National Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Coalition
Washington, DC.
June 12. 2008

To: HVAC Subcommittee Disability Assistance
Cc: House Veterans Affairs Majority Staff

Subject: Support for HR 3795--DU; HR 5954--BIOLOGICAL-CHEMICAL; HR 5454--ALS; HR 6032--PARKINSON

Dear Representative Hall,

Today your subcommittee is marking up excellent legislation that we would like to wholeheartedly support. All the bills being brought up should be supported fully. The bills we are most interested in HR 3795, 5454,6032,5954 are long overdue! Each of these bills address urgent needs. The gulf war veterans have a particular interest in HR 3795 and we are putting this on our hottest priority list! WE are already pushing more Representatives to sign on and show their support as cosponsors! We want these bills passed into law as fast as possible.

Bills HR 5454 and 6032 address two devastating diseases and the veterans that are diagnosed with these need direct and immediate attention. The numbers of both within the VA system are not overwhelming and of course much lower than PTSD and the current combat injured (amputations, etc) but they probably need more support long term and that is the least we can do. We need to lift the burden of continued claims battles these veterans face and these bills will certainly serve to get them through that battle more rapidly so that they can not be burdened by additional fights when they need to focus on health care and battling to maintain their health as their central issue. We complement the VA House Committee for bringing them the first step in long term relief to the veterans that suffer these devastating illnesses.

Bill HR5954 the relief for Project Shad Veterans is long overdue. Again the number of these veterans is small as compared to all other groups and they have been forgotten for too long. We fully support this bill moving forward rapidly.

We also support
HR 1197--POW
HR 5985 --COMBAT VETERAN
HR 5448---PTSD
HR 5709---QUALITY CONTROL ON CLAIMS
HR 5155---DEBT RELEASE
HR 3008--RURAL CARE

Thank you for your efforts to make a real difference for all veterans!

Sincerely,

Denise Nichols
Vice Chairman