PLEASE ASK YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS TO SUPPORT TESTER/HARDER AMENDMENT IN THE FY2021 NATIONAL DEFENSE

 COMPEL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TO SUPPORT the TESTER/HARDER AMENDMENT

August 24, 2020

The House and Senate Armed Services committee will soon meet to reconcile legislative differences in the House (H.R. 6395) and Senate (S.4049) version of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) recently passed in both chambers.

Vietnam Veterans of America joins Congressman Josh Harder (D-10th-CA) in his push to conferees--the Honorable Adam Smith, Chairman, Armed Services Committee; Mac Thornberry, Ranking member, House Armed Services Committee; Senator James Inhofe, Chairman, Senate Armed Services Committee; and Jack Reed, Ranking Member, Senate Armed Services Committee--to retain the bipartisan Harder/Tester amendment that would add three diseases, bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and Parkinsonism as service-connected conditions.

Each of these diseases has met the scientific threshold of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, to be credibly linked to Agent Orange. What remains is the addition of these conditions to the list of Agent Orange-presumptive diseases.

Our Vietnam veterans should not have to wait any longer for the recognition they deserve and the benefits they are owed. Ensuring this bipartisan and bicameral amendment remains in the final NDAA bill will mean that thousands of veterans will finally get the support they need for putting on the uniform and honorably defending this great nation