We're glad to see U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg isn't giving up on efforts to help military veterans poisoned by their own government in chemical and biological weapons testing between 1963 and 1973.

Rehberg and co-sponsor Mike Thompson, D-Calif., introduced a bill last week to get medical coverage for the roughly 6,000 service members they estimate were exposed to Sarin nerve gas and other agents in the once-secret testing known as Project 112. The Vietnam Veterans of America thinks the number is much higher.

The latest bill comes after a report by the Government Accountability Office in February that the Defense Department and the Veterans Administration need to improve efforts to identify and notify people who may have been exposed.

The legislation would require that the VA classify veterans' illnesses, including rare cancers, as having been caused by the testing. Veterans exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War have been given that status.

Rehberg and Olson passed similar legislation through the House last year, but the Senate failed to act on the measure.

This time, let's hope the full Congress approves the bill. Some of the affected veterans already have died of their health conditions, but others are only now getting sick.