WASHINGTON DC – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, introduced a bill to ensure servicemembers and veterans who served at classified locations within the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) since 1951 are able to prove that they served there, and can finally get the PACT Act benefits they deserve following exposure to radiation and toxins.
From the 1950s through the 1990s, the NTTR – and the Nevada Test Site contained within it – conducted over 900 explosive nuclear weapons tests and other dangerous, toxic activities. Currently, due to issues with the classified nature of their location while serving, veterans who served at the NTTR are unable to prove their service there to the VA and, therefore, are unable to receive care and benefits connected with exposure to radiation and toxins from burn pits. The Fighting for the Overlooked Recognition of Groups Operating in Toxic Test Environments in Nevada (FORGOTTEN) Veterans Act would help to correct a historic wrong and inequity by officially recognizing the risk that veterans assumed during their service at the NTTR, and other Department of Energy (DOE) Covered Facilities, where DOE employees are already automatically presumed to have been exposed, while the servicemembers who served alongside them are not. Senator Rosen also worked to secure commitments from multiple high-ranking military officials to address this care gap.
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Not ‘forgotten’: Plan aims to help veterans of Nevada test site get compensation
By Jessica Hill
- Dave Crete and other Nevada veterans who served at the Nevada Test and Training Range have long experienced a slew of health problems, from fatty tumors called lipomas to decreased lung function — and for many, cancer cases that have led to death.
- Despite their service, those veterans have been unable to receive veterans benefits to cover those medical costs because their work was classified. A new bill aims to change that.
- Nevada’s Democratic Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto on Wednesday introduced the Fighting for the Overlooked Recognition of Groups Operating in Toxic Test Environments in Nevada (FORGOTTEN) Veterans Act that would officially recognize the risk veterans assumed.
- Between the 1950s and 1990s, more than 900 nuclear weapons tests and other dangerous toxic activities occurred on the 2.9 million acre Nevada Test and Training Range, and the Nevada Test Site contained within it, according to Rosen’s office.
- Rosen and Cortez Masto’s FORGOTTEN Veterans Act would classify the Nevada Test and Training Range as contaminated and require the Department of Defense to document all exposures into servicemembers’ records so they can be seen by the VA when receiving care.
- “Veterans have been exposed to radiation and toxic chemicals as a result of their selfless service to our nation, and the least we can do is ensure they get the treatment they need,” Rosen said in a statement.
- “It is unconscionable that one U.S. government agency deems portions of the range as contaminated and their personnel exposed, while another U.S. government agency does not,” Rosen said in a statement. “I’ll continue working to make sure we take care of our veterans and their loved ones.”
KOLO Reno: Rosen, Cortez Masto introduce bill for veterans exposed to toxins in Nevada
Anchor: “Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen are introducing a bill looking to support veterans exposed to radiation and toxins here in our state. The FORGOTTEN Veterans Act would apply to those who served at classified locations within the Nevada Test and Training Range. In a release, Senator Jacky Rosen says [veterans] have been unable to prove service to the VA because of the classified nature of the area they served in, and because of that, they’ve been unable to receive care and benefits.”
KTVN Reno: Jacky Rosen Introduces Bill to Help Veterans Exposed to Toxins
Anchor: “Nevada Senators Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto introduced a bill to ensure servicemembers and veterans can get the PACT Act benefits that they say they deserve following exposure to radiation and toxins, specifically those who served at classified locations within the Nevada Test and Training Range since 1951. Currently, veterans who served at the training range are unable to prove their service there to the VA and, therefore, are unable to receive care and benefits connected with exposure to radiation and toxins from burn pits. Senator Jacky Rosen said, in part, ‘I’m introducing this bill to recognize the radiation and toxic exposure experienced at the Nevada Test and Training Range so our veterans can access the care and benefits they deserve.’ ”
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