Senator Tillis: Legislation on toxic exposure in the military could get passed this year

This bill would establish a path to VA healthcare for those exposed. IAVA supports this, but we also support a bill by Sen. Gillibrand (D-NY) that will provide a presumption of exposure for VA benefits - that's VA disability plus healthcare. Her bill will be re-introduced soon.

This is good news and long overdue CAPT (Join to see)

SPC Nancy Greene - Yes, stay tuned. VSOs will make a big priority this year for TE legislation passage. Lots of bipartisan attention to it too.

Thank You Sir and please keep me posted! CAPT (Join to see)

CAPT (Join to see) - Sir,

Thanks!
This is a good first draft, in my opinion. It has a very clear intent, and that intent is great. However, in my opinion, it only has intent, and not actual requirements. Almost everything in this bill that actually has a benefit for veterans (presumption of service connection, access to medical treatment, etc.) is up to the VA Secretary.

I am a cynic by nature, as well as a loopholer. I look for the rules that can be exploited, not so I can exploit, but so I can prevent others from doing so by either tightening the rules, creating new ones, or adding additional guidance / rules within my own scope of authority. With that viewpoint, I look at this bill as a situation where everyone involved (VA, DoD, and NASEM) can VERY easily comply with the letter of the law whilst coming nowhere near the intent. VA Secretary can shoot down any and all toxins or burn pits (and likely will shoot down at least some). Service Members are allowed to determine if they have been exposed, but all those determinations are subject to VA Secretary approval - so (s)he can shoot down any and all (s)he wants.

I don't THINK it will unfold in that manner, but I am skeptical of the amount of wiggle room which would ALLOW it to unfold in that manner.

The other major problem I see with this is apportionment. This bill creates an unpaid commission so no cost there. Oh wait... they get travel and per diem. (Not a huge expense, especially considering the vastness of the federal budget, or even the VA budget. But still an expense.) Additionally, the bill creates a new SES IV position, and a staff of undetermined number and pay. Finally, the bill, if executed according to intent, will add VA benefits to many veterans - which costs money. But the VA's budget is not mentioned and not increased. Which means that in order to pay for this, budget cuts somewhere else will need to happen - some other aspect of VA services will end up shortchanged.

Like I said, good first draft. I like what it does and the mechanisms it sets up to do it (especially the heavy reliance on NASEM). But I, personally, believe that it needs to concentrate on its fundamentals of marksmanship so it can get a tighter shot group.

SFC Casey O'Mally I believe you're talking about the Tillis bill. That bill was agreed to and drafted by 30+ vets groups and the Senate VA Committee approved it last year. It still has to be reintroduced since it's a new Congress and it will likely be modified further. The Gillibrand bill was done outside of the coalition and is comprehensive is that it provides a full VA disability benefit. These two and any other bills will be likely combined by the Congressional VA committees with the VA input. This means likelihood of passage is very good, especially with the change in administrations. Trump administration opposed.

CAPT (Join to see) - Sir,

Yes, I was referring to the Tillis bill. I didn't even see the Gillibrand bill on first pass.

SFC Casey O'Mally Yes, and there's also a Manchin-Sullivan bill that establishes a presumption of EXPOSURE only, which the government acknowledges what you were exposed to when and where you deployed. So at least your doctor already has that info when applying for your disability benefit.