Tester, Takano, Blumenthal Call on VA to Ensure Toxic Exposed K 2 Veterans Receive Earned Benefits

(U.S. Senate) - Continuing their oversight of the implementation of the PACT Act, Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.), House Veterans' Affairs Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano (D-Calif.), and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) are calling on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to use authorities granted to VA by the PACT Act to ensure veterans who served at the Karshi Khanabad (K-2) Air Base in Uzbekistan receive the benefits they have earned.

The members requested VA utilize the framework for establishing presumptive conditions established by the PACT Act to evaluate the impact of radiation exposure on veterans who served at K-2. Since being signed in to law in 2022, VA has used authorities under the PACT Act to expand presumptive service connections for several groups of toxic-exposed veterans.

"Toxic-exposed veterans have waited decades to receive the benefits and recognition the PACT Act provides and we appreciate VA's efforts to implement the largest expansion of VA health care and benefits in decades,"the lawmakers wrote in the letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough. "Particularly important is VA's use of the framework for establishing additional presumptive conditions not included in the PACT Act. Congress included this framework in the law because it acknowledged the PACT Act could not expand VA benefits to every incident or circumstance of military toxic exposure."

In August, the Department announced it would expand access to disability benefits for veterans who served at K-2 after September 11, 2001 by including Gulf War Illness in its list of presumptive conditions for those who served at the base.

The lawmakers continued, "Veterans who served at K-2 are suffering from adverse health conditions at high rates. That is why Congress included Uzbekistan in the list of locations where veterans are presumed to be exposed to hazardous toxic agents. VA has also taken steps…to improve health care and benefits for K-2 veterans. It has come to our attention, however, that these veterans were likely exposed to radiation."

Underscoring the additional need for the Department to use PACT Act authorities to expand coverage to veterans exposed to radiation at K-2, the lawmakers concluded: "These veterans were among the first servicemembers deployed in our nation's War on Terror and went to war with the promise that we would take care of them if they were harmed or injured by their experiences…We respectfully request VA utilize its authority under the PACT Act to ensure those harmed by radiation exposure at K-2 are provided the health care and benefits they have earned."

Read the full text of the letter HERE. <_o3a_p>