Political Quotes

“I rise today to draw attention to a group of veterans who served this country decades ago but who continue to suffer to this day as a result of their service. I am talking about hundreds of thousands of veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange during their service. From 1962 to 1975, the United States sprayed over 20 million gallons of Agent Orange across Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Millions of our servicemembers, not to mention millions of Vietnamese civilians, were exposed. Fifty years later, hundreds of thousands of Vietnam-era veterans are still paying the price. From the start, the Federal Government has tried to slow-walk attempts to cover the care these veterans earned. It wasn't until 1991 that the VA recognized the connection between Agent Orange exposure and several diseases and conditions, finally allowing these veterans to seek treatment from the VA. Currently, the list of conditions at the VA stands at 14, but science tells us the list is far from complete. In 2017, then-Veterans Affairs Secretary Shulkin called for three more conditions to be added to the list: bladder cancer, underactive thyroid, and Parkinson's-like symptoms. Now, these weren't randomly chosen. They were conditions found by the National Academy of Science to be connected to Agent Orange exposure. The science was there. The VA was there. Yet this White House and its OMB Director, Mick Mulvaney, have blocked this effort to expand the list of conditions.…”