House Resolution 115 - Introduced HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 115 BY ALONS , BACON , BRANDENBURG , GUSTAFSON , STANERSON , L. MILLER , SALMON , WINDSCHITL , SHAW , KEARNS , STAED , MUHLBAUER , GAINES , THOMAS , JACOBY , and KAJTAZOVIC A Resolution urging Congress to restore the presumption 1 of service connection for Agent Orange exposure 2 for Vietnam veterans who served in the waters and 3 airspace defined by the Vietnam combat zone. 4 WHEREAS, during the Vietnam War, the United States 5 military sprayed 22 million gallons of Agent Orange 6 and other herbicides over Vietnam to reduce forest 7 cover and crops used by the enemy, with such herbicides 8 containing dioxin, which has since been identified 9 as carcinogenic and has been linked with a number of 10 serious and disabling illnesses affecting thousands of 11 veterans; and 12 WHEREAS, the United States Congress passed the Agent 13 Orange Act of 1991, Pub. L. No. 102-4, to address 14 the plight of veterans exposed to herbicides while 15 serving in the Republic of Vietnam and the Act amended 16 Title 38 of the United States Code to presumptively 17 recognize as service-connected certain diseases among 18 military personnel who served in Vietnam between 1962 19 and 1975; and 20 WHEREAS, this presumption has provided access to 21 appropriate disability compensation and medical care 22 for Vietnam veterans diagnosed with such illnesses as 23 Type II diabetes, Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s 24 lymphoma, prostate cancer, Parkinson’s disease, 25 multiple myeloma, peripheral neuropathy, AL amyloidosis 26 -1- LSB 6177YH (6) 85 aw/rj 1/ 4

H.R. 115 respiratory cancers, and soft tissue sarcomas, and 1 others yet to be identified; and 2 WHEREAS, since 2001, the United States Department 3 of Veterans Affairs has enforced a policy that has 4 denied the presumption of a service connection for 5 herbicide-related illnesses to Vietnam veterans who 6 cannot furnish written documentation that they had 7 “boots on the ground” in-country, making it virtually 8 impossible for many thousands of United States Navy, 9 Marine, and Air Force veterans to pursue their claims 10 for benefits; and 11 WHEREAS, the personnel who served on ships in the 12 “Blue Water Navy” in Vietnamese territorial waters 13 were, in fact, exposed to dangerous airborne toxins, 14 which not only drifted offshore, but also washed 15 into streams and rivers draining into the South China 16 Sea; and 17 WHEREAS, United States Navy veterans have been 18 excluded ever since 2001, even though Agent Orange has 19 been verified, through various studies and reports, as 20 a wide spreading chemical that was able to reach Navy 21 ships through air and waterborne distribution routes 22 and that Navy ships positioned off the Vietnamese 23 shore routinely distilled seawater to obtain potable 24 water; and 25 WHEREAS, a December 2002 report by the Australian 26 Department of Veterans Affairs found that the 27 distillation process, rather than removing toxins, in 28 fact concentrated dioxin in water used for drinking, 29 cooking, and washing; and 30 -2- LSB 6177YH (6) 85 aw/rj 2/ 4

H.R. 115 WHEREAS, that report was conducted after the 1 Australian Department of Veterans Affairs found that 2 Vietnam veterans of the Royal Australian Navy had a 3 higher rate of mortality from Agent Orange-associated 4 diseases than did Vietnam veterans from other branches 5 of the Australian military; and 6 WHEREAS, when the United States Centers for Disease 7 Control and Prevention studied specific cancers among 8 Vietnam veterans, they found a higher risk of certain 9 cancers among United States Navy veterans; and 10 WHEREAS, herbicides containing 11 tetrachlorodibenzodioxin did not discriminate 12 between soldiers on the ground and sailors on ships 13 offshore; and 14 WHEREAS, more than 30 veterans service organizations 15 support federal legislation titled the Blue Water Navy 16 Vietnam Veterans Act of 2013, H.R. 543; and 17 WHEREAS, by not passing H.R. 543, a precedent 18 could be set to selectively provide certain groups 19 of military veterans with exposure-related medical 20 care while denying other groups such care without any 21 consistent financial or scientific reasoning; and 22 WHEREAS, when the federal Agent Orange Act of 1991 23 was passed with no dissenting votes, congressional 24 leaders stressed the importance of responding to 25 the health concerns of Vietnam veterans and ending 26 the bitterness and anxiety that had surrounded the 27 issue of herbicide exposure, and since that time the 28 federal government has also demonstrated its awareness 29 of the hazards of Agent Orange exposure through its 30 -3- LSB 6177YH (6) 85 aw/rj 3/ 4

H.R. 115 involvement in the identification, containment, and 1 mitigation of dioxin “hot spots” in Vietnam; and 2 WHEREAS, the United States Congress should reaffirm 3 the nation’s commitment to the well-being of all of its 4 veterans and direct the United States Department of 5 Veterans Affairs to administer the federal Agent Orange 6 Act under the presumption that herbicide exposure 7 in the Republic of Vietnam included the country’s 8 inland waterways, offshore waters, and airspace, with 9 these areas encompassing a part of the entire combat 10 zone; NOW THEREFORE, 11 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, That 12 the Iowa House of Representatives hereby respectfully 13 urges the United States Congress to restore the 14 presumption of a service connection for Agent Orange 15 exposure for United States veterans who served in the 16 waters defined by the Vietnam combat zone, and in the 17 airspace over the Vietnam combat zone; and 18 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Chief Clerk of 19 the House of Representatives shall transmit certified 20 copies of this resolution to the President of the 21 United States, to the President and Secretary of the 22 United States Senate, the Speaker and Clerk of the 23 United States House of Representatives, and each member 24 of the Iowa congressional delegation with the request 25 that this resolution be officially entered into the 26 Congressional Record as a memorial to the United States 27 Congress of the urgency of responding to the medical 28 care needs of Vietnam veterans. 29 -4- LSB 6177YH (6) 85 aw/rj 4/ 4