Legislative Update: Current Status of DoD Gulf War Illness Research Funding Remains Volatile

 

Written by Anthony Hardie, 91outcomes.com

(91outcomes.com) – Just like last year, monitoring Congressional appropriations actions for the FY11 peer reviewed Gulf War Illness (GWI) research program administered under the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) and efforts to ensure the program’s funding success remain highly challenging.

As of today, it appears that both House and Senate actions suggest final GWI CDMRP funding for FY11 might be at $8 million, the same level as FY10. However, it should be noted that the situation continues to change rapidly. As always there are no guarantees until the entire Congress sends a final bill to the President.

Continued careful monitoring, combined with veterans advocates and organizations at the ready to contact key members of Congress, will be required.

House

On Wednesday, December 8, 2010, the House narrowly passed by a vote of 212-206 a Continuing Resolution (CR) that provides -- with various unrelated exceptions -- continued FY11 appropriations at FY10 levels, through September 30, 2011.

Under the CR, funding for the GWI program administered by the CDMRP reportedly would be retained at the FY10 funding level of $8 million.

Thirty-five House Democrats sided with 171 House Republicans in voting against the CR, while Eight Democrats and eight Republicans did not vote. This deep division suggests that future prospects for a final omnibus appropriations bill after Senate and conference action may also be challenging.

Senate

The Senate appropriations committee’s FY11 Defense appropriations act report language, which provides detailed funding by line item, directs $8 million for the Peer Reviewed Gulf War Illness Research Program.

The funding was requested in a letter by Senators Sanders, Bond, Feingold, Kerry, Tester, Schumer, Leahy, Durbin, Burris, Brown, Boxer, Snowe, and Kohl.

The Senate bill passed out of committee on September 16, 2010 by an 18-12 vote. Like all the other FY11 appropriations bills, the defense appropriations bill was not considered by the full Senate. However, it may very well remain a guide for future Senate action as discussed below.

Under the report accompanying the Senate bill, total appropriations for the military medical research programs currently operated by the CDMRP would be $358 million. In addition to the GWI appropriation, $150 million would be designated for peer reviewed research on breast cancer, $10 million for ovarian cancer, $80 million for prostate cancer, $60 million for psychological health and traumatic brain injury (TBI), and $50 million for the multifaceted peer reviewed medical research program (PRMRP).

FUTURE PROSPECTS

It is currently expected that the Senate will combine the House’s CR into a Senate omnibus appropriations bill. Any action must be completed by the end of the current Congress on January 3, 2011.

Additionally, the FY11 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) remains an unknown variable in the legislative equation. It remains unclear whether or not the NDAA will pass before the current Congress ends and what impact, if any, an enacted NDAA might have on the CDMRP’s GWI research program.

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Looking Back at Last Year: Who to Call

Last year, retaining funding for the Gulf War Illness research program was, as usual, extremely challenging for the handful of veterans advocates and organizations involved.

Initially, the Senate version of the FY10 Defense Appropriations Act lumped Gulf War Illness under the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP), a catch-all that included more than two dozen conditions including GWI and funded at just $50 million. While the PRMRP restricts research to the listed conditions, there is no guarantee that research will be funded for any particular condition from among those listed.

Initially, the House failed to include funding for the GWI program at all.

However, as the bill went back and forth between the House and Senate, advocacy efforts resulted in amendments to the final bills in both chambers and final FY10 GWI funding at $8 million.

A last minute save on October 1, 2009 by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and four of his colleagues amended (SA 2559) the Senate’s bill to include an amendment that would have appropriated $12 million for the GWI program. Those Senators included Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Oh.).

And, a December 11, 2009 letter by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.) and 25 other Members of Congress called for the conference committee to fund the CDMRP’s GWI research program at the Senate’s $12 million level.

Ultimately, the conference committee set final funding for the FY10 GWI program at the original, lower House level of $8 million. Both the House and Senate agreed and the final Defense funding bill was enacted by the President.

GWI research supporters Sanders, Durbin, and Brown remain in the Senate.

However, Byrd died on June 28, 2010 and is being succeeded by former West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Feingold was defeated in the November 2010 election and is being succeeded by Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a Tea Party favorite.

GWI research funding supporters who signed onto the December 2010 Kucinich letter included the following. Of the 21 who remain in Congress, only four are Republicans, who will hold the majority in the House beginning January 3, 2011.  

• Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.)
• Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.)
• Rep. John Boccieri
• Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.)
• Rep. Henry Brown, Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee Ranking Member
• Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.)
• Rep. Steve Buyer, House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member
• Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.)
• Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chair
• Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-Tex.)
• Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.)
• Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.)
• Rep. John Hall
• Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.)
• Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.)
• Rep. Steve LaTourette (D-Oh.)
• Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.)
• Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.)
• Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine), Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee Chair
• Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.)
• Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.)
• Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.)
• Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.)
• Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-Oh.)
• Rep. Timothy Walz (D-Minn.)
• Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska)

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FY11 PRMPR

PRMPR research areas in the Senate bill would include the 32 conditions listed below. Four that are particularly relevant to Gulf War veterans are highlighted. The House CR would retain the list the same as in FY10. It should be noted that the final outcome remains indeterminate.

1. amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS),
2. autism,
3. blood cancer,
4. chronic fatigue syndrome,
5. chronic migraine and post-traumatic headache,
6. dental research,
7. drug abuse,
8. epidermolysis bullosa,
9. epilepsy,
10. fragile x syndrome,
11. inflammatory bowel disease,
12. interstitial cystitis,
13. kidney cancer,
14. lupus,
15. melanoma,
16. mesothelioma,
17. multiple sclerosis (MS),
18. neuroblastoma,
19. neurofibromatosis,
20. osteoporosis and related bone disease,
21. Paget's disease,
22. pancreatitis,
23. Parkinson's,
24. pediatric cancer,
25. pheochromocytoma,
26. polycystic kidney disease,
27. post-traumatic osteoarthritis,
28. scleroderma,
29. social work research,
30. tinnitus,
31. tuberous sclerosis complex, and
32. vision research.

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SOURCES:

§ FY11 House Continuing Resolution (CR) for combined FY11 appropriations: H.R. 3082 [Would fund GWIRP at $8 million]

§ Senate FY11 Defense Appropriations Act, S. 3800 [Would fund GWIRP at $8 million]

§ Senate FY11 Defense Appropriations Act Committee Report, S. Rpt 111-295 [Would fund GWIRP at $8 million]

§ FY10 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), PL 111-84 [Authorized GWIRP at $12 million]

§ FY10 Defense Appropriations Act Explanatory Statement (essentially the conference report), p. 367 [Funded GWIRP at $8 million]

Kucinich Secures $8 Million For Gulf War Veterans Illness Research

Money Will Expand On Studies For Treatment, Bringing Us Closer To Identifying A Cure

Written by Nathan White, Office of Congressman Dennis Kucinich

(WASHINGTON - July 31, 2009) - Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) secured a major victory for veterans of the first Gulf War by garnering $8 million for Gulf War Illness (GWI) research in the Fiscal Year 2010 Appropriations bill that passed the House yesterday.

“This research will build on previous studies on Gulf War Illness.” Kucinich said. “This funding will take giant steps forward in identifying a treatment or a cure for Gulf War Veteran’s illness.”

In its landmark 454-page report delivered in November, the Congressionally-mandated Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses at the Department of Veterans Affairs (RAC) reported that “Gulf War illness is real, that it is the result of neurotoxin exposures during Gulf War deployment and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time.”

For the first time, the report identified several suspected causes and two known causes: exposure to pesticides and a drug given to troops to protect them from nerve gas.

“There are currently no effective treatments for these conditions. With research, we learn the true causes of GWI and the possibilities open up. We must continue to attack GWI and fund the research with an amount commensurate with the scope of the problem,” said Kucinich.

Kucinich’s request for funding received bipartisan support from U.S. Representatives Henry Brown (R-S.C.), Rush Holt (D-N.J.), Bob Filner (D-Calif.), Michael Michaud (D-Maine), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Corinne Brown (D-Fla.), John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Chet Edwards (D-Tex.), Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), John Hall (D-N.Y.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Jim McDermott, Dennis Moore (D-Kan.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Mike Ross (D-Ark.), Joe Sestak (D-Penn.), Pete Stark (D-Calif.), and John Yarmuth (D-Ken.).

KCTV5 Investigates Gulf War DU Exposures

Written by Anthony Hardie, 91outcomes

(91outcomes.blogspot.com) -- Kansas City's TV5 provided extensive investigative news today about Depleted Uranium (DU) in the 1991 Gulf War.

Among those interviewed was Gulf War veteran Jerry Wheat, a Gulf War veteran who is a survivor of a Gulf War friendly fire incident during which his tank was inadvertently attacked by another U.S. tank, which fired a DU round through Wheat's tank. While he made it out to tell about his terrifying experiences, he also lives day-to-day with the frightening consequences of DU shrapnel throughout his body.

Several years ago already, Wheat underwent surgery for bone cancer in one of his arms, which he and others believe is directly related to his DU shrapnel that he carries with him.

Also interviewed was Dan Fahey, one of the world's leading experts on DU who is - not coincidentally - a Gulf War veteran himself. Fahey's military experiences in the Gulf War aboard a nuclear weapon-carrying U.S. Navy vessel led him to a lifelong interest in exposing the truth about the serious health hazards of DU.

While Jim Bunker, a totally and permanently disabled Gulf War veteran from the Kansas City area and current President of the National Gulf War Resource Center, believes that federal officials "don't understand the long-term effects of DU," Fahey disagrees.

Fahey continues to be a vocal, internationally recognized critic of U.S. Defense policy related to DU. His years of research led him to conclude that an unofficial "Don't Ask, Don't Find" philosophy has guided and continues to guide the Pentagon's health research on DU up to the present day.

Even though it has been more than 18 years since the 1991 Gulf War, published medical research on the health effects of inhaled or ingested DU is scarce. Approximately 600,000 pounds of contaminated DU particulate matter, much of it little more than dust, was left to contaminate the Kuwaiti and Iraqi areas where it was used.

The KCTV5 article quotes Dr. Diane Stearns, a metal toxicologist at Northern Arizona University who reportedly has been studying the effects of DU on DNA for seven years:

"We understand how [DU's] radioactivity can damage DNA and lead to cancer, but no one had ever explored uranium as a chemical," said Stearns. "If we know how [DU] damages DNA, then we know how to protect ourselves and protect the soldiers against harm."
"...Something like depleted uranium, that may cause cancer, that's something that's going to happen decades down the road."

Officially, DOD has had DU safety training for military servicemembers in place since 1999, after significant public pressure by organized Gulf War veterans, the National Gulf War Resource Center, and veterans' allies in Congress, led by U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), and including then-Ranking Member of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Lane Evans (D-Ill.), and senior Committee member Bob Filner (D-Calif.).

In September 1998, Feingold expressed his concerns in a highly publicized letter to the GAO, and requested that the GAO investigate the lack of DU safety training for U.S. military personnel nearly eight years after the Gulf War.

Those efforts at least appeared to pay off, with the Pentagon announcing in an official DOD August 13, 1999 press release the implementation of a "DoD-wide training initiative to ensure service members know the pros and cons" of DU .

The following March, the GAO released its report, entitled, "Understanding of Health Effects of Depleted Uranium Evolving but Safety Training Needed," which stated, in part:
testing methodology and the test's ability to truly determine either DU exposure or the current level of DU retained in the body. [VA's DU TEST INFO]

Feingold continues to serve in the U.S. Senate, and is now a senior member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Bob Filner is today the current Chair of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Lane Evans, a veteran of the Vietnam War, retired from Congress several years ago due to advanced Parkinson's disease, though the members of his staff involved on the DU project continue to serve as senior Congressional committee staff.

[FULL KCTV ARTICLE]

"We are recommending that the Secretary of Defense ensure, by appropriate monitoring and periodic review of training records, that all
servicemembers, including those deployed to Kosovo, receive required
depleted uranium safety training"

However, to date, it is unclear if military troops are getting this recommended safety training at all, let alone on an annual or other periodic basis as is required for issues the military branches consider serious.

Meanwhile, Fahey and other experts remain critical of the ability of the VA's current 24-hour urine capture