and this goes back to the 1st benefits were related to the agent orange act of 1901 and i think at the time people on both sides of the aisle were just unsure using chemical warfare it was a new new thing that they just weren't used to dealing with so they wanted to commission these studies and then the fight over the distinction between veterans on land and veterans who served in the navy actually boils down to a comma if you can believe that that's bureaucracy at its finest so the v.a. had 2 different regulations where they talked about who was eligible for benefits under the agent orange act of 1901 and they had interpreted it based on how the v.a. had written their regulation which the v.a. said was that it only applied to veterans with boots on the ground and they issued supplemental agency guidance that said this is how we choose to interpret our regulation and then there was another regulation where advocates have argued that you could interpret it different ways that it applied to both blue water navy veterans and boots on the ground veterans so this was actually litigated seve

. >>> thousands of veterans exposed to cancer-causing chemicals like agent orange during the vietnamar will now be eligible for benefits. >> these are the ribbons we wore on our uniform. >> reporter: jack is a veteran with a tough fight ahead. >> much more aggressive form, much more persistent than average prostate cancer. >> reporter: while serving two tours as a radioman onboard the uss long beach -- >> we were a support ship over there. we also monitored a lot of air traffic. >> reporter: he believes he and his crew were exposed to agent orange, a powerful herbicide used to eliminate forest coverage during the war later proven to cause serious health issues including cancer. >> my ship had 1200 men on it. you need a lot of water every day all the time. and so where do we get our water? we take it from the sea. and distill it. and so in that dist illation process, agent orange, and this is scientific knowledge, is enhanced 10 times. >> reporter: until now, vietnam veterans who served at sea did not have the same access to benefits as those who served on land. >> we get about a case

my lungs, from agent orange in 1970 when these same bunch of clowns told you that agent orange had no effect on people. i've went through heart -- lungs now, and all because you sprayed me with chemical warfare in 1970 and you've been lying it for 30 years. >> all right. we'll hear from ed next. staten island. republican line. for niina farah. >> caller: yeah, i'd like to ask, why hasn't nuclear power been more embraced in addressing climate change, and also with the rise in methane gases, can that be attributed to fracking or natural gas production? >> sure. the nuclear piece is an incredibly controversial issue. i can't speak to that really specifically. the second question about methane, was it? >> yes. yeah. in terms of can you pin some of it on fracking. >> sure. so, yes, you can certainly pin some of the methane emissions on fracking. if you look at methane from the global perspective, actually, agriculture is also a very big contributor from livestock and also from rice production is another big source. >> in the so-called green energy field, what's the -- what's getting close

did not qualify for benefits like those land-based vets and their families who were exposed to agent orangefor these benefits. where is the status on this bluewater -- >> it would be veterans, families. we are now in the business, along with the department of the navy being sherlock holmes and trying to find where these veterans are. if the records are incomplete. the records of those ships are incomplete. i'm not going to approve any program until i know we have the system and we have the resources to get it right. i think veterans deserve that, but i've also told the congress, they passed the legislation and this is going to have an impact on our appeals reform and the reforms that we made in claims processing because you just targeted, you just highlighted a huge new population. >> and that costs money. >> that costs money. if you read newspapers and you hear what's coming out of capitol hill, this is not the va that existed two or three years ago when it was in the headlines every day. the house appropriations committee has approved the largest budget in the history of this department.

i got agent orange and nobody gives a crap. they say they do, but they do not do anything about it.hat are you going to do but the 300 people out in the streets that are veterans -- 300,000 people out in the streets that are veterans? they need to find homes for these people and 50% of them are mentally ill. wake up, america, and realize your own people are having trouble. take care of them first. patty in's hear from connecticut, independent caller. caller: i would like to talk about iran. extension. a 12 year did you ever hear the words death to america, death to israel? let's take a guess what is going to happen after 12 years. they will threaten us again. the man who called from can i get -- connecticut, i would like to differ with him on this. we have been living under a dictatorship of democrats for years. two of the highest taxes ever. we are in debt. people are bailing out of connecticut. i wish he would wake up and vote republican. we are stuck here. we cannot sell our houses because no one wants to come here. wake up in connecticut. in his right.lled we should be giving th

. >>> after bringing a free-agent power hitter in the off-season the giants were going to fall back on their original plan but something has gone into the orange and black, the giants have scored 23 runs in the last two games. tonight in the second inning the giann er the left field wall but he was not done yet for the night in the fifth inning the giants are up by two and long gloria crushes this home run into the upper deck of the western supply company, that's the 19th career multi- home run game as the giants win tonight before. the in the fourth and the bases are loaded and his first game he gets a call monster home run and that is take a 6-3 lead. second inning mark tries to give them a little bit more pressure here. a solo shot to the left, the 136 home run before the all- star break which is a franchise record, they hang on to win this one 8-6. 31st minute of this one, the birthday girl takes the lead. alice morgan scores on the header. she celebrated her 30th birthday with a the 79th minute ellen looks to tie it up again but lisa meyer picks up the save and team usa beats england 2-1 to advance in the final where they will play either

michigan, new jersey's diamond acolyte superfund site is contaminated with dioxin for the making of agent orange. like the site in michigan, we have warnings about dioxin-contaminated foods such as seafood from the passe i can river. and like those in michigan, new jerseyans who preside by the passe i can are defending on the superfund program to clean up the river and limit their exposure to toxic chemicals. these families and millions of americans nationwide are depending on the e.p.a. to protect the water they drink, the air they breathe, the soil they farm and build on. they are depending on their government to put their health ahead of corporate polluters' profits, and today they are depending on us to reject the nomination of peter wright. the e.p.a. has a simple mission -- to protect human health and the environment. the american people deserve an assistant administrator who believes in that mission, not someone who has spent decades fighting it. i urge my colleagues to vote no on mr. wright's nomination, and i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator