On March 21, 2024, House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost introduced the Toxic Exposure Fund (TEF) Improvement Act,
(H.R. 7738). This bill is related to the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.
The purpose for the proposed legislation is to “retool” the TEF, which is dedicated money set aside by Congress within the PACT Act.
The TEF was formally known as the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund and was created by the PACT Act to primarily pay health care and disability benefits to military personnel exposed to toxic substances.
Administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the TEF will provide support for five (5) kinds of activities: Health Care; Processing Disability Claims; Medical Research; Modernizing Information Technology (IT) Program; and Other Services.
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), some future authorizing legislative bills may affect the costs of the five (5) cited activities, both for veterans generally and for veterans with toxic exposures.
As a result, according to the CBO, some of those costs could now be paid in part from the TEF (thereby increasing Mandatory spending) and some could be paid, as they have been previously, from Discretionary appropriations (thereby increasing discretionary authorization levels.)
The TEF was established by Congress to pay for the expanded benefits and care granted by the PACT Act to veterans. It was designated by Congress as Mandatory spending.
This type of funding is totally independent of the yearly congressional appropriations process, whereas Discretionary spending is subject to annual approval from Congress.
In this fiscal year the TEF was allocated $20 billion and, according to the CBO, will probably be allocated $24 billion in the next fiscal year.
Congressional rules require any increase in Mandatory spending to be offset either with spending cuts elsewhere or increased revenue.
According to the sponsors of H.R. 7738, the TEF rules are projected to increase Mandatory federal spending on other veteran bills unrelated to toxic exposure, which would make it harder for Congress to pass legislation that affects veterans.
The CBO has projected that several veterans’ legislative bills unrelated to toxic exposure could increase Mandatory spending because they could potentially be paid for with the TEF.
In summary, H.R. 7738 would narrow the circumstances in which the TEF funding could be used; redesignate funding to Discretionary spending; place caps on the funding through 2033; and require the VA to submit a plan to Congress for funding amounts from 2034 to 2045.
According to the sponsor of the bill, Congressman Bost, “This bill would absolutely not abolish, cut, or undermine the Toxic Exposures Fund. It would finally solve the wonky, inside-the-Beltway problem that has stopped a lot of good, bipartisan legislation from moving through this committee.”
However, Congressman Mark Takano stated, “This legislation could have the effect of taking us back to a situation of deciding which veterans’ programs would get cut, or whether we would have to deny the benefits to some cohort of toxic-exposed veterans.”
A chief concern of Representative Bost’s legislative bill is that the TEF Mandatory spending allocation would be reduced by $17 billion. This is less than the VA budget projections are currently estimating the fund will need in the coming years.
By placing a $3 billion cap on Mandatory spending, it would make it hard to add conditions to the list of illnesses presumed to be caused by military service. For example, the PACT Act designated certain illnesses as presumed to be linked to military service, but it also created a streamlined process to add more ailments to the VA’s presumptive list in the future.
“We are just coming out of years of denial of the effects of toxic exposure to the age of enlightenment,” said VA Chief Financial Officer Jon Rychalski. “We have now the statutory authority in the PACT Act or the statutory process to look at presumptives, and we have to have the resources to do that. The current Toxic Exposures Fund provides these resources. The Toxic Improvement Act does not.”
My Opinion: There are several questions or comments that I have on both the PACT Act and the proposed H.R. 7738. On the PACT Act, why was the cost of processing of disability claims associated with the Mandatory spending of the PACT Act’s TEF? This processing cost should have been borne by normal allocations to the Veterans’ Benefits Administration (VBA).
On H.R. 7738, will the cap placed on Mandatory spending by the bill (of $3 billion) make it extremely harder to certify new presumptives to toxic exposures in the future?
Remember, the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) is still fighting to have the presumptive certified by the VA for the veterans dying from the toxic chemical environment experienced at the Karshi-Khanabad (K2) Air Base in Uzbekistan.
There are many more geographical locations where our troops have been exposed to toxic substances not identified in the PACT Act, such as Panama with Agent Purple from 1966 to 1978 and at the K2 Air Base.
Enacting H.R. 7738 would make it more difficult to obtain justice and disability compensation from the VA for the suffering endured by our troops.
BioSketch: John Plahovinsak is a retired 32-year Army veteran who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the current Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Department of Ohio’s Hospital Chairman. He can be contacted at plahovinsak@msn.com.