Pass the Agent Orange Equity Act

Letter to the Editor,

With the elections over, the new Congress and Senate will have their first  session in early 2013.  They will be faced with many issues, some old,  some new.  

It is time for the new House and Senate to put aside politics and become legislators.  There are still two major bills in  committee of interest to Vietnam veterans, House Bill 3612 and Senate Bill 1629.  

These bills are to restore VA benefits for Agent Orange exposure during the Vietnam war.

The present Congress and Senate still have time to act upon these bills  before January.  These bills must come out of committee and go to the  floor of both branches of Congress.  

I ask the American people to urge our legislators to act on these bills. The Vietnam veterans who are sick from Agent  Orange dioxin exposure need these bills passed into law by our present legislators before the new legislators take office.  

With a new legislative assembly, we advocates for Vietnam veterans will have to start over again.  

This means longer delay for veterans VA approval. Thousands  of Vietnam veterans won’t be approved by the VA because they did not have  boots on ground, even though they were awarded the Vietnam Service Medal.  

Many sailors, airmen and fleet Marines who served during that war are sick  from exposure to the deadly herbicide.  With the passage of the aforementioned bills, these members of the Armed Forces will receive equality  for VA benefits.  

— John J. Bury

U.S. Navy, retired, Vietnam veteran