The Senate failed to pass a procedural vote Wednesday that would have cleared the way for a vote on legislation to expand benefits for the estimated 3.5 million veterans exposed to toxic burns during America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The bill, known as the Honoring Our PACT Act, passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan support in June, but due to a snag in the bill’s text, it had to go back and pass the House and Senate again. On Wednesday night, 25 Republican senators reversed their support from June and voted against a procedural vote to advance the legislation.
Veterans have come home with a range of illnesses, including terminal cancers, but have been forced to argue with the Department of Veterans Affairs that their illnesses were related to burn exposure. The legislation would remove the burden of proof from veterans and their families by suggesting that a number of conditions may be linked to exposure to toxic fumes from burn pits.
President Joe Biden is a strong supporter of the bill. In the State of the Union address in March, he called on Congress to act on the burn pits, which he said may have been a factor in his son Bo’s terminal brain cancer.
Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) speaks during a press conference on the Keeping Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act on Capitol Hill on July 28, 2022 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
At a news conference Thursday outside the U.S. Capitol originally planned in anticipation of the bill’s passage by the Senate, veterans organizations and sponsors of the legislation condemned the sudden about-face by senators who just last month voted in favor of the bill.
“I’ve never seen anything happen like what happened yesterday, and what complicates it and makes it much more difficult is that basically yesterday we took away the benefits of the people who were affected by the war – who we sent of war,” Democrat Sen. John Tester of Montana said at the press conference.
Other speakers at the press conference, including former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, lambasted Congress.
“This is an embarrassment to the Senate, to the country, to the founders and everything they claim to hold. And if it’s America first, then America be damned,” Stewart said.
Speakers at the news conference advocated for easier access to health care for veterans exposed to toxic fumes from open burn pits, holes in the ground where the military would dump trash and burn it — sometimes using jet fuel as an accelerator — to dispose of it.
The press conference was supposed to be a happy affair, but instead, speakers spoke of their shock at the failure to move forward legislation that seemed like a done deal in June.
US Army veteran Alex Morosky of the Wounded Warrior Project attended the event along with representatives from several other veterans organizations.
“We promise the people who serve in the military that we will support them if they are injured,” Moroski said. “Passage of the PACT Act today would finally keep that promise to veterans with toxic wounds. But instead, that promise is still being broken.”
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania voted against it in June and Wednesday because of how the money is accounted for, even though he supports the intent of the legislation.
Toomey objects to the bill because it includes language that would shift money from discretionary to mandatory spending, freeing up about $400 billion in discretionary spending for everything, including non-veteran-related programs
Twenty-five Republicans who voted yes in June joined Toomey in voting no on Wednesday. With several senators absent from the vote due to COVID and Sen. Patrick Leahy absent while recovering from hip surgery, the Senate was unable to reach 60 votes to overcome the filibuster.
Tester said the Senate Appropriations Committee should be able to address the issues raised by Toomey, but instead Toomey and other Republican senators blocked the procedural vote. On Wednesday, Toomey said he and others were ready to resolve the issue through a vote and pass the bill.
It will be difficult for the Senate to pass the bill and send it to the White House before the August recess unless Republicans are allowed to pass amendments on discretionary versus mandatory spending, as there are several senators who are self-isolating after testing positive for COVID .
Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio said during Thursday’s press conference that the Senate should not go home until this bill is passed and on its way to the White House.
“This delay may not sound like a big deal, but first, we haven’t passed the bill, and second, there are going to be veterans who are going to die between now and this bill,” Tester said Thursday.
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Eleanor Watson
CBS News reporter covering the Pentagon.
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