Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Takano for yielding and for his hard work on the Veterans' Affairs Committee to bring this important milestone for Vietnam veterans to the floor today. And I also want to thank Chairman Roe for the hard work that obviously went in in terms of the markup process, the negotiations with all the different members, and to make all the pieces fit together; and your colleague, the ranking member, Mr. Walz, who, again, was a partner through that process; Mr. Valadao, who is, again, the lead sponsor as well. Again, this is a real team effort.

There were 330 cosponsors to this bill, which, frankly, there are not a lot of bills that you can really say that about. Obviously, there were some impediments that we had to sort of work our way through. This was good, hard work, real legislating, that brought this measure to the floor.

As has been said, back in 2001 the VA ruled against a Navy veteran, Mr. Jonathan Haas, who served on the ammunition ship USS Mount Katmai off the coast of Vietnam, in his attempt to get Agent Orange benefits using the presumption that, again, extended to folks who served on the ground forces. Again, the foot-on-the-ground rule was used by the VA to deny Mr. Haas his claim; and, again, it has acted as an obstacle ever since.

In the 112th Congress, a Blue Water Vietnam Veterans Act was introduced in 2011. Didn't pass. In the 113th Congress, a similar bill was introduced, and it didn't pass. Again, in the last Congress, the 114th, in 2015, we had another measure which was introduced and didn't pass.

Yes, we are here today, for the first time ever, to address this grave injustice--which uses a very arbitrary, technical rule that defies common sense--and open a path for folks who served in the U.S. Navy, our sea forces, to make sure that they get equal treatment in terms of getting the care that they need and, frankly, that they have earned.

If you look at some of the other countries that have dealt with this issue, like the Royal Navy of Australia, they have actually shown that folks who served in the Royal Australian Navy in Vietnam, one of our great allies during that conflict, actually had a higher incidence of cancer than folks who served in the land forces.

So it is high time that we move forward with this measure, again, with all the grassroots support across the country with all the VSOs. Paul Dillon, a retired master chief petty officer who served in the U.S. Navy, who is from Gales Ferry, Connecticut, is watching like a hawk this measure, as are many of his colleagues who served in that era.

I think they are going to feel some measure of confidence that the system actually listened to the external pressure that has built up year in and year out since 2001 to restore justice in the VA system, to make sure that those who served on the seas are treated the same way as those who served on the ground in that conflict.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge passage of this measure and, again, congratulate the hard work of those on the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

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