Congressional Record: September 10, 2003 (House)
Page H8094-H8097
HEALTH CARE FOR VETERANS OF PROJECT 112/PROJECT SHAD ACT OF 2003
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 2433) to amend title 38, United States Code, to
authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide veterans who
participated in certain Department of Defense chemical and biological
warfare testing to be provided health care for illness without
requirement for proof of service-connection, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 2433
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "Health Care for Veterans of
Project 112/Project SHAD Act of 2003".
SEC. 2. PROVISION OF HEALTH CARE TO VETERANS WHO PARTICIPATED
IN CERTAIN DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CHEMICAL AND
BIOLOGICAL WARFARE TESTING.
Section 1710(e) of title 38, United States Code, is
amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the following
new subparagraph:
"(E) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), a veteran who
participated in a test conducted by the Department of Defense
Deseret Test Center as part of a program for chemical and
biological warfare testing from 1962 through 1973 (including
the program designated as `Project Shipboard Hazard and
Defense (SHAD)' and related land-based tests) is eligible for
hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care under
subsection (a)(2)(F) for any illness, notwithstanding that
there is insufficient medical evidence to conclude that such
illness is attributable to such testing.".
(2) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking out "paragraph (1)(C)
or (1)(D)" and inserting "subparagraph (C), (D), or (E) of
paragraph (1)"; and
(3) in paragraph (3)--
(A) by striking "and" at the end of subparagraph (B);
(B) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (C)
and inserting "; and"; and
(C) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
"(D) in the case of care for a veteran described in
paragraph (1)(E), after December 31, 2005.".
SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE RETENTION AND RECRUITMENT OF
HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS.
(a) Promotion Standards for Health Care Personnel.--
Subsection (c) of 7403 of title 38, United States Code, is
amended by striking "Promotions" and inserting "Consistent
with subsection (a) of section 7422 of this title, and
notwithstanding subsection (b) of that section, promotions".
(b) Promotions for Nurses Who Do Not Have Baccalaureate
Degrees.--Such section is further amended by adding at the
end the following new subsection:
"(h) In a case in which a registered nurse has
accomplished the performance elements required for promotion
to the next grade, the lack of a baccalaureate degree in
nursing shall not be a bar to promotion to that grade, and in
such a case the registered nurse shall not be denied a
promotion on that basis.".
SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL PAY FOR SATURDAY TOURS OF DUTY FOR
ADDITIONAL HEALTH CARE WORKERS IN THE VETERANS
HEALTH ADMINISTRATION.
(a) In General.--Section 7454(b) of title 38, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
"(3) Employees appointed under section 7408 of this title
shall be entitled to additional pay on the same basis as
provided for nurses in section 7453(c) of this title.".
(b) Applicability.--The amendment made by subsection (a)
shall apply with respect to pay periods beginning on or after
the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 5. COVERAGE OF EMPLOYEES OF VETERANS' CANTEEN SERVICE
UNDER ADDITIONAL EMPLOYMENT LAWS.
(a) Coverage.--Paragraph (5) of section 7802 of title 38,
United States Code, is amended by inserting before the
semicolon a period and the following: "An employee appointed
under this section may be considered for appointment to a
Department position in the competitive service in the same
manner that a Department employee in the competitive service
is considered for transfer to such position. An employee of
the Service who is appointed to a Department position in the
competitive service under the authority of the preceding
sentence may count toward the time-in-service requirement for
a career appointment in such position any previous period of
employment in the Service".
(b) Technical Amendments.--Such section is further
amended--
(1) by striking the semicolon at the end of each of
paragraphs (1) through (10) and inserting a period;
(2) by striking "The Secretary " and all that follows
through "(1) establish," and inserting "(a) Locations for
Canteens.--The Secretary shall establish,";
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (11) as
subsections (b) through (k), respectively, and by realigning
those subsections (as so redesignated) so as to be flush to
the left margin;
(4) in subsection (b) (as so redesignated), by inserting
"Warehouses and Storage Depots.--The Secretary shall"
before "establish";
(5) in subsection (c) (as so redesignated), by inserting
"Space, Buildings, and Structures.--The Secretary shall"
before "furnish";
(6) in subsection (d) (as so redesignated), by inserting
"Equipment, Services, and Utilities.--The Secretary shall"
before "transfer";
(7) in subsection (e) (as so redesignated and as amended by
subsection (a)), by inserting "Personnel.--The Secretary
shall" before "employ";
(8) in subsection (f) (as so redesignated), by inserting
"Contracts and Agreements.--The Secretary shall" before
"make all";
(9) in subsection (g) (as so redesignated), by inserting
"Prices.--The Secretary shall" before "fix the";
(10) in subsection (h) (as so redesignated), by inserting
"Gifts and Donations.--The Secretary may" before
"accept";
(11) in subsection (i) (as so redesignated), by inserting
"Rules and Regulations.--The Secretary shall" before "make
such";
(12) in subsection (j) (as so redesignated), by inserting
"Delegation.--The Secretary may" before "delegate such";
and
[[Page H8095]]
(13) in subsection (k) (as so redesignated), by inserting
"Authority To Cash Checks, Etc.--The Secretary may" before
"authorize".
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume. I rise in strong support of H.R. 2433, as amended, the
Health Care for Veterans of Project 112/Project Shad Act of 2003.
Project SHAD stands for "shipboard hazard and defense." It was a
program that was conducted in the 1970s. I will get into that in a
moment. I do want to thank the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health,
the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons), and the subcommittee's
ranking member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez), for their
work and cooperation in moving this very bipartisan bill forward. I
want to thank them for their leadership on it.
This bill would authorize the VA to provide higher priority health
care to veterans who participated in Project 112/SHAD. These tests,
which involved exposure of servicemembers to simulated chemical and
biological agents and in some cases, Mr. Speaker, actual poisons, were
conducted by the Department of Defense at their Desert Test Center from
1962 through 1973. In the past year, DOD has released information about
all of these secret Cold War-era tests and has worked with the
Department of Veterans Affairs and our committee to identify and notify
veterans who participated in the tests, some of them unknowingly. This
legislation will ensure that those veterans who did participate in
those tests are able to receive medical evaluations and treatment if
necessary at VA health care facilities on a higher priority basis
without being required to establish service connection for these
illnesses they believe were caused by those exposures. H.R. 2433 also
includes several measures designed to help the VA to maintain a quality
workforce in all of its health care facilities.
There is a well-documented shortage of trained registered nurses, for
example, in the United States; and this shortage affects the VA's
ability to deliver care to veterans. Our committee has expressed
concern about a VA policy that requires VA-registered nurses to obtain
baccalaureate degrees in nursing in order to advance beyond entry
nurse-grade levels. The VA's continuation of this policy in the face of
high demand and scarcity of nursing personnel discourages qualified
nurses from seeking VA employment and makes the VA's ability to retain
current nurses more challenging than it needs to be. H.R. 2433 will
help keep the VA competitive with the private sector so that when a VA-
registered nurse is otherwise eligible for a promotion, the lack of a
specific educational degree may not be used to deny that promotion from
nurse grade 1 to grade 2.
Mr. Speaker, section 4 of the bill expands the number of health care
workers entitled to extra pay for working weekends. Most private
hospitals provide extra pay for weekend work. Many VA health care
workers already receive extra compensation for working on weekends.
Section 4 is an effort to eliminate current disparities between VA
employees working side by side to care for sick veterans.
The legislation also gives the approximately 3,000 Veterans' Canteen
Service hourly workers the right to be considered for other VA
positions on a competitive basis. This right was given to VCS managers
in 1979. There is no reason whatsoever to impede good VA workers from
seeking career advancement to more demanding, higher-paying positions
for which they are qualified.
This is a good bill. I hope that Members will support it.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of this resolution. I want to thank the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez) for recognizing the need to assure health
care for veterans who participated, often unwittingly at times, in the
tests of Deseret Test Center. I also want to acknowledge the commitment
of Mr. Mike Thompson, whose persistence in uncovering the truth about
these tests has been extraordinarily noteworthy. It is remarkable to
think that the military would have knowingly exposed troops to some of
the agents we now know were involved in these tests.
I am pleased that we will be offering these veterans an opportunity
to receive health care services in order to address some of the
conditions they believe may have been involved in this exposure. There
are other important personnel issues addressed in this legislation.
For several years, the VA has been committed to converting to an all-
bachelor's degree program. While this goal may be admirable, it may
also be unattainable, particularly on the cusp of the severe nursing
shortage confronting the whole health care industry, both private and
public. It also fails to acknowledge the very real contributions of
associate degree-trained nurses who receive similar practical training.
It is also appropriate to give nursing assistants the same access to
Saturday premium pay as their nursing counterparts.
Mr. Speaker, I hope all the Members will join me in supporting this
legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1045
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons), the
distinguished chairman of our Subcommittee on Health.
Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs and the ranking member, the gentleman from Illinois
(Mr. Evans), for their terrific work on this legislation. I also thank
my colleague and ranking member of the Veterans Subcommittee on Health,
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez), for all of his work. These
are bipartisan products. These are legislative products that have been
worked on on both sides of the aisle by all of us working together for
the common good of our veterans and for those who serve them.
I am sure my colleague, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez) will
talk quite a bit about the SHAD portion of this legislation, and I will
leave that to him, but I want to highlight two other parts of this
legislation that I think are so important. The first one is the one
that guarantees that a qualified VA registered nurse is not denied
promotion to a higher job because that nurse fails to have a certain
educational degree.
During my period of service on active duty in the U.S. Army, I went
to infantry OCS, and at infantry OCS, I trained with a lot of enlisted
personnel, sergeants, E-5s, E-6s and E-7s who decided to go to infantry
OCS to get that commission to get that lieutenant's bar and to lead men
in combat in Vietnam.
A number of those highly qualified enlisted persons who went to OCS
did not have college degrees, and yet they accumulated awards for valor
in service and led their men successfully in the war zone.
When the war was over, they lost their commissions. They were given
the choice of getting out of the service or going back to enlisted
rank. That made no sense to me. It made no sense to me that somebody
who had been successful in leading men in combat and in battle in an
infantry assignment would be denied that commission at a future date
simply because they did not have the educational qualifications.
The same principle is at stake here. Why should a qualified VA
registered nurse be denied a promotion on the basis of the fact that
that nurse does not have a specific educational degree? We can do
better than that. This bill fixes that problem.
Let me refer also to one other portion of this legislation that I
think is so important, and that I think establishes fairness for those
who serve us in the VA. Veterans Canteen Service food workers are not
eligible currently for career service or competitive service positions
because of their current position within the Canteen Service.
Well, low and behold, I began my Army career as an Army cook. I began
my Army career as an Army cook. Nobody said at the time you cannot go
on to go to OCS, officer candidate school, and get a commission and go
up
[[Page H8096]]
through the ranks and eventually retire as a colonel. Nobody said that
at the time. So why do we say that to the canteen workers? Why do we
say we are going to offer you a job as a Canteen Service worker, but it
is a dead-end job. You are never going to be able to aspire to anything
higher. That does not make any sense to me, and I do not think it makes
any sense to the men and women who work in these positions.
So I thank my leaders in the committee, the gentleman from New Jersey
(Chairman Smith), the ranking member, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Evans), and I also thank my colleague, the ranking member of the
Subcommittee on Health, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez), for
their hard work on this legislation, which brings about reforms into
the system that are so long overdue.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. Rodriguez).
Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Evans) for yielding me time. I want to thank the gentleman for his
leadership as ranking member. I also want to take this opportunity to
thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Chairman Smith) for his leadership
and I want to thank, of course, our subcommittee chairman, the
gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons) on this bipartisan effort.
I think there is no doubt that this particular piece of legislation
is needed, so I want to personally express my gratitude on this
bipartisan effort to the gentleman from New Jersey (Chairman Smith) and
the ranking Member the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans).
Project 112, as we know, was a series of military tests that began in
the early 1960s and continued throughout much of the Cold War to assess
the effects of chemical and biological weapons on military assets under
various environmental conditions.
I introduced this piece of legislation after we had become aware of
it. I also want to take note that the gentleman from California (Mr.
Thompson) worked hard on this particular issue. I also want to indicate
that many of these tests happened at sea and it is also referred to as
Project SHAD, but others were land-based.
The tests were designed to identify the military vulnerabilities to
various types of attacks, whether these attacks could be adequately
detected or whether some protection measures were effective against
these attacks. The Department of Defense has admitted that it has no
evidence that the test participants were informed of the risk of their
participation in these tests or that, in most cases, they received
appropriate protection gear while conducting these tests. Some veterans
are justly concerned, and have been informed that they were exposed to
hazardous material.
In order to restore the trust and confidence of the American people,
and particularly the American veterans in the Federal Government's
response to these kinds of exposures-related controversies, we must
act, and H.R. 2433 does that exactly.
It is impossible to believe that the military exposed our own troops
to such potent agents such as VX nerve gas and sarin. Veterans are
naturally concerned about the long-term effects of exposure to those
poisons in terms of their health.
Project 112 veterans have complained of various forms of ailments
such as cancer and hypertension. Given the amount of time that has
passed and the relatively small number of veterans involved in such
tests, veterans may never fully understand the effects of these tests.
The VA has requested legislation, and that is why we are doing this, to
begin to examine the participants and the ailments and the conditions
of these veterans that participated in these experiments.
This authority will allow this opportunity for veterans involved in
these exams and suffering from possible ailments to be able to get
tested and be able to look in terms of how they might have been
impacted by it. It may also give the VA a chance to see if there are
discernible patterns of veterans' health outcomes. This information may
help VA identify whether particular operations or exposures were
particularly harmful.
It is time for us to make at least some amends to our veterans
involved in these experiments, often without their consent, knowledge
or adequate protection. We owe it to them for us to move in this
protection.
I also appeal to veterans that might be informed or might be
listening for them to become abreast of what has transpired, because a
lot of the veterans are not aware that these particular tests had taken
place.
So, once again, I ask for your support for H.R. 2433, and I thank the
chairman, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), and the gentleman
from Illinois (Mr. Evans), the leading Democrat on the committee.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the former chairman
of the Subcommittee on Health, who held hearings on Project SHAD.
Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding,
and I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans) and the gentleman
from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Rodriguez) for their work on this important piece of legislation.
I also would like to recognize the work of the gentleman from
California (Mr. Filner), my ranking member during the time I chaired
the subcommittee, in which our subcommittee focused a lot of attention
toward the issue of Project SHAD and its effect upon our veterans today
and upon servicemen and women back in the 1960s. I am pleased to be
here today, these months later, in support of passage of H.R. 2433.
During my time as the subcommittee chairman, we worked with a number
of our colleagues on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs to highlight,
to encourage the Department of Defense to provide information, the
Department of Veterans Affairs to provide a higher priority in care and
concern for the veterans who participated in Project SHAD, those tests
conducted by the Department of Defense in the 60s.
These tests were conducted over water and on land. They were designed
to ascertain the damage and dangers chemicals might have to ships and
equipment, beginning a study upon the effects of weapons of mass
destruction, something we hear about a lot today. Thousands of
veterans, as a result of those tests, now have reason to believe that
their health may have been adversely affected by exposure to dangerous
substances.
In the 107th Congress, our subcommittee held those hearings on this
project, upon the tests. We had a number of meetings with Department of
Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs officials. We visited with
veterans organizations and began the process of seeking answers to the
many questions that now linger some 60 years later.
Our subcommittee concentrated also on the state of deployment health.
Having been through the Persian Gulf War Syndrome, we wanted to see if
we could find ways to get the Department of Defense to deploy our
forces in ways that protected those forces, the equipment,
vaccinations, health records and other policies that DOD utilizes today
to protect the health of active duty servicemen and women who are
deployed in areas of conflict.
Congress does need to focus our concern on the veterans of the past,
because they teach us lessons about the veterans of our future, and we
need to use history as a tool to create effective and proactive
policies for our current and future servicemen and women who may be
exposed at some time to dangerous poisons and other hazards of military
deployment. We have seen those exposures in Vietnam, in the first Gulf
War, and we may see many more in the future.
U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, are overseas today
defending the freedoms we enjoy here at home, and we in Congress are
responsible for ensuring their health, that it is protected, both in
and out of the service.
The record is clear: The tests that involved Project SHAD were not
intended to harm U.S. service members, they were intended to aid the
U.S. in protecting ships at sea and soldiers and their equipment on the
field of battle from enemy attacks using chemical, biological or
nuclear weapons. But, clearly, we have a responsibility to
[[Page H8097]]
those soldiers who were affected by those tests.
I would like to especially commend a Kansan from Topeka, Kansas, Jim
Druckmiller, and the USS Power Association, as well as the Vietnam
Veterans of America, their organization, for bringing this issue to the
subcommittee and Congress. Citizens from my home State of Kansas and
many other states were affected by these tests, and we must honor them
and support them by seeking passage of this legislation.
I again commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Chairman Smith) for
giving this legislation the high priority it is due, and urge its
passage by the House today.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Filner).
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, you would think that we would have learned from the
experience in Vietnam and Agent Orange, which the gentleman from
Illinois (Marine Corporal Evans) taught us as he led the charge to
uncover what happened with Agent Orange and to give our servicemen and
women some protection later on.
If we learned anything, it is that our veterans must be informed of
the risks of exposure that they experience on the battlefield. We did
not learn that in Persian Gulf War I, and we are left with the Persian
Gulf War illness. I do not think we have learned it with Persian Gulf
War II, and who knows what we are going to have after this war.
Veterans must know about the agents to which they were exposed and
whether these agents are likely to produce any health consequences, and
they must be taken care of if they become ill due to the exposures
during their service. That is what this bill does, based on this
project that took place in the 1960s.
We have thanked a lot of people in the Congress for bringing this
bill up, but I have to thank our veterans for their own diligence in
bringing this matter to our attention. Once again, it was veterans who
became ill who had to advocate on their own behalf to get their
government, to get our government, to release information about harmful
exposures so they could understand their own health issues and assert
the legitimacy of their claims.
One of these veterans is Jack B. Anderson, a retired Navy man and a
constituent of the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson), and that
is what brought the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson) into this,
and we thank him for his leadership, and the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Rodriguez) also for bringing this bill to us.
This project, Project 112, was a $4 billion testing effort.
{time} 1100
It would translate into a $40 billion effort today. That is a massive
undertaking. And there were tests at sea called Project SHAD to
identify vulnerabilities to various types of attacks. Now, that is a
legitimate function of our Defense Department, but they did not inform
those who were tested that they were even participating in the test or
that they have the right equipment to protect themselves or that their
exposure might lead to later problems, this exposure to nerve gas and
sarin.
Once again, it took veterans and it took Members of Congress to force
the Department of Defense to admit that they were at fault and to make
sure that the veterans received health care and proper compensation.
So I thank all those who took part in this to finally bring some
justice to this case. This Project 112 and Project SHAD, the Vietnam
situation with agent orange, the Persian Gulf War illness, all of these
are part of a pattern. One would think that we would learn that by now.
I do not think that we have learned yet, however, our lesson, and we
are going to see it again after this war in Iraq.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I urge support for H.R. 2433.
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, before I yield back, I want to again thank all of my
colleagues and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez), especially,
for his leadership on this bill. The gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran),
who spoke earlier, held the really landmark hearings that helped
catapult this issue into the forefront in people's thought.
Let us not forget what we are talking about. The Department of
Defense in some 41 tests aboard ships used agents like anthrax, VX,
sarin gas. Yes, they used simulants in many cases, but they actually
used the real deal. They actually used real contaminants.
We are not sure, even to this day, whether or not the protective
suits that were worn by our sailors aboard those ships actually
protected them from these very caustic and poisonous agents.
We need to get to the bottom of it. I am convinced, having been at
the hearings, having had several conversations with people at the DOD
and the VA, that they are really going to go all out to make sure that
every veteran who is malaffected or could have been malaffected by this
gets the kind of health care and compensation that is necessary if,
indeed, they have been contaminated by it.
So this is a very important bill. I hope that the full body will
embrace it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shaw). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2433, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The title of the bill was amended so as to read: "A bill to amend
title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs to provide veterans who participated in certain Department of
Defense chemical and biological warfare testing with health care for
their illness without requirement for proof of service-connection, and
for other purposes.".
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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