Today, the country takes a long-overdue step to recognize the sacrifices of these Persian Gulf veterans. We are taking an unprecedented approach to assisting these veterans by providing compensation for conditions that have defied conventional diagnoses. We encourage any Persian Gulf veteran who is sick to file a claim, and we will automatically reopen previously denied claims as a result of this new law.
I felt that we could not wait on science. For some Persian Gulf veterans like Michael Sills, medical science does not have answers today, but we must not and will not give up.
Michael Sills and veterans like him who served their country honorably have earned our gratitude. And when they are sick, we must do what is right.
NOTE: This statement was included in a White House statement announcing that the President met with Michael I. Sills, one of the first recipients of a compensation check awarded to Persian Gulf conflict veterans with chronic disabilities resulting from undiagnosed illnesses.
William J. Clinton, Statement on Compensation for Persian Gulf Conflict Veterans Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/220887