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Veterans Can't Wait Any Longer for Toxic Exposure Benefits
Final signature count: 5
5 signatures toward our 30,000 goal
Sponsor: The Animal Rescue Site
Congress passed the PACT Act three years ago. Veterans are still being denied benefits the law says they've earned.
In 2022, Congress passed the PACT Act — the largest expansion of veterans' toxic exposure benefits in decades. The law created presumptive service connections for dozens of conditions tied to burn pit smoke, Agent Orange, radiation, and other hazardous substances, meaning veterans with qualifying diagnoses no longer have to prove a direct link between their illness and their military service.1,2,4 It was a hard-won breakthrough. But nearly three years later, a critical piece of implementation remains stuck.
The Rule That Would Make It Real
In October 2024, the Department of Veterans Affairs submitted a finalized adjudication rule — RIN 2900-AR75 — to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review. The rule would formally write the PACT Act's toxic exposure presumptions into binding VA regulations, replacing the current patchwork of guidance and training with codified standards that claims processors must follow.3 As of the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda, OIRA's own records listed the rule as still under review — with no release date.6
Veterans Are Paying the Price for the Delay
Without binding regulatory language, the standards applied to veterans' claims can vary — and the VA's own watchdog has documented what that inconsistency costs. A July 2025 report by the VA Office of Inspector General found that staff incorrectly processed a significant number of denied claims for presumptive PACT Act conditions, turning away veterans whose diagnoses legally qualified them for automatic service connection.7 A separate OIG report from September 2025 found that controls for nonpresumptive toxic exposure claims — cases where veterans must demonstrate the connection themselves — were inadequate, producing further inaccurate decisions.5
These are not isolated errors. They reflect a system still struggling to consistently apply a law that has been on the books for years.
Who Is Still Waiting
The veterans most affected include those who breathed open burn pit smoke in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other conflict zones; those exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam and surrounding regions; and those who served near radiation sites.1,2,4 Many carry diagnoses that are serious and progressive — rare cancers, chronic respiratory conditions, and other illnesses the PACT Act was specifically designed to cover. For them, processing delays are not bureaucratic abstractions. They mean lost compensation and deferred health care.
One Step Can Close the Gap
Finalizing RIN 2900-AR75 would give VA adjudicators a clear, enforceable framework — reducing the processing errors the OIG has repeatedly flagged and giving veterans firmer legal footing when decisions are appealed. OIRA has the authority to complete its review now. This is the administrative step that finishes what Congress already enacted into law.
Veterans who breathed toxic air, who carried illness home from service, who have waited years for the system to catch up — they cannot wait any longer for the paperwork to match the promise.
Sign the petition now to urge OIRA to release RIN 2900-AR75 and deliver the benefits these veterans have already earned.
