I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9977 
To direct the Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
Development, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide assistance for individuals af-
fected by exposure to Agent Orange, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 11, 2024 
Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Mr. POCAN, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. GARCI´A 
of Illinois, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CARSON, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. OMAR, 
and Mr. THOMPSON of California) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to 
the Committees on Foreign Affairs, and Energy and Commerce, for a pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To direct the Administrator of the United States Agency 
for International Development, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services, and the Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs to provide assistance for individuals affected by 
exposure to Agent Orange, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Victims of Agent Or-
ange Relief Act of 2024’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) 
From 
1961 
to 
1971, 
approximately 
19,000,000 gallons of 15 different herbicides were 
sprayed over the southern region of Vietnam by the 
United States military. 
(2) The herbicides included 13,000,000 gallons 
of Agent Orange, 4,500,000 gallons of Agent White, 
1,000,000 gallons of Agent Blue, 420,000 gallons of 
Agent Purple, and relatively smaller quantities of 
the other herbicides. Many of the herbicides, includ-
ing Agents Orange, Purple, Green, Pink, Dinoxol, 
and Trinoxol, contained the toxic contaminant dioxin 
(TCDD). Agent Blue contained high levels of ar-
senic. The 15 herbicides, including the contaminant 
dioxin, are usually collectively referred to as Agent 
Orange. 
(3) Between 1968 and 1971, a total of 6,500 
spraying missions were carried out in an area of 
about 1,500,000 hectares, which represented about 
12 percent of South Vietnam and portions of Laos 
and Cambodia. 
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(4) Studies have found that between 2,100,000 
and 4,800,000 Vietnamese, Lao, and Cambodian 
people and tens of thousands of Americans were ex-
posed to Agent Orange during the spraying oper-
ations. Many other Vietnamese people were or con-
tinue to be exposed to Agent Orange through con-
tact with the environment and food that was con-
taminated. Many offspring of those who were ex-
posed have birth defects, developmental disabilities, 
and other diseases. 
(5) Today, there are still dozens of herbicide 
hotspots that continue to contaminate the food, soil, 
sediment, livestock, and wildlife with Agent Orange. 
Concentrations of TCDD as high as 1,000 mg/kg 
have been found in soil and sediment samples more 
than 50 years after Agent Orange was sprayed in 
Vietnam. 
(6) Since 2007, the United States has provided 
assistance to Vietnam in remediating Agent Orange 
contamination at the largest of these hotspots, which 
are the airbases that handled the spray missions. 
The contamination at the Da Nang Airport has been 
fully cleaned up, and the United States has com-
mitted funds to contribute to cleaning up the Bien 
Hoa Airbase, which has the most wide-spread herbi-
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cide contamination in Vietnam. There are at least 
two dozen other smaller hotspots scattered through-
out southern and central Vietnam that also must be 
remediated, since they continue to expose local popu-
lations to dioxin and arsenic. 
(7) Agent Orange exposure continues to nega-
tively affect the lives of veterans of the United 
States Armed Forces, Vietnamese people, Viet-
namese Americans, and their children. The lives of 
many victims are cut short, and others live with dis-
ease, disabilities, and pain, which are often un-
treated or unrecognized. 
(8) The Department of Veterans Affairs recog-
nizes 19 illnesses and diseases, including AL amyloi-
dosis, bladder cancer, chronic B- cell leukemia, 
chloracne, diabetes mellitus type 2, high blood pres-
sure 
(hypertension), 
Hodgkin’s 
disease, 
hypothyroidism, ischemic heart disease, monoclonal 
gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), 
multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Par-
kinson’s disease, Parkinsonism, acute and sub-acute 
peripheral neuropathy, porphyria cutanea tarda, 
prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, and soft-tissue 
sarcomas associated with the spraying and use of 
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Agent Orange by the United States Armed Forces 
during the Vietnam era. 
(9) No similar recognition has been given to af-
fected Vietnamese or Vietnamese Americans. 
(10) The Department of Veterans Affairs pro-
vides compensation for many severe birth defects 
among the children of United States women veterans 
who served in Vietnam. The list of birth defects cov-
ered includes achondroplasia, cleft lip, cleft palate, 
congenital 
heart 
disease, 
congenital 
talipes 
equinovarus (clubfoot), esophageal and intestinal 
atresia, Hallerman-Streiff syndrome, hip dysplasia, 
Hirschsprung’s disease (congenital megacolon), hy-
drocephalus due to aqueductal stenosis, hypospadias, 
imperforate anus, neural tube defects, Poland syn-
drome, pyloric stenosis, syndactyly (fused digits), 
tracheoesophageal fistula, undescended testes, and 
Williams syndrome. Affected children of these 
women veterans receive medical care and other bene-
fits. However, the care and compensation provided 
by the Department of Veterans Affairs to the cov-
ered children of United States veterans is insuffi-
cient to meet their needs related to Agent Orange. 
(11) The only birth defect recognized for the 
children of male American veterans is spina bifida 
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