Walz to Continue Fighting for Agent Orange Extension

Press Release

Congressman Tim Walz (D-MN) released the below statement following passage of legislation in the House that extends a number of VA programs set to expire, but that failed to include Walz's Agent Orange Extension Act:

"While passage of this legislation was critically important to extending vital programs for veterans, I remain deeply disappointed that it did not include a full extension of the Agent Orange Act of 1991. While we have to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, we also have to keep the commitments we've made to those who serve. These veterans completed their mission in Vietnam and now we must complete ours. We owe these heroes nothing less."

Walz introduced the Agent Orange Extension Act of 2015, which extends the original deadline issued by the Agent Orange Act of 1991 to ensure that Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange receive just compensation and care. He will continue working to ensure the VA is required to give these veterans they care they have earned and will continue to demand Republican leadership bring the bill to the floor.

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 bill directed the VA to contract with 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.

The NAS is expected to publish their final report on Agent Orange exposure in March 2016, but the AOA expired on September 30, 2015. With expiration before the final report is issued, the VA is not 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. In order to fulfil the intent of the original law, the Agent Orange Extension Act of 2015 extends AOA by two years, thus allowing for the VA to add any new diseases released in the next NAS report.

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