Burn pits legislation passes in Senate: ‘most significant expansion of veteran health care benefits in a generation’
Military veterans exposed to toxic burn pits while serving abroad are set to receive more health benefits, under a bill the Senate passed Tuesday night after Republicans dropped their opposition.
With angry vets and celebrity supporter Jon Stewart watching, the legislation, dubbed the PACT Act, passed 86-11.
“This is the most significant expansion of veteran health care benefits in generations,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the Daily News, noting the Department of Veterans Affairs previously turned away vets seeking help after inhaling toxins from burn pits.
“New Yorkers know how important this is because it’s like 9/11 — people were exposed to toxins, and the government resisted helping them,” said Schumer. “In both cases, the people were patriots.”
Last week, 25 Republicans voted against the bill, which lets veterans with illnesses caused by burn pits get disability payments without having to prove their ailments came from their service.
The vote on the bill, which would also expand the window of eligibility to get care from the Department of Veteran Affairs, came after years of efforts to help those harmed by burn pits burnt from Afghanistan to Vietnam.
The legislation is projected to cost about $280 billion over the next decade.
Republicans previously said they blocked the bill because they opposed designating the money as mandatory, instead of discretionary spending. A majority of them voted for the PACT Act just last month, but in recent days, Democrats unveiled a major energy and tax plan that drew their wrath.
“To make our veterans pay the price because Democrats were prevailing on unrelated issues was petty,” said Schumer.
Veterans, military family members and advocates call for Senate Republicans to change their votes on a bill designed to help millions of veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Aug. 1, 2021. (J. Scott Applewhite/)
The GOP came round Tuesday after getting the chance to vote on amendments like one from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), which would have reduced aid to foreign countries to help pay for the bill. The Republican tweaks, which needed 60 votes to pass, all failed.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) sought to downplay the controversy, saying “these kinds of back and forth happen all the time.”
Veterans groups and Stewart called Republicans hypocrites for giving lip service to vets while refusing to vote for their health care.
“It will no longer be on the veteran to be their own lawyer, doctor, advocate, therapist, financier while they’re suffering from illnesses … that were born of their service,” Stewart told The News. “The [Department of Veterans Affairs] will be operating as its credo … and the Congress will have been doing what it was designed for.”
The bill, which already passed in the House of Representatives, now heads to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law.
With News Wire Services
