Sen. Marsha Blackburn is calling on her Senate GOP colleagues to support Democratic legislation that will be introduced Thursday to help sick Afghanistan war veterans who were exposed to toxic chemicals at a secret air base in Uzbekistan between 2001 and 2005.
“We’re right on track with trying to get protection to the service members who were stationed at K2 and were exposed to a number of the chemical and radiological hazards,” the Tennessee Republican told the Washington Examiner Wednesday.
Connecticut Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal is expected to introduce legislation Thursday that would grant veterans who served at the contaminated former Soviet base at Karshi-Khanabad a presumption of service connection for toxic exposure, a necessary step to getting medical care from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“There really has been a lack of recognition around what they were exposed to,” Blackburn explained, describing depleted uranium, the remnants of chemical weapons, and jet fuels contaminating the water. “There were no true dedicated resources that were available to those veterans.”
‘OUR AGENT ORANGE’: VETERANS WHO SERVED AT TOXIC UZBEKISTAN BASE WANT HELP FROM CONGRESS
Service members from Fort Campbell, Tennessee’s 5th Special Forces Group and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Unit, were among the estimated 15,000 troops initially sent to the post-9/11 military operation who passed through the snowy base north of Afghanistan.
“K2 was a site that had several open-air burn pits and had some day-use stores and other hazardous substances,” Blackburn said. “They made their way into the soil and the water where service members were living and sleeping and showering and consuming meals.”
Last year, the Senate approved legislation to both conduct epidemiological studies of K2 veterans and make them eligible for the DOD’s burn pit registry.
But a stand-alone House bill by Tennessee Republican Rep. Mark Green and Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Stephen Lynch calling for presumption of exposure for all K2 veterans failed to reach a vote. Parts of the bill were included in the National Defense Authorization Act, but budget hawks yanked the presumption clause, fearing the cost to the VA.
But Blackburn said the costs are much higher if veterans are not taken care of.
“There is going to be a greater cost if there are healthcare issues that are left unaddressed,” she said, noting that K2 legislation will pave the way for other post-9/11 veterans still struggling for medical care related to service.
Now, she is calling for support for similar legislation that will be introduced in the Senate on Thursday.
The bill is co-sponsored by Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and Bob Menendez of New Jersey. A Blackburn staffer said the Republican senator was not given the opportunity to co-sponsor the bill.
“Despite Sen. Blackburn’s proven history of bipartisanship on this issue, she was not asked to be a co-sponsor of this bill prior to introduction,” the staffer said.
‘We’re out of time’
Former President Donald Trump, in his second to last executive order on Jan. 19, called on the secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to consider K2 veterans as having been in a theater of combat. The order also called for a “rigorous study investigating toxic exposure” to be submitted to the president and secretary of Veterans Affairs within a year.
“This was the moonshot,” K2 veteran Mark Jackson told the Washington Examiner Wednesday, describing a fervent push to get Congress, the White House, the Department of Defense, and Veterans Affairs to act fast for ailing veterans.
“We’re out of time,” explained Jackson, director of advocacy and government affairs for the Stronghold Freedom Foundation, which represents K2 veterans. “People are dying. We’re losing approximately one K2 veteran a month that we’re aware of.”
Jackson said the last-minute work to get the executive order to Trump’s desk was facilitated by then-acting Defense Secretary and K2 veteran Chris Miller, who prioritized the issue in the brief two months he served at the Pentagon.
“Mr. Miller had a handful of priorities. K2 was one,” Jackson said. “He’s very interested in seeing this legislation passed.”
Blackburn said that DOD and the VA are on board, but she could not speak for the White House.
“This is something that Secretary Austin, Secretary McDonough, and I have discussed, and it is something that we are continuing to push forward with,” she said. “I have not spoken to the president.”
The White House referred inquiries about the president’s position on K2, the Trump executive order, and the coming legislation to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Department of Veterans Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, whether and how quickly the legislation passes is a matter of life and death for some veterans suffering from rare cancers and illnesses, including thyroid and gastrointestinal problems and frequent migraines.
Blackburn said she has not spoken to her Democratic colleagues about the bill but saw no reason to oppose it.
“It is very close to what we had last year, and, of course, it is something that has bipartisan support and recognition,” she said.
Jackson said that broad, bipartisan support extends to the House, where the bill has 50 co-sponsors including such odd bedfellows as Minnesota liberal Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar and Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz.
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Blackburn, for her part, said she would work with her Democratic colleagues to pass the legislation.
“Oh my goodness, absolutely, as I have worked with them in the past to highlight this issue,” she said. “I see no reason why it should not pass. We should do everything we possibly can to address the healthcare needs of these service members and these veterans.”
