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[Page H641]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
END THE USE OF TOXIC MILITARY BURN PITS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
California (Mr. Ruiz) for 5 minutes.
Mr. RUIZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address one of the most
pressing health threats facing veterans across this Nation: exposure to
burn pits.
Burn pits are literal pits, sometimes 10 acres large, used by the
military to burn trash, medical waste, jet fuel, batteries, even human
waste. As you might imagine, this creates large plumes of toxic black
smoke, which can have terrible health effects for anyone exposed.
Our servicemembers and veterans who were exposed to burn pits are
developing severe, debilitating pulmonary diseases like pulmonary
fibrosis and constricted bronchiolitis, leaving them oxygen dependent.
And young veterans are dying from rare cancers of the brain, pancreas,
blood cells, and other organs.
This means that many of our servicemembers survived the battlefield
but only become delayed casualties of war at home, dying due to lung
and pulmonary illnesses, from cancers, from autoimmune diseases from
their burn pit exposures.
If we don't act now, they will be resigned to the same fate as our
Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange, who waited up to 30 years to
get the help they needed. For many, it was too late.
Our veterans cannot wait. It is my objective to end the use of toxic
military burn pits once and for all and give servicemembers and
veterans the care they need. That is why, today, I urge a vote on two
bills that would go a long way to address this critically important
issue:
H.R. 4574, the Veterans' Right to Breathe Act, which would establish
presumption of service-connected exposure to burn pits for nine
evidence-based pulmonary diseases, including chronic bronchiolitis and
others; and
H.R. 4137, the Jennifer Kepner HOPE Act, which would make veterans
exposed to burn pits eligible for low-cost healthcare through the
Priority Group 6 under the Veterans Health Administration.
{time} 1015
These bills are part of the comprehensive plan to end the use of burn
pits, educate physicians and veterans on their health effects, get
veterans and servicemembers exposed to burn pits the healthcare and
benefits they need, and continue research to fully understand the
health impacts posed by burn pits.
We cannot let burn pit exposure become this generation's Agent
Orange. We must act now for veterans and for their families.
CBP Directive Falls Short
Mr. RUIZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because children and families in
CBP custody continue to be without basic humanitarian standards of
care.
Late last year, Customs and Border Protection put out a directive
outlining its ``enhanced medical support efforts,'' with the objective
of mitigating risks for people in CPB custody along the southwest
border. But their directive for addressing medical needs falls short of
even basic humane treatment to prevent the heartbreaking conditions I
saw when I visited the southern border: people piled on top of each
other in cold, windowless, concrete rooms, crowded with so many bodies
you couldn't even see the floor; open toilets in crowded cells; and
visibly sick children coughing on one another.
The conditions I witnessed were inhumane and inconsistent with our
American values and our moral conscience, and the CBP directive does
nothing to address them.
The directive does not include, for example, pregnant women, the
elderly, or disabled individuals as vulnerable populations who need
priority screening. The CBP medical directive does not address
humanitarian standards for water, sanitation, hygiene, shelter, or food
and nutrition, nor does it even set standards for private, safe, clean,
and reliable toilets with proper waste disposal.
Last year, I wrote the House-passed H.R. 3239, the Humanitarian
Standards for Individuals in CBP Custody Act. This bill sets basic
public health standards for people in CBP's care, such as health
screening priorities, nutrition, food standards, water, sanitation,
hygiene, and reporting requirements. It makes sure individuals have
essentials, such as toothbrushes, diapers, and baby formula.
Because this bipartisan bill was blocked from consideration in the
Senate, these standards of care for children and families are not
currently law, and the recent CBP medical directive falls short. It
fails to outline proper humanitarian standards of care.
This is why the Senate must take up and pass the bipartisan bill, the
Humanitarian Standards for Individuals in CBP Custody Act, to ensure
CBP's treatment of children and families is consistent with our
American values and the principles of basic human dignity and prevent
children from dying under the custody and responsibility of CBP.
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