{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-colleagues-reintroduce-blue-water-navy-legislation", "Rounds, Colleagues Reintroduce Blue Water Navy Legislation", "2019-05-14", "2019", "2019-05", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON\u2014U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee, joined a number of senators to reintroduce the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act this Congress. The bipartisan legislation would make sure thousands of \u201cBlue Water\u201d Navy veterans can receive the disability and health care benefits they earned after their exposure to the dangerous pesticide Agent Orange while fighting in the Vietnam War.\n\n\u201cOur veterans have made incredible sacrifices to defend our freedom and keep us safe,\u201d said Rounds. \u201cWe owe it to them to take proper care of them after their service is complete, especially when it comes to injuries and health problems that resulted from active duty. Our legislation would extend eligibility for disability compensation and health care to \u2018Blue Water\u2019 Navy veterans who were exposed to dioxin, a chemical linked to significant health problems, during the Vietnam War. This legislation is long overdue and I look forward to working to advance it as a member of the Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee.\u201d\n\nDuring the Vietnam War, the U.S. military sprayed approximately 20 million gallons of Agent Orange in Vietnam to remove jungle foliage. This toxic chemical had devastating health effects on millions serving in Vietnam. In 1991, Congress passed a law requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide presumptive coverage to Vietnam veterans with illnesses that the Institute of Medicine has directly linked to Agent Orange exposure. However, in 2002, the VA decided that it would only cover veterans who could prove that they had orders for \u201cboots on the ground\u201d during the Vietnam War. This exclusion prevents thousands of sailors from receiving benefits even though they had significant Agent Orange exposure from drinking and bathing in contaminated water just offshore.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:25:46Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-colleagues-reintroduce-blue-water-navy-legislation"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.4200300686061382, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}