S. 2220 — Fighting for the Overlooked Recognition of Groups Operating in Toxic Test Environments in Nevada (FORGOTTEN) Veterans Act of 2025

This section expands the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER) to document all toxic exposures of Armed Forces members—including those within the United States—and related medical information, making such data available to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs upon members' transition to civilian life. The expansion covers (1) all-hazard occupational data and environmental hazards (known or later identified, including via area monitoring); and (2) medical encounter details relating to toxic exposures (such as diagnosis, treatment, and laboratory data) and related medical concerns. This section further requires the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to make the ILER available to Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs health care providers, epidemiologists, researchers, and disability evaluation specialists for process improvements; and directs the Secretary of Defense to document potential toxic exposure locations in members' service records (protecting classified locations via a checked box).

This section establishes a presumption of exposure to toxic substances for members of the Armed Forces and civilian employees of the Department of Defense who are or have been stationed or employed at a covered Department of Energy facility. Covered facilities are those on the most recent Department of Energy Federal Register list under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA), which provides compensation to DOE contractor and subcontractor employees for occupational illnesses resulting from exposures such as radiation, beryllium, or silica.

This section requires the Secretary of Defense to classify the Nevada Test and Training Range as a location where contamination occurred. It further directs the Secretary of the Air Force to (1) establish a process to identify members and former members of the Armed Forces stationed at the range since January 27, 1951; (2) create a process permitting such members to submit documentation or evidence of their assignment; and (3) make all efforts to identify such individuals without requiring them to submit evidence.

This section expands the list of radiation-risk activities under VA law (38 U.S.C. § 1112(c)(3))—for which the Department of Veterans Affairs presumes service connection for specified radiogenic diseases—to include onsite participation on or after January 27, 1951, in the development, construction, operation, or maintenance of a military installation at a covered location at the Nevada Test and Training Range. It defines covered location as a location at the Nevada Test and Training Range, Nevada, where there was potential for toxic exposure.

This section establishes a presumption of toxic exposure for veterans who, on or after January 27, 1951, performed active military, naval, air, or space service while assigned to a duty station in, including airspace above, a covered location at the Nevada Test and Training Range, Nevada. (Such presumptions allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to grant service connection for certain disabilities without requiring veterans to prove causation.) It defines covered location at the Nevada Test and Training Range as a location there where there was potential toxic exposure.

This section establishes a presumption of service connection for lipomas and tumor-related conditions, but only for covered veterans described in section 1119(c)(1)(A). (Thus, the Department of Veterans Affairs must treat these conditions as service-connected for such veterans without requiring proof that the conditions resulted from military service.)