The Molly R. Loomis Research for Descendants of Toxic Exposed Veterans Act is named after the daughter of a Vietnam-era Navy veteran exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange. Loomis was born with spina bifida, a recognized birth defect associated with a parent’s exposure to Agent Orange. (Molly Loomis)
WASHINGTON — Legislation to expand research on birth defects among children of toxic-exposed veterans passed the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Wednesday, along with two other bills that aim to enhance veterans care and services.
The Molly R. Loomis Research for Descendants of Toxic Exposed Veterans Act would establish a monitoring program to track birth defects among the descendants of veterans exposed to toxins during military service.
The committee also passed bills to ensure that veterans who participated in classified missions can receive their full benefits and strengthen the Department of Veterans Affairs’ response in national emergencies.
The three bills are led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the committee.
Blumenthal will now work with Sen. Jerry Moran, R.-Kan., the committee chairman, to move the bills to the full Senate, according to Blumenthal’s office.
“Almost every member of this committee has had a part, in one way or another, in one or more of these bills,” Blumenthal said at a committee business meeting late Wednesday afternoon.
Moran said Thursday that the committee is now waiting on final costs from the Congressional Budget Office on several bills that cleared the committee’s markup.
“I am committed to continue identifying appropriate offsets in order to move these bills to the Senate floor and work with my colleagues to see them pass in the full Senate,” Moran said.
Speaking on the passage of the Molly R. Loomis Act, Blumenthal said, “The more we know about the impact of toxins on our veterans, whether it’s on bases in this country or on battlefields abroad, the more we appreciate how these invisible wounds of war take their toll.”
The bill’s goal is to advance research and understanding of the intergenerational health effects of exposure to chemicals and other hazardous materials during military service, according to lawmakers and supporters.
The bill is named for the adult daughter of a Vietnam-era Navy veteran exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange while serving aboard the USS Ogden, an amphibious transport dock ship.
Molly Loomis of Bozeman, Mont., was born with spina bifida, a disability diagnosed in the biological children of some Vietnam War veterans. Spina bifida is a condition where the spine and spinal cord do not grow properly during pregnancy.
“This is a tremendously encouraging step toward seeing this bill become a reality,” Loomis said Thursday. “I hope that the [committee’s] unanimous recognition of this issue will encourage veterans, descendants, and their families to keep coming forward and telling their stories about this hidden cost of war.”
The OATH Act also cleared the committee. It would guarantee that qualifying veterans who took part in “secrecy oath programs” can receive benefits retroactive to their discharge date — and not the date that they were released from the secrecy agreements.
The OATH Act is an acronym for Obligations to Aberdeen’s Trusted Heroes. It refers to veterans who developed diseases and chronic illnesses after participating in classified experiments at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland.
From 1948 to 1975, more than 7,000 Army personnel were sworn to secrecy when they participated in tests of chemical warfare agents and hallucinogens at Edgewood Arsenal, located at the Aberdeen Proving Ground.
Their service-connected illnesses and injuries were not recognized by the VA until the secrecy agreements were partially lifted by the Defense Department in 2006, according to court documents.
“I never knew what I was given in those tests,” said Frank Rochelle, a former Army corporal. “When I went to file a VA claim, I was told that the tests I took part in had never happened. The records were sealed.”
A federal court in 2023 ruled that veterans who signed secrecy oaths were entitled to their full benefits. The bill seeks to codify that decision.
The Advancing VA’s Emergency Response to Crises Act also was adopted by the committee.
The legislation aims to enhance the VA’s response to natural disasters, pandemics, and other emergencies.
The bill would help ensure the continuity of VA medical care during emergencies, Blumenthal said.
It also would enable the VA to better prepare to activate its “fourth mission authority,” which is to improve the nation’s response to natural disasters, pandemics and other major emergencies, Blumenthal said.
