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1 1 (August 6, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/goveegi0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional *.Research Service VA Begins Adjudicating Claims for New Agent Orange Presumptions Included in NDAA FY2021 August 6, 2021 Background On January 1, 2021, the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA FY2021) became law (P. L. 116-283) after the House and Senate voted to override then-President Donald Trump's veto of the bill on December 28, 2020, and January 1, 2021, respectively. Section 9109 of the NDAA FY2021 amended Section 1116(a)(2) of Title 38 of the U.S. Code by adding bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and Parkinsonism (a term for neurological disorders that cause movement problems similar to that of Parkinson's disease) to the list of presumptive conditions for Vietnam-era veterans exposed to Agent Orange. This brought an end to a multiyear attempt to expand the list of presumptions for this specific group of veterans. As background, during the 116th Congress, H.R. 2200, H.R. 5610, and S. 3444 were introduced. These bills sought to statutorily add the aforementioned conditions as presumptions. In addition, H.Res. 729 and S.Res. 420 would have encouraged then-President Trump to act on creating these presumptions. The legislation and resolutions came following two updated reports from the National Academies of Sciences (NAS) studies and scientific literature reviews of health conditions associated with exposure to Agent Orange. In March 2016, NAS released its Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2014, which changed the classification of certain diseases/conditions among the Categories of Association. The classification of hypothyroidism and bladder cancer changed from inadequate/insufficient evidence of association to limited/suggestive evidence of association, while Parkinsonism remained at a limited/suggestive evidence of association. Then, in November 2018, NAS released its latest report on Agent Orange, which reinforced the previous report's categorizations on bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and Parkinsonism. Following the NAS reports and introduced legislation, Congress held multiple hearings to listen to medical and scientific personnel, veterans, VA officials, and veteran service organizations. In July 2020, Senator Jon Tester proposed S.Amdt. 1972 to the annual National Defense Authorization Act to address Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11718 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Membersand Committeesof Congress

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