Update on The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act September 13, 2015

Here is an update on the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act.

This week we have had 5 more Representatives signed onto the Bill making the total 269.  We need to get that number up to over 289 so that certain rules will be suspended.

We also had 1 more Senator signed up making the total for the Senate to be 21.

John Wells is making another trip to Washington DC this coming week. On Blue Water Navy Awareness we have posted a list of some of the Members of Congress Offices he will be visiting along with the Contact Information for that office. We are trying to get as many people as we can to write these Congress Members and asked them to support the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act. Please visit us for the list and please join us in writing these Members of Congress.

Also we do have Contact Information for all Members of Congress. This is so we all can all keep contacting Member of Congress to let them know we are not going away. We are here to stay.

There was a Webinar this week put on by two of the best that are fighting for us to get the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act passed.  Besides giving out the back ground information they suggested ways for us to help. Keep Contacting Congress was one of the ways along with getting the word out to the News Media. We need to let everyone know what Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans are going through. How the VA is putting us off and ignoring us.  One other idea was to keep contacting the VA, if you know the e-mail address of Robert MacDonald and Sloan Gibbson please send them my way. I have tried Robert.McDonald@va.gov and Sloan.Gibson@va.gov and I did not get a Bounce back so they may be valid. Yes I know they won’t actually get the e-mails BUT if they keep getting them I am sure that the person who is reading them will let them know we are out here.

Not only do we need to make the request for the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act, we need to ask them to support the Extension of Agent Orange Act (HR 3423). This will extent by two years the original sunset deadline of the Agent Orange Act of 1991 to ensure that Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange receive just compensation and care.

The Act expires on September 30, 2015 and the legislation would extend the sunset to September 30, 2017. FRA warned the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees regarding the sunset of the Act during its March 18, 2015 testimony.
The Agent Orange Act of 1991 (AOA) established a presumption of service connection for diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure, relieving Vietnam veterans from the burden of providing evidence that their illness was a result of military service. This law directs the the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to periodically research and review diseases that might be associated with Agent Orange exposure. The VA is required to add diseases the NAS finds to have a positive association to Agent Orange exposure to the VA’s list of presumptive service connected diseases. Since the enactment of the AOA, the NAS has issued reports that have led to the presumption of service connection for diseases such as Parkinson’s, B-cell leukemia and early onset peripheral neuropathy. Without these studies, thousands of Vietnam era veterans would have gone without the benefits they greatly deserve.
If the AOA expires the VA would no longer be obligated to review the NAS report or add any new diseases to the presumption of service list, in the process denying thousands of veterans their right to compensation.
Members are urged to use the Action Center to ask their Representative to support this important legislation.

For up to date information you can always check with Blue Water Navy Awareness on Facebook.