Senators Richard Burr and Kay Hagan won a battle in the search for answers to the toxic water at Camp Lejeune.
An amendment pushed by both senators cleared committee and made it into the Defense Appropriations Bill.
The amendment would prevent the Navy from disposing of water contamination claims before the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry finishes its modeling study of the water to determine what happened on the base.
The Defense Appropriations Bill still needs full Senate approval.
It's estimated that thousands of marines and their families were exposed to contaminated water on the base from 1957 to 1987.
Claims are pending against the military that the toxic water caused cancer and other diseases that sickened or killed people who were exposed.
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