releases: https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/mccaskill-introduces-bill-to-rename-macon-post-office-in-honor-of-missouri-veteran-arla-harrell
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/mccaskill-introduces-bill-to-rename-macon-post-office-in-honor-of-missouri-veteran-arla-harrell | McCaskill Introduces Bill to Rename Macon Post Office in Honor of Missouri Veteran Arla Harrell | 2018-09-17 | 2018 | 2018-09 | Democrat | House | MO | Claire McCaskill | M001170 | www.mccaskill.senate.gov | legacy | McCaskill Introduces Bill to Rename Macon Post Office in Honor of Missouri Veteran Arla Harrell Since passage of Senator's Arla Harrell Act, nearly $2 million in benefits have been awarded to WWII servicemembers intentionally exposed to mustard gas Monday, September 17, 2018 WASHINGTON U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, the daughter of a World War II veteran, today announced a new bill that would honor Arla Harrella Missouri World War II veteran intentionally exposed to mustard gasby naming a Missouri post office for him. This proposal comes on the heels of new data from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that shows that the agency has granted nearly $2 million in benefits to World War II veterans intentionally exposed to mustard gas since McCaskill'stwo-year battleon behalf of those servicemembers resulted in President Trump signing McCaskill'sArla Harrell Actinto law last year. I hope this is another way we can remind Missourians for generations to come of the sacrifices Arla made for our country, said McCaskill, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the U.S. Postal Service. I was honored for the chance to tell Arla his government believed him and to get justice for him and his family before he passed, and I'm proud to take this additional step to honor his service. McCaskill's new bill would rename the U.S. Postal Service office located in Macon, Mo. as the Arla W. Harrell Post Office. Mr. Harrell lived in Macon before he passed away earlier this year. Aninvestigative reportby McCaskill demonstrated that the VA was denying roughly 90 percent of mustard gas claims between 2005 and 2015. During World War II, thousands of U.S. servicemen were exposed to mustard agents through secret U.S. military experiments. By the end of the war, 60,000 servicemen had been human subjects in the military's chemical defense research program, with an estimated 4,000 of them receiving high levels of exposure to mustard agents. For decades, these servicemen were under explicit orders not to discuss their toxic exposure with their doctors or even their families. The U.S. military did not fully acknowledge its role in the testing program until the last of the experiments was declassified in 1975. The military did not lift the oath of secrecy until the early 1990s. Following her investigative report, McCaskill battled what shecalleda decades-long record of ineptitude and failure at the VA, enlisted the support ofRepublican and Democratic colleagues, andrallied veterans service organizationsin support of her bill. Shesuccessfully pressured President Trump's first VA SecretaryDavid Shulkin in support of the legislation andmet with President Trump's second VA SecretaryRobert Wilkie during his confirmation process to secure his commitment to swift implementation of theArla Harrell Act. Visitmccaskill.senate.gov/veteransto learn more about McCaskill's fight for military veterans. ### Print Email Tweet | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |