Veterans call Agent Orange “a slow walk with death.”
Navy Vietnam veterans hope a bill that will restore health care and disability benefits for those exposed isn’t dead already.
If passed, HR 299 restores benefits for Blue Water Navy veterans that the VA stripped away nearly 18 years ago.
“I know that we were exposed to Agent Orange and I want our government to do what is right and take care of us,” Navy veteran Mike Kvintus of New Port Richey said.
In the war, Kvintus, of New Port Richey, served on the U.S.S. Buchanan.
Now as National Vice Commander of the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association, Kvintus has worked tirelessly to convince Congress to extend benefits to 90,000 Navy veterans possibly exposed to Agent Orange.
The military sprayed more than 20 million gallons of Agent Orange on Vietnam’s jungle-like foliage.
It was mixed with petroleum and ran into streams and rivers,
It contaminated bays and harbors and waters off Vietnam’s shores.
Navy ships took in sea water and turned it to fresh for drinking, bathing and cooking.
An Australian study showed the process actually enhanced the Agent Orange.
The bill sailed unanimously through the House of Representatives.
Now because two senators, Mike Enzi (R) Wyoming and Mike Lee (R) Utah, put a hold on the bill, it is on life support.
“We have two senators that have put a hold on this bill, I don’t see where that’s a democracy,” Kvintus added.
“I know that we were exposed to Agent Orange and I want our government to do what is right and take care of us.”
If there is a resurrection and it passes the Senate, 90,000 Navy Vietnam veterans could benefit.
Senator Enzi objects to the cost.
Originally, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would cost taxpayers about $89 million a year over a 10 year period.
The VA, which opposes the legislation, provided new information to the CBO, which boosted the cost by $1 billion over that same time frame.
“All the information that the VA presented was bogus, it was all false information,” Kvintus stated.
Senator Lee of wants to wait on a VA study comparing disease and mortality rates of Vietnam veterans to the general population.
“I’ve never seen anything that the VA has studied that’s done correctly,” Kvintus said.
Military Veterans Advocacy Executive Director John Wells hopes Senate President Mitch McConnell brings the bill to the floor for a vote.
“If we can get it on the floor we have more than 90 votes,” Wells added.
Wells is hopeful that more accurate information will sway Senator Enzi.
He worries that Senator Lee drank the VA’s “Kool-Aid.”
“Senator Lee, I’d ask, look at the information that was presented to your staff and lift your hold. These guys are dying and they need to get these benefits,” explained Wells.
“They’re suffering daily and they’re dying,” Kvintus added. “All we ask for is what we deserve.”
Will Enzi and Lee drop their objections?
Will the Senate president bring the bill to the floor for a vote?
There are many questions about what lies ahead, but little time is left in this session of Congress.
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