I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6096 
To provide for the reconsideration of claims for disability compensation for 
veterans who were the subjects of experiments by the Department of 
Defense during World War II that were conducted to assess the effects 
of mustard gas or lewisite on people, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 21, 2016 
Mrs. WALORSKI (for herself, Miss RICE of New York, and Mr. COSTELLO of 
Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on 
Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for the reconsideration of claims for disability 
compensation for veterans who were the subjects of ex-
periments by the Department of Defense during World 
War II that were conducted to assess the effects of 
mustard gas or lewisite on people, and for other pur-
poses. 
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 ‘‘Arla Harrell Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. RECONSIDERATION OF CLAIMS FOR DISABILITY 
COMPENSATION FOR VETERANS WHO WERE 
THE SUBJECTS OF MUSTARD GAS OR LEW-
ISITE EXPERIMENTS DURING WORLD WAR II. 
(a) RECONSIDERATION OF CLAIMS FOR DISABILITY 
COMPENSATION
IN CONNECTION WITH EXPOSURE
TO 
MUSTARD GAS OR LEWISITE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs, in consultation with the Secretary of De-
fense, shall reconsider all claims for compensation 
described in paragraph (2) and make a new deter-
mination regarding each such claim. 
(2) CLAIMS FOR COMPENSATION DESCRIBED.— 
Claims for compensation described in this paragraph 
are claims for compensation under chapter 11 of 
title 38, United States Code, that the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs determines are in connection with 
exposure to mustard gas or lewisite during active 
military, naval, or air service during World War II 
and that were denied before the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
(3) PRESUMPTION OF EXPOSURE.—In carrying 
out paragraph (1), if the Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs or the Secretary of Defense makes a deter-
mination regarding whether a veteran experienced 
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full-body exposure to mustard gas or lewisite, such 
Secretary— 
(A) shall presume that the veteran experi-
enced full-body exposure to mustard gas or lew-
isite, as the case may be, unless proven other-
wise; and 
(B) may not use information contained in 
the DoD and VA Chemical Biological Warfare 
Database or any list of known testing sites for 
mustard gas or lewisite maintained by the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs or the Depart-
ment of Defense as the sole reason for deter-
mining that the veteran did not experience full- 
body exposure to mustard gas or lewisite. 
(4) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, and not less fre-
quently than once every 90 days thereafter, the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the appro-
priate committees of Congress a report specifying 
any claims reconsidered under paragraph (1) that 
were denied during the 90-day period preceding the 
submittal of the report, including the rationale for 
each such denial. 
(b) DEVELOPMENT OF POLICY.—Not later than one 
year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
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retary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Defense 
shall jointly establish a policy for processing future claims 
for compensation under chapter 11 of title 38, United 
States Code, that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs deter-
mines are in connection with exposure to mustard gas or 
lewisite during active military, naval, or air service during 
World War II. 
(c) INVESTIGATION AND REPORT BY SECRETARY OF 
DEFENSE.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall— 
(1) for purposes of determining whether a site 
should be added to the list of the Department of De-
fense of sites where mustard gas or lewisite testing 
occurred, investigate and assess sites where— 
(A) the Army Corps of Engineers has un-
covered evidence of mustard gas or lewisite test-
ing; or 
(B) more than two veterans have sub-
mitted claims for compensation under chapter 
11 of title 38, United States Code, in connec-
tion with exposure to mustard gas or lewisite at 
such site and such claims were denied; and 
(2) submit to the appropriate committees of 
Congress a report on experiments conducted by the 
Department of Defense during World War II to as-
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