______________________________________________________________________ CALL TO ACTION, NOW! TAKE ACTION AND SPREAD THE WORD! We had won this one and now the senate wants to take it back. Please pass this on and call both Senators from your state.
FYI. The attached has been introduced in the US Senate by Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.
This amendment would significantly restrict Agent Orange benefits, including the three most recent gains for ischemic heart conditions, Parkinson’s disease, and B-cell hairy Leukemia. Apparently the attached amendment has been offered to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill. VVA vigorously opposes this amendment.
It changes the Agent Orange Act to require a “causal relationship” rather than “positive association” of certain illness to Agent Orange exposure in order to receive benefits. This will mean that most diseases would no longer be covered if you can’t prove that your illness was directly caused by Agent Orange and could not have been caused by another source. This would effectively undermine the expansion that the VA did for diabetes, certain cancers and ischemic heart disease.
It is worth noting that after not funding ANY research on Agent Orange and other toxins that Vietnam and other generations have been exposed to, now some want to make us prove that there is a particular causal relationship, as opposed to a strong association.
Just on the grounds that this is the most major change in Agent Orange law in twenty years, and the fact there has been no hearing on this proposal, it should be rejected out of hand. But, YOU have to take action! Go to http://capwiz.com/vva/home/
Reportedly Senator Coburn has said he will insist on a vote.
Please e-mail and/or call your Senators tonight, both their Washington, D.C. office as well as their office(s) in your state.
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