Las Vegas Sun: Rosen blasts deletions from defense bill leaving test site veterans behind
U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., is slamming House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., over his removal of a provision from Congress’ annual defense bill that would have extended key benefits to veterans previously stationed at the Nevada Test and Training Range.
The Department of Energy automatically presumes that civilians who worked at the Nevada Test and Training Range, which previously housed nuclear weapons testing, were exposed to radiation. However, the Department of Defense does not do the same for veterans who worked there.
And because of the secret nature of the military’s operations at the test site, there’s no public record of people who worked there under the Department of Defense. Those hurdles make it impossible for veterans to prove their ailments are service-related in order to access additional benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Those benefits include free or subsidized VA health treatments for presumptions of toxic exposure from radiation and chemicals, and for tax-free monthly disability payments for service-connected conditions like cancers, lung issues and fatty tumors.
U.S. Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., wanted to insert language into the legislation that would have helped fix both of those issues. Their Fighting for the Overlooked Recognition of Groups Operating in Toxic Test Environments in Nevada (FORGOTTEN) Veterans Act would have established the presumption and required the Air Force to compile a list of everyone who served at the base since 1951. It also would have designated the test site as contaminated.
In the House of Representatives, Reps. Susie Lee, D-Nev., and Mark Amodei, R-Nev., crafted language with a similar purpose but the legislation went nowhere.
Johnson removed much of the FORGOTTEN Veterans Act’s language from the defense bill because, according to Rosen’s office, it had a $115 million price tag over 10 years.
The Senate on Wednesday, in a bipartisan 77-20 vote, passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides about $900 billion and advances the bulk of President Donald Trump’s national security agenda. The House similarly passed the legislation Dec. 10 in a 312-112 vote. All of the members of the Nevada congressional delegation ultimately voted in favor the defense package.
The bill now awaits Trump’s signature.
What was left in the legislation, however, could be a first step in addressing the issue for those who served at the test site: requiring the secretary of defense to submit a report by January 2027 on how the department will identify veterans who served at contaminated locations.
The bill also requires the defense secretary to relay how the department could help armed forces personnel and veterans who worked at those locations prove their service to make a claim for benefits with Veterans Affairs.
“After more than two decades, our law finally recognizes those forgotten veterans who served at NTTR and who have been excluded from the care they earned and need,” Lee said in a statement to the Sun. “I am hopeful that the Department of Defense will quickly establish a process for these veterans to receive their benefits.”
Crete said he was thankful for Rosen’s work but added that he wasn’t getting his hopes up about the required report.
And, he noted, with the life-and-death nature of what’s facing veterans who worked at the test site, January 2027 feels far away. Since 2023, when Crete started collecting information on people who had died since working at the site, at least 150 names have been added to his list.
Lee, like Rosen, said the Nevada delegation would continue to seek ways to get the extra assistance for veterans who worked at the test site.