WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed bipartisan legislation that would provide health care and benefits to millions of veterans exposed to toxic substances while deployed overseas, after many Republicans switched their votes and decided to once again back the legislation.
The shift came after days of protest and vigils outside the U.S. Capitol, in heat and rain, by veterans outraged at the delay in passage of the $280 billion measure due to objections from Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey. Veterans advocacy groups were intensely critical as well.
The 86-11 vote on The PACT Act, named for the late Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson of the Ohio National Guard, sends the bill to President Joe Biden for his signature. The 11 votes against the bill all came from Republicans, including Mike Crapo of Idaho, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Toomey.
Biden, who has repeatedly called on Congress to address the lack of protections for veterans and their families, is expected to sign the legislation.
Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, urged senators to support the package ahead of the floor vote, saying the legislation was assembled in a transparent manner without any surprises.
“I’d ask my fellow senators when they come to the floor and vote — think about the veterans that are standing outside the Capitol out here, think about the veterans in your home state, think about the veterans that you met while they were on active duty on your CoDels and remember them, and do the right thing,” Tester said, referring to congressional delegations that travel to war zones.
Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran, the ranking member on the Veterans Affairs Committee, also urged support for the measure, saying it would “provide long overdue health care and benefits to the 3.5 million post 9/11 veterans who were exposed to burn pits” as well as health care for “Vietnam veterans, and those who served in Southeast Asia suffering from the exposure to Agent Orange.”
Moran and Tester had worked together on the legislation for years.
Struggle for health care
Passage of the bill marks the end of a years-long struggle by veterans, their family members and veteran service organizations to get the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide health care and benefits to military members exposed to burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as Agent Orange in Vietnam.
At the moment, veterans have to try to prove to the federal government that their illnesses are linked to their military service in order to qualify, an endeavor that has been especially challenging for many, including those who have died while waiting.
The measure that cleared Congress Tuesday would change that by adding 23 illnesses to the list of toxic-exposure-related conditions presumed to be connected to military service.
The package would direct more resources to VA health care centers, employees and claims processing, as well as federal research on toxic exposure.
And the legislation would expand presumptions for veterans exposed to Agent Orange, a chemical the U.S. military used during the Vietnam War. American Samoa, Cambodia, Guam, Johnston Atoll, Laos and Thailand would all be added to the list of locations where veterans are presumed to have been exposed to the chemical.
Lengthy vote history
The bill sailed through the U.S. Senate when it was originally brought to the floor in June with 84 senators voting to send the package to the U.S. House.
It then hit a big speed bump in that chamber, as Veterans’ Affairs Committee leaders debated behind closed doors how to address a provision that was intended to boost the number of health care providers in rural or very rural areas.
That section of the bill would have allowed the VA to buy certain health care providers out of their contracts if they agreed to work in clinics in those rural areas for at least four years. But because the…
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