I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 299 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify presumptions relating 
to the exposure of certain veterans who served in the vicinity of the 
Republic of Vietnam, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 8, 2019 
Mr. TAKANO (for himself, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Penn-
sylvania, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. NEAL, Mr. PETERS, Mrs. DAVIS of Cali-
fornia, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, 
Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. NORTON, Ms. GABBARD, Ms. BROWNLEY of 
California, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. 
ENGEL, Ms. MENG, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. LANGEVIN, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. 
CONNOLLY, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. TONKO, Mr. BROWN of Mary-
land, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. MASSIE, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. MI-
CHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. BEYER, 
Mr. KATKO, Mrs. MURPHY, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, 
Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. RYAN, Mr. SABLAN, Ms. STEFANIK, 
Mr. SIRES, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Ms. 
PINGREE, Mr. POCAN, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. GARAMENDI, 
Mr. CORREA, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Ms. 
ADAMS, Mr. RUSH, Ms. TITUS, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. CART-
WRIGHT, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. 
AGUILAR, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Mr. COHEN, Mr. KHANNA, 
Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. WELCH, Mr. BOST, 
Mr. SOTO, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. 
BONAMICI, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. LAMB, Mr. BARR, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, 
Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. COOK, and Mr. PALAZZO) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Af-
fairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify presump-
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tions relating to the exposure of certain veterans who 
served in the vicinity of the Republic of Vietnam, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Blue Water Navy Viet-
nam Veterans Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF PRESUMPTIONS OF EXPOSURE 
FOR VETERANS WHO SERVED IN VICINITY OF 
REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 11 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1116 
the following new section: 
‘‘§ 1116A. Presumptions of service connection for vet-
erans who served offshore of the Repub-
lic of Vietnam 
‘‘(a) SERVICE CONNECTION.—For the purposes of 
section 1110 of this title, and subject to section 1113 of 
this title, a disease covered by section 1116 of this title 
becoming manifest as specified in that section in a veteran 
who, during active military, naval, or air service, served 
offshore of the Republic of Vietnam during the period be-
ginning on January 9, 1962, and ending on May 7, 1975, 
shall be considered to have been incurred in or aggravated 
by such service, notwithstanding that there is no record 
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