 Hi everybody, this is Ashley with DAV. I am joined today by DAV Deputy Legislative Director Shane Meirman. Shane, how are you doing? I'm great this morning, Ashley. How are you? I'm fantastic. Thank you so much for being here and we're gonna jump right in and talk a little bit about what's been going on in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee this week. Yeah, so yesterday, Wheaton was a great day. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee had a marked-up hearing. They addressed essentially 12 different bills impacting veterans legislation and some big pieces in the airport. Agent Orange, toxic exposures, burn pits, and even women veterans, the Debra Sensen Act, was included in that as well. Perfect. Now, the Veterans Burn Pit Exposure Recognition Act, can you talk to me a little bit more about what that legislation does? Oh, absolutely. S-2950. What it will do is remove some of the obstacles veterans may have in trying to establish certain parts of a direct service-connected claim. For example, there are no presumptives right now, so they'd have to establish a direct service connection, which requires a current diagnosis. Two is proof of exposure, and then three is that medical opinion linking it together. What this bill would do is automatically concede a veteran's exposure to burn pits and the toxic chemicals that VA and DOD has already recognized as being part of burn pit exposure. Now, that's the unique part right there, is the concession of exposure, and it gets a little convoluted and people might not necessarily understand how that differs from what exists now, or how that differs from other burn pits legislation. Can you talk a little bit about that and DAV's role in creating that concept? Oh, absolutely. You're right. It is a very unique concept. There is nothing else currently in VA law, or in any of the burn pit or toxic exposure legislation, that includes the idea of a concession of exposure, and what it would do, as we said, is concede that exposure, so nobody has to prove it, for a presumptive service connection and diseases. Just for example, that concession of exposure to those chemicals, or each and orange, or whatever it may be, is automatically figured into that presumptive law. What this bill is doing, the concession of exposure, or S2950, we're taking the idea of concession of exposure out first, because we yet don't have the science for presumptive diseases. So this is our way of trying to make it easier and remove that barrier of proving exposure for veterans, and that's what this would do. Part of the bill also would require VA to provide examinations on claims for burn pit exposure, if there isn't sufficient evidence for the VA to provide them to provide an exam and a metaphor, and that is unlike anything out there currently in any other legislation or in current VA law. So kind of in layman's terms, it's not granting benefits. It's not talking about any specific diseases caused by burn pits. It's really just cutting through red tape, right? Absolutely. It's not a presumptive, right? It's not an automatic ring of benefits, and they don't list any specific diseases. But what it does do is it removes the veteran having to prove that exposure, and more specifically what chemicals they were exposed to, the VA will automatically concede it, and then get an opinion if it's related, which they don't have to do in the current VA regulations or law. This would make them get that medical opinion if there's not enough evidence for them to grant it. So yes, this really does cut through red tape and remove some of those obstacles that may be hard to prove when you're trying to establish a direct source of claim, especially when it comes to exposures, because not every veteran is going to know exactly when or where or what they were exposed to. Right. That makes sense. So talk to me about the next steps. Where do we go from here? Where does that legislation go from this point? Well, the great news is that due to Senator Sullivan and Senator Manchin, they got the bill introduced and through the Senate Governors Affairs Committee yesterday. So now it'll go to the floor of the Senate. So now it's eligible to be voted on by the Senate body, either by the unanimous consent or a roll call vote. So that is the next step in the Senate. So we're very excited. I'm not sure exactly when all of that's going to take place, given that this Congress ends in December and with the elections coming up nationwide in November. I'm not sure how that's all going to work out timing wise, but it's very exciting to know that they can put it on the calendar at any point and approve it in the Senate. It is widely supported. It has a lot of bipartisan support and there are currently nearly 30 senators that co-sponsor the bill. So we're very optimistic on its chances in the Senate. And now we're also going to start working on trying to get the bill introduced in the House as well. Excellent. Great news. Great news. So you can tune in right here for more updates. Shane, you know, is our resident burn pits expert and I'm sure he'll have lots more to fill us in about in the days and weeks and months to come. So stay tuned right here or you can go to DABcan.org, the DAB Commander's Action Network, which has a brand new look to it. So go and check that out. Shane, thanks so much for joining us and everybody have a wonderful, wonderful day. Thanks, Ashley.