VA Secretary says he can’t help K2 veterans without legislation, but veterans counter he can – By Abraham Mahshie (Washington Examiner) / July 16 2020
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie told the Washington Examiner Thursday that legislation is needed before the Department of Veteran Affairs can help those veterans suffering from a range of illnesses related to toxic exposure in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
But the small subset of veterans who spent time at a contaminated Uzbek airbase that served as a northern staging ground for the invasion of Afghanistan has long called on a simple Department of Defense regulation change and the VA to cooperate.
“We don’t want our veterans to go through what Vietnam veterans went through in terms of not knowing,” Wilkie told the Washington Examiner in a Thursday press call hosted by Inside Sources.
“Now, the Congress does have to change legislation,” Wilkie said, describing a statutory change to the percentage a veteran is considered disabled after a service-related injury. “We don’t deny medical services to any veteran who is sick.”
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