S1702 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 23, 2021 NAYS—43 In , virtually no family was sands have been battling cancers for Barrasso Graham Risch unscathed. Hundreds of thousands are years. Blackburn Grassley Rounds still missing among the estimated 3 Fortunately, thanks to studies fund- Blunt Hagerty Rubio ed by the Ford Foundation, it was pos- Boozman Hawley million Vietnamese who died. The ma- Sasse sible to identify key ‘‘hotspots’’ with Braun Hoeven Scott (FL) jority were civilians, whose families Burr Hyde-Smith Scott (SC) suffered grievous losses and severe significant contamination, and work- Capito Inhofe Shelby hardships as the fighting raged around ing closely with General and Cornyn Johnson Thune Cotton Kennedy them. Many of their stories remain un- USAID, we cleaned up the contami- Tillis Cramer Lankford told. nated soil and sediment at the former Toomey Crapo Lee Tuberville In the decades since, memories of U.S. airbase in . Seven years Cruz Lummis that time have faded and the world’s and $110 million dollars later, it is once Daines McConnell Wicker Ernst Moran Young attention has turned elsewhere. Yet again a busy commercial airport. In Fischer Paul during the past quarter century since fact, Air Force One landed there in The nomination was confirmed. the normalization of relations with 2017, when President Trump visited (Mr. PETERS assumed the Chair.) Vietnam, there has been a sustained ef- Vietnam. That project would not have The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. fort by both countries to address some been possible without the leadership KING). The Senator from Vermont. of the worst legacies of the war. By and perseverance of General Nguyen Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I ask doing so, we have built a new partner- Chi Vinh, and I will never forget vis- unanimous consent that the motion to ship and set an example for other iting the site with him when we for- reconsider be considered made and laid former enemies. mally launched the project in 2014. upon the table with no intervening ac- It began in the late 1980s with the Since then, we have moved on to tion or debate, and the President be first use of the Leahy War Victims Bien Hoa, on the outskirts of Ho Chi immediately notified of the Senate’s Fund by the U.S. Agency for Inter- Minh City, the site of the largest U.S. action. national Development, USAID, to as- airbase during the war where Agent Or- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there sist people with severe war-related dis- ange was stored and loaded onto air- objection? abilities. That was authorized by Presi- planes. Today it is a shadow of what it Without objection, it is so ordered. dent George H. W. Bush, after he and I once was, and it is contaminated with discussed the need to assist Viet- dioxin that has been leaching into the f namese who had been injured during nearby Dong Nai River for half a cen- LEGISLATIVE SESSION the war. It led to funding by the State tury. --- Department to locate and destroy In 2019, General Vinh and I, along unexploded landmines and bombs, with Deputy Prime Minister Truong MORNING BUSINESS which litter the Vietnamese country- Hoa Binh and U.S. Ambassador Daniel Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I ask side and have maimed and killed tens Kritenbrink, and in the presence of unanimous consent that the Senate of thousands of innocent people, in- eight other U.S. Senators, inaugurated proceed to legislative session and be in cluding children, since the war ended. a joint U.S.-Vietnam project to clean a period of morning business, with Sen- Nearly 15 years ago, those war legacy up Bien Hoa, including a U.S. commit- ators permitted to speak therein for up programs expanded to address the cruel ment to contribute $300 million over 10 to 10 minutes each. legacy of Agent Orange, and it is in years, half from the U.S. Department The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without this that General Vinh and I became of Defense and half from USAID. I had objection, it is so ordered. acquainted. several conversations with Secretary of f Since then, General Vinh has been Defense James Mattis about Bien Hoa, my principal Vietnamese counterpart and the Pentagon’s contribution is the TRIBUTE TO SENIOR LIEUTENANT in working to address the legacy of result of his recognition that we have a GENERAL NGUYEN CHI VINH dioxin contamination at former U.S. responsibility and a national interest Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to military bases and the needs of Viet- in helping Vietnam address war legacy pay tribute to one of Vietnam’s highest namese with severe physical and cog- issues. ranking military officers, Senior Lieu- nitive disabilities resulting from expo- At the same time, USAID launched a tenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh. sure to dioxin. I consider him a friend 5-year, $65 million effort to expand our General Vinh, who has served as and am grateful for the hospitality he health and disability programs, which Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of National has shown me, my wife Marcelle, and are being implemented in eight prov- Defense since 2009, has played an indis- other Senators when we have visited inces that were sprayed with Agent Or- pensable role in the reconciliation be- Vietnam. ange. tween Vietnam and the United States. From 1961 to 1971, the U.S. Air Force Over more than four decades, the After more than four decades of mili- sprayed nearly 19 million gallons of Government of Vietnam has provided tary service, he is finally nearing re- herbicides in Vietnam, of which at essential access and support in locating tirement from the Ministry of National least 11 million gallons were Agent Or- the remains of hundreds of American Defense. ange, in an effort to defoliate trees and MIAs. This year, we are embarking on General Vinh was born in 1957. He shrubs and kill agricultural crops that a 5-year, $15 million program, jointly studied at the Institute of Military were providing cover and food to North funded by the U.S. Department of De- Technology before embarking on his Vietnamese soldiers. Decades later, we fense and USAID, to help the Viet- long and distinguished career in the Vi- learned that the Agent Orange was namese locate and identify some of etnamese People’s Army. His father, contaminated with dioxin, which can their own people missing or killed dur- General Nguyen Chi Thanh, came from cause problems with reproduction, de- ing the war. a humble family and rose to become a velopment, and the immune system. Much has been written, and I suspect decorated military officer and politi- Dioxin can disrupt hormones and lead more will be, about the collaboration cian. Today, one of ’s main thor- to cancer. It is also a persistent pollut- between our two countries in address- oughfares bears his name. ant that can remain in the environ- ing the legacies of the . As someone who lived through the ment for many years. Issues that for years were a cause of Vietnam war era, I remember it a ca- Millions of Vietnamese were exposed, anger and resentment are today exam- tastrophe for both countries. The more and hundreds of thousands suffered se- ples of how two former enemies can than 58,000 American soldiers and other vere physical and cognitive disabil- work together for the betterment of servicemembers who died, whose names ities. My wife Marcelle and I have met the people of both countries. These are etched in the granite Vietnam Vet- three generations of Agent Orange vic- projects opened the door for the United erans Memorial, are only part of the tims, from young children to their par- States and Vietnam to cooperate on a story. We remember their families and ents and grandparents. Hundreds of wide array of other issues, from cli- the many tens of thousands who re- thousands of Americans who served in mate change and wildlife trafficking, turned home with severe disabilities. Vietnam were also exposed, and thou- to public health and regional security.

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