WASHINGTON, DC - Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) announced that Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has co-sponsored Senator Rosen's Sergeant Dave Crete Fighting for the Overlooked Recognition of Groups Operating in Toxic Test Environments in Nevada (FORGOTTEN) Veterans Act. This bipartisan bill would require the Department of Defense (DOD) to join the Department of Energy (DOE) in classifying Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act covered locations where radiation and toxic exposure occurred - including the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) and twelve sites in Tennessee - as contaminated; identify everyone who served within the NTTR since the date of the first nuclear test on the range in 1951; establish a process for servicemembers and veterans to provide proof of their service within the NTTR and at DOE covered facilities; and require the DOD to share this collected documentation with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as any injuries, exposures, or illnesses related to their service, so that veterans will finally be able to claim and access their VA benefits.

Currently, because DOD does not consider the same sites to be locations where contamination and exposure occurred, as DOE does for their civilian personnel who served in those locations, many veterans are not granted the same service-connected presumption of exposure to receive the care and benefits they would otherwise be owed under the PACT Act. Because their location of service in their personnel records is classified, these veterans are unable to verify where they served to the VA when attempting to file a claim for benefits. This undermines the very intent of the PACT Act and continues to force aging veterans to navigate impossible evidentiary burdens.

The companion legislation in the House of Representatives is also bipartisan and is sponsored by Representatives Susie Lee (D-NV-03) and Mark Amodei (R-NV-02).

"We make a promise to those who volunteer to serve our nation that they'll be taken care of after their service. When the veterans who served at highly-classified locations were exposed to toxins and got sick but were refused the benefits they were owed, that promise was broken," said Senator Rosen. "I'm grateful to Senator Blackburn for joining me in this critically important effort to finally secure benefits for veterans who have been overlooked by their own government for far too long, and I'm hopeful that we're one step closer to getting this legislation across the finish line."

"Service members who supported our nation's nuclear deterrent took on unique risks in defense of our country. They should not be denied the benefits they earned because of bureaucratic failures," said Senator Blackburn. "The Sergeant Dave Crete FORGOTTEN Veterans Act would ensure all veterans who were exposed to toxic radiation can finally claim and access their VA benefits."

Senator Rosen has been leading the push in Congress to ensure veterans who served within the NTTR receive the presumption of exposure, benefits, and care they deserve. Last year, she introduced the first version of the FORGOTTEN Veterans Act, which advanced out of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Senator Rosen recently held press events in Las Vegas, Nevada and in Washington, D.C. to announce the introduction of the new Sergeant Dave Crete FORGOTTEN Veterans Act.

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