Under the provision, a trained third party would have to be present for exams conducted by obstetrician-gynecologists at military treatment facilities.
After controversial amendment votes, a House committee advanced a bill early Friday morning that would authorize the largest defense budget in history.
Civilians have received benefits for work at the Nevada test site, but Cold War-era regulations still do not allow veterans to prove they were there, too.
Lawmakers questioned the timing and the reasons, lambasting the order that Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said sent a “terrible message to Russia and our allies.”
