Burn Pits Cannot be the Next Agent Orange

pass this legislation out of committee. I look forward saw the way they were treated when they came home, to passing this bill out of the Senate to help the VA the disrespect that was thrown at them for answering meet the unique needs of every veteran and make the call to serve their country, I decided that I would certain veterans receive cutting-edge, high-quality spend the rest of my life honoring those in uniform. and timely care. I never thought I would be

Even amid successes, a United States Senator, but our work for veterans is never done. For too long There is no group of since I have been in Congress I have served on the Veterans’ veterans affected by toxic Americans I hold in higher Affairs Committee, and I am exposures while in the regard than those who have determined to represent our military have had to wait for care or come to Congress to served and sacrificed. nation’s veterans to the best of my ability because there is no advocate for a change in law group of Americans I hold in to enable them to obtain the higher regard than those who care and benefits they need. This patchwork system have served and sacrificed. This year, and every year, must end. Veterans deserve a transparent and reliable we thank those who have guaranteed our freedom. framework, supported by science, to identify and God bless our veterans. RF address the toxic wounds of war.

While I am not a veteran, I watched as many of U.S. Senator Jerry Moran represents the great state of my high school peers left to serve in Vietnam, most of Kansas in the United States Senate and is the Ranking whom were only a year or two older than me. When I Member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

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Equipping Our Veterans for the Next Season of Service

by BRAD WENSTRUP

Our veterans are valuable.

The men and women whom I served alongside in Iraq are some of the most skilled and experienced leaders I have ever met. They have been tested under fire. They have enormous competency and capability to bring to the table -- to any table.

Yet when they come home, too many of these servicemembers struggle to have their talents fully understood and utilized amidst transitioning back to civilian life. I have seen it happen many times. Going from a deep sense of belonging and feeling essential to a mission, to fellow soldiers, to a commander, or to a unit, to feeling less essential in a civilian world can have a deep mental and emotional impact. In reality, there’s no such thing as a “non-essential” American. Everyone is essential to themselves, their families, friends, and communities, and to our society. Our veterans are no different.

Still, this feeling of disconnection or lack of purpose can be exacerbated by the fact that too often, veterans are viewed as cases to be “helped” instead of powerhouses to be harnessed. This is not only a disservice to the men and women who have honed their skills while wearing the uniform of this nation, it’s also a disservice to our economy and our country who can greatly benefit across sectors from their knowledge, expertise, and leadership experience.

We need to do better by our warfighters. We’ve made great strides in improving veteran care by cutting through red tape with strong, bipartisan laws, like the VA MISSION Act. Now, we must continue better supporting our veterans in their next seasons by connecting them with the right employment and education opportunities. We can do this by aligning transition, education, and employment programs in a “Fourth Administration” within the VA to help streamline organization and better serve those who served us in uniform. I am proud to lead a bipartisan, bicameral effort to accomplish this by introducing H.R. 2494, the Veterans’ Education, Transition, and Opportunity Prioritization Plan (VET OPP) Act of 2021.

This is just one step forward among many that need to be taken to empower veterans with the tools they need to effectively transition from serving our country in uniform to contributing to our businesses, industries, and communities throughout their careers as civilians. For most veterans, there is no such thing as “life after service.” Service is their life. It’s not just what they do. It’s part of who they are. Whether it’s on a battlefield or volunteering in their hometown, they are committed to leaving this country stronger, more peaceful, and more prosperous for the next generation. Our role is simply to empower and equip them for a new season of service as civilians. On this Veterans Day, we are deeply grateful to all of those who have stepped forward to serve this country out of love for what it stands for and what they are protecting. That love doesn’t go away when they hang up their uniform for the last time. Neither should our commitment to them. Our obligation,

Too often, veterans as a country and as communities, are viewed as cases to extends far beyond gratitude on this be “helped” instead day or any day. It includes action. We are free because of their courage and of powerhouses to be competency. As long as I remain in harnessed. Congress, I will continue working to ensure that these men and women are equipped with the tools they need to effectively serve our country both in uniform and long after. RF Brad Wenstrup, D.P.M., represents the 2nd district of Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is an Iraq War veteran, having deployed in 2005 - 2006 with the US Army’s 344th Combat Support Hospital, Task Force 344, to Abu Ghraib, Iraq, where he served as the Chief of Surgery, and the Director of Wound Care. He was awarded the Bronze Star, Combat Action Badge, and many campaign medals for his service to our country. In 2018, he was awarded the Soldier’s Medal for his heroism during the 2017 congressional baseball shooting.

Burn Pits Cannot be the Next Agent Orange

by MIKE BOST

“Every day I wonder, ‘Is today the day that toxic exposure catches up with me?’” Navy veteran James L. Price said as he closed out his testimony before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee in May.

Lauren Price, Jim’s late wife, was a dedicated sailor and advocate for “her all,” as she so graciously referred to her brothers and sisters in arms. At the age of 56, Lauren lost her life to cancer in March 2021, just 44 days after she was diagnosed. I was honored to invite Jim to speak about Lauren and about his own veteran experience. I will carry the Price family in my heart for the rest of my life, but the fact is that stories like theirs are all too common.

Hundreds of thousands of veterans who, like Lauren, are otherwise healthy and in the prime of their lives are suffering from uncommon cancers: leukemia, Parkinson’s disease, vision loss, and more, following their time in uniform. They believe those diagnoses are a result of exposure to dangerous chemicals from open-air burn pits, particulate matter, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or other toxins while serving. However, because it can take years, if ever, for science to conclusively prove that a diagnosis or disability is caused by an exposure, these veterans often can’t get the support they need from VA. In some cases, that proof is impossible to attain due to the nature of the exposure or how long it has been since it occurred. That is what prevented some Vietnam-era veterans from receiving benefits for Agent Orange exposure until decades after their service. Congress finally delivered benefits to Blue Water Navy Vietnam veterans in 2019, 44 years after the Vietnam War ended. We cannot let the same travesty wreak havoc on veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet VA estimates that half of all claims for compensation related to burn pit exposure are denied. Toxic exposure hits close to home for me, not just as the Republican leader on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and a veteran myself, but also as the father and grandfather of two active-duty Marines. I don’t want any servicemember or veteran – particularly not one who is sick – to have to fight for the benefits they have earned or wait decades for science to catch up to their reality. That’s why, two days before Lauren’s passing, I introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Toxic Exposures in the American Military (TEAM) Act. The TEAM Act would make it easier for toxic-exposed veterans to enroll in the VA health care system and file for VA benefits. It would also improve training for VA staff in how to identify and treat toxic exposure

I don’t want any and, perhaps most importantly, servicemember or require further research into toxic exposure to ensure that sciveteran – particularly ence keeps pace with the needs not one who is sick – of toxic-exposed servicememto have to fight for bers and veterans. The TEAM Act would do right by these men the benefits they have and women today and tomorrow earned or wait decades by delivering the services they for science to catch up need now and ensuring that future decisions regarding their to their reality. care and benefits are made by scientists, not politicians. Many aspects of the TEAM Act are included in the toxic exposure omnibus bills advanced by the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs in May and, along a party-line vote, by the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs in June. But it’s now Veterans Day and we are no closer to delivering the support that toxic-exposed veterans need than we were when Jim testified before Memorial Day. That

is a shame on the Democrat-controlled Congress and why policymakers from both sides of the aisle and the Biden Administration, who are apparently more the Administration must get together to find a biparfocused on their trillion-dollar spending sprees than tisan, fiscally-responsible, and scientifically-sound on caring for the men and women who safeguarded solution that can be paid for and that can pass the our democracy in the first place. House and the Senate and be signed into law. I have

Enacting meaningful legislation for toxic-ex- been calling on my Democratic colleagues to do that posed veterans will be for months. The time for costly and complicated. action is now, in honor Preliminary estimates from VA indicate that it could cost several hunPolicymakers from both sides of the aisle and the of toxic-exposed veterans like Jim, like Lauren, and the thousands more dred billion dollars to Administration must get that are leaving us far too extend health care and compensation benefits to toxic-exposed vetertogether to find a bipartisan, fiscally-responsible, and soon every day. RF Mike Bost represents the ans. Those costs could scientifically-sound solution. 12th district of Illinois in be driven even higher if the U.S. House of RepreCongressional Democrats sentatives where he serves succeed in staying well ahead of science by estab- as the Ranking Member on the Committee on Veterans’ lishing a laundry list of diagnoses that would be Affairs. Congressman Bost served in the U.S. Marine eligible for automatic compensation, absent any evi- Corps from 1979 to 1982 where he was trained as an dence to attempt to tie them to toxic exposure. That’s electronic specialist and radar repairman.