The Senate Republicans voted to reject a bill that would have provided benefits for veterans who were exposed to chemical agents and toxic burn pits during their military service.
Only 55 senators voted to advance the billThe Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act (or PACT Act) failed to pass the 60-vote threshold to invoke Cloture. This would have allowed the bill to be swept through the filibuster. Republicans voted against the bill 42 times. Only seven GOP members voted for it to be passed. that advocates saidVeterans would have been saved if this had happened.
Advocates for the bill expressed rage and frustrationThe legislation was blocked by the Republicans, according to Sen. Pat Toomey (R. Pennsylvania), who claimed they opposed it. it contained unrelated spending. Advocates for the bill quickly dismissedThese claims.
“This eleventh-hour act of cowardice will actively harm this country’s veterans and their families,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana), Chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “Republicans chose today to rob generations of toxic-exposed veterans across this country of the health care and benefits they so desperately need — and make no mistake, more veterans will suffer and die as a result.”
Veterans who were exposed toAgent Orange and smoke from the burn pits, which are toxic substances, were commonly used to dispose of waste in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other placesYou are at risk of developing rare cancers and respiratory conditions.
However, veterans have struggled to get coverage to treat these conditions. Laurine Carson, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Deputy Executive director of policy and procedures told the House in a 2020 hearing that, of the 12,582 veterans who filed claims for these conditions, only 2,828 were approved — or about 20 percent. According to the military, 3.5 million veterans in the United States were exposed, and the military denies that it uses burn pit toxins.
The bill would addThere are nearly two dozen conditions that can be met the VA’s list of conditions related to veterans’ time in the military and open the door for veterans to receive care and disability benefits for those illnesses. It would also offer new benefits to veterans who were exposed chemical weapons like Agent Orange. This chemical weapon inflicts severe, full-body effects on the body that the U.S. used in the Vietnam War. A tribunal international later ruled that the used of the To be chemicalA crime against humanity and an illegal act d’agression.
The bill passed the House earlier in the month. A previous version of this bill had passed the Senate in June with an 84-to-14 vote. The bill was passed by the House earlier this month. A previous version of the bill had passed the Senate in June by an 84 to 14 vote. called it the “greatest advance in veterans’ health care in decades.”
Host of The Daily ShowJon Stewart, who lobbied to the bill, expressed disappointment at the bill’s blockage. “Not one of these stab vets in the back Senators should get to leave for the Summer” until they pass the bill, Stewart tweeted. “Not one.”
Commentators speculatedAs a result, Republicans voted against Wednesday night’s bill. knee-jerk reaction to Democrats’ announcementA rare consensus was achieved on the long-vaunted reconciliation bill. It was approved less than an hours before the vote.
“Republicans decide to take dying vets hostage because Democrats want a minimum tax on corporations and energy investments,” said American ProspectTwitter account of executive editor David Dayen “They’ll give you a lot of other reasons, Toomey’s latest is a shift from discretionary to mandatory spending that was already in the bill before. But the real reason is ‘[Sen.] Joe Manchin made us mad.’”
