GOP wants to cut back Agent Orange settlements.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

More than 84,000 Vietnam veterans afflicted with heart disease, Parkinson's disease or B-cell leukemia are drawing disability compensation today thanks to a decision by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki to expand the list of ailments presumed caused by exposure to herbicides, including Agent Orange, used during that war.

Another 74,000 veterans have claims pending, and will only need to show VA that they set foot in Vietnam and have one of the diseases added last year to the list of Agent Orange "presumptive" conditions.

Though these payments comfort veterans and their families, they have upset some Republican senators who argue they are "unfair" to fellow veterans and taxpayers, and drive up VA compensation claims at a time when budgets are tightening and needs are expanding for new veterans.

These senators argue the Agent Orange Act of 1991 is flawed, providing too much authority to the VA secretary and allowing compensation awards based on a mere "association" between a disease and herbicide exposure rather than evidence that exposure "caused" the ailments.

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,234697,00.html

[Waiting For Everyman]

1. I've told vets since the 1980s that Rethugs do this every chance they get.

Vets refuse to listen and keep on voting for them. Then they're surprised when this kind of thing happens... over, and over, and over again.

How many times does it take to learn?


(* I'm the widow of a 100% disabled vet who was part of the original Agent Orange claim and class action lawsuit. I did all of his VA claim entirely on my own just by reading the law, and won every bit of it. I used to help a lot of other vets with their claims too until I just got sick and tired of it for the above reason.)

[lunasun]

2. GOP does not care about vets....just war profits

[izquierdista]

3. Oh my mistake

I thought that was Boehner's spy name......

[BackToThe60s]

4. As per usual

They talk up and then fuck up our soldiers.

[onethatcares]

5. wait until the depleted uranium shit hits the fan.

they'll be squirming out from under those claims forever.

Kinda like the Camp Lejuene water problem that didn't happen:sarcasm: