"To honor our veterans...gratitude and ceremonies are not enough. We must protect the benefits you have earned, address fully the dangers imposed by modern warfare, and preserve what you fought for: the American dream at home and our leadership around the world."

President Bill Clinton,
March 6, 1995

Living up to the commitment of "Putting Veterans First." President Clinton announced today that Vietnam veterans afflicted with prostrate cancer, and acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy are entitled to disability payments based on their exposure to Agent Orange. The Department of Veterans Affairs also will be proposing legislation to authorize an appropriate remedy for children of Vietnam veterans who suffer from spina bifida. It is estimated that in the next 30 years, over 100,000 veterans suffering from prostate cancer may benefit from this decision.

The report of the National Academy of Sciences. The Administration's decisions follow an in-depth VA review of a report issued in March by the NAS on the health effects of exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides.

More funding for research. The VA will also be increasing funding for research to learn more about the possible relationship between herbicide exposure and the development of birth defects, including spina bifida and other health problems, in the children of America's veterans.

President Clinton has fought to protect the benefits that veterans have earned in service to this nation and to address the new challenges created by a changing world:

• Improved and Restructured VA Health Care System: The Clinton Administration implemented significant management restructuring of VA medical system, creating integrated service networks and consolidating duplicative medical and administrative services to ensure that scarce resources are focused on patient care.

• Protecting Veterans Benefits: The Clinton Administration ensured full cost of living adjustment on benefits going to disabled veterans and military retirees and fought to fully fund benefit programs.

• Persian Gulf War Veterans' Illness: President Clinton established the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illness aimed at finding the causes of these illnesses and improving the care available to Persian Gulf veterans.

• Commitment to Veterans in Federal Hiring: Despite overall hiring declines across the federal government in the last three years, among new, full-time federal hires, the proportion of veterans increased from 23.6% in 1992 to 33.3% in 1994.

• Training and Assistance: The Clinton Administration helped over 1.5 million veterans into jobs through the Department of Labor's veterans employment service. The veterans' unemployment rate has been cut by almost a third during the first three years of the Administration (7.2% in January 1993 to 4.9% in January 1996).

• Faster Benefits Delivery: The Administration improved processing time and reduced pending caseload for compensation and pension claims at the Veterans Benefits Administration.

• Targeted, Supportive Assistance to Homeless Veterans: President Clinton more than doubled VA funding of homeless programs in three years, to the current level of $76 million.