{"id":27148,"date":"2018-09-20T16:59:43","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T16:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/09\/20\/former-va-secretaries-spar-over-blue-water-navy-benefits\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:12:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:12:55","slug":"former-va-secretaries-spar-over-blue-water-navy-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/09\/20\/former-va-secretaries-spar-over-blue-water-navy-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Former VA secretaries spar over \u2018blue water\u2019 Navy benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The fight over extending benefits to \u201cblue water\u201d veterans<\/a> who served on ships off the coast of Vietnam is now pitting former Veterans Affairs secretaries against each other, adding to the confusion over Congress\u2019 next steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, four former VA secretaries \u2014 Anthony Principi, Jim Nicholson, James Peake and Bob McDonald \u2014 wrote to the Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee urging lawmakers not to grant presumptive illness status to roughly 90,000 blue water veterans<\/a> who claim exposure to the chemical defoliant Agent Orange<\/a>, saying there is insufficient proof for their cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(This legislation) is based on what we believe to be inconclusive evidence to verify that these crews experience exposure to Agent Orange while their vessels were underway,\u201d the group wrote. \u201cWe urge the committee to defer action \u2026 until such a study is completed and scientific evidence is established to expand presumptions to those at sea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recommendation is in line with arguments laid out by current VA Secretary Robert Wilkie earlier this month. Department officials have argued that granting the presumptive status to veterans could upend the system by establishing new, non-scientific criteria for awarding benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\t