OUR PERSIAN GULF WAR VETERANS
DESERVE THE BEST

MR. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding this time to me, and I rise today to speak about two bills, H.R. 3980, the Persian Gulf War Veterans Health Care and Research Act of 1998, the measure that is before us today, and H.R. 4036, the Persian Gulf War Veterans Health Act of 1998 that I hope will be before us at a later date. I certainly appreciate the work of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs' Subcommittee on Health as well as our full committee on this issue. I think we have heard the eloquent statement of the gentleman from Florida (Mr. STEARNS), the chairman, that he is attempting to get at the root of our problems with the Persian Gulf War illness. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. GUTIERREZ), his ranking member, and the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. STUMP), chairman of the full committee, and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. EVANS), the ranking member, have spent countless hours in crafting this legislation, and as the gentleman from Florida said, I think this will address many of the concerns of our Persian Gulf War veterans.

I will be voting for this bill. But I think the statement that the gentleman from Florida (Mr. STEARNS) so eloquently gave and the compassion which he feels for our veterans should logically lead to a bill which would go a little further, and let me make my concerns clear about that by spending a few minutes on a bill that was later introduced, H.R. 4036, introduced by the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. SHAYS), who was chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Resources for the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight of our House. That is a bill which also enjoys bipartisan support in Congress, widespread support in both the Gulf War veterans' community and the veterans' community at large. The Shays bill does three things more than the bill before us:

Number 1, it assumes that our fighting men and women were indeed exposed to toxins found in the Gulf War, including chemical warfare agents, experimental drugs and depleted uranium. Thus this legislation provides researchers with a blueprint of where to begin. It creates a definitive toxic exposure list, one that can be added to with new information. Given dramatic failures at the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans' Affairs to begin, even begin, research on oil well fire pollution, depleted uranium or combinations of exposures creating this sort of list is a clear step in the right direction, and passage of such a bill has strong precedent. The Agent Orange Act of 1991, for example, contained a listing of herbicide toxic exposures. If we never actually list the toxins, as H.R. 4036 does, then the suspected causes are left open for endless future debate with little possibility of action or treatment for our veterans.

Secondly, what I find most disturbing about the bill before us is that the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense remain basically in charge of the medical research, research the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight of this House has found, and I quote, irreparably flawed, hobbled by institutional inertia, plagued by arrogant incuriosity and a pervasive myopia. In my view, these agencies, condemned by their own stonewalling and lack of forthrightness to the American people, have forfeited the right to direct this research effort.

H.R. 4036, the bill that I hope will come before us, would establish an independent research body to investigate toxic exposures and true, true independent oversight of government research. With this kind of expanded research scientists would have a better chance of discovering treatment programs that Gulf War veterans desperately need, contrasted with most of the research done by the VA and DOD up to this point. The General Accounting Office, as already pointed out by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. STEARNS), characterized those efforts as lacking focus and putting little or no emphasis on developing treatment programs. It is time for a radical change in the structure by which we carry out this research.

Thirdly, under H.R. 4036, when scientists find an association between the exposure and illness, the ill Gulf War veteran becomes classified as service connected; that is, eligible for not only health care but compensation and other benefits. This is a health crisis, Mr. Speaker, not a political football to be decided by the public relations and turf-conscious referees in those departments. This issue should be in the hands of scientists.

As I said earlier, I will vote in favor of H.R. 3980. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. STEARNS) has made an excellent case for how it will make improvements in our treatment of Persian Gulf War veterans. But I do not believe that this should be the final vote on this issue. It gets us closer to the goal, but it does not score the goal. Why I ask, Mr. Speaker, after 7 years should Gulf War veterans settle for anything less than a full accountability and full responsibility from their government? H.R. 4036 goes all the way and addresses the core problems at issue. Congress can do no less than to support those who have allowed this great Nation to remain free and prosperous.

All Gulf War veterans want to know is how they got sick, how they are going to get better and how this country is going to prevent future comrades from getting the same sickness. This is the essence of the written as well as the unwritten contracts between those who lay their lives on the line for our people. Our Persian Gulf War veterans gave their best, they deserve the best from their country: the best in research, the best in treatments. We should be doing nothing less.

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Rep. Bob Filner's Floor Statements