In a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs (SVAC), newly-confirmed Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert Wilkie has renewed VA's assertion that there is no basis for the presumption of Agent Orange exposure for Blue Water Navy veterans. The VA remains opposed to a current bill that will extend disability benefits covering medical conditions associated with Agent Orange to veterans who served off the coast of Vietnam, despite overwhelming support from Congress and veterans service organizations. Only those who served on land and in Vietnam's inland waterways are presently eligible to receive these benefits. H.R. 299 passed unanimously out of the House with a vote of 382-0.