ask their senators and representative to support both of these proposals.

Source:  FRA News Bytes, March 13, 2015