On the recordJune 10, 2015
This amendment is identical to an amendment offered last year that passed this body by a voice vote. Veterans of the first gulf war suffered from persistent symptoms, including chronic headaches, widespread pain, cognitive difficulties, debilitating fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, respiratory symptoms, and other abnormalities that are not explained by traditional medicine or by psychiatric diagnoses. Research shows that, as veterans from the first gulf war age, they are twice as likely to develop Lou Gehrig's disease as are their nondeployed peers. There also may be connections to multiple sclerosis and to Parkinson's disease. Sadly, there are no known treatments for this lifelong pain and affliction that these veterans must endure through this disease. For decades, the Veterans Health Administration has downplayed any neurological basis for the disease, but recent research has shown unequivocally that this disease is biological in nature. The time has come for us to right the wrong that our servicemen and -women have had to live with now for over 20 years. In this Department of Defense Appropriations bill, we allocate more money for breast cancer, orthopaedic, and prostate cancer research than we do for finding a cure for Gulf War Illness. Equivalent funds are appropriated for ovarian cancer research.…
