Senate Republicans largely voted against advancing a recent veterans’ healthcare bill in a surprise move that infuriated veterans’ advocates and forced Democrats to put the sweeping legislation on hold temporarily.
A procedural motion on Wednesday to end debate on the bill, named the Honoring our PACT Act, failed in a 55-42 vote, with all opposition coming from Republican senators. Under Senate rules, most legislation must receive at least 60 votes to end debate and avert a filibuster. While the Senate previously approved a similar version of the bill in an 84-14 vote in mid-June, minor changes made by the House required the Senate to vote on it again before the bill can be sent to the president.
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Republicans insisted that their opposition to the bill, which would expand healthcare access for combat veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in the line of duty, was purely procedural, citing a Democratic provision that would reallocate appropriated funds from discretionary to mandatory spending. GOP senators, led by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), called the provision a “gimmick” that would allow Democrats to use future unused discretionary spending authorized by the bill on proposals unrelated to veterans’ healthcare. Toomey offered an amendment that he said would address the issue, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) did not put the amendment up for a vote.
Democrats and veterans’ advocates were incensed by Republicans’ decision to block the bill but largely dismissed Republicans’ complaints as residual anger over a landmark spending deal announced by Schumer and centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Wednesday. The Manchin-Schumer deal, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act, would be a significant victory for long-standing Democratic priorities on climate and energy policy. But Senate Republicans saw the deal as a betrayal since its announcement came just hours after the GOP joined with Democrats to pass a massive semiconductor production bill that they had previously vowed to oppose if Democrats were still considering bringing forward a partisan spending bill.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) slammed the GOP’s opposition as “bulls***” and accused her colleagues of having “sentenced veterans to death.” Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, added that the opposition was nothing but “naked partisanship and political gamesmanship,” while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said at a Friday press briefing that it was “almost criminal.” And comedian Jon Stewart, an outspoken proponent of veterans’ causes, didn’t mince words, lambasting Senate Republicans in a CNN interview as “shameless” and engaging in “parliamentary f***ery.”
Nonpartisan veterans’ advocacy groups have also castigated the GOP for slow-walking the PACT Act. Jeremy Butler, the CEO of the nonprofit group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, described the move as “shocking” and “a new level of low,” while Rosie Lopez-Torres, the executive director of another group, Burn Pits 360, said Republican senators who previously backed the bill but switched their votes on Wednesday “should be ashamed of themselves.”
Republicans have taken notice of the widespread outcry and have offered to work with Democrats to remove parts of the bill they oppose. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a top ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), said his party was hoping for a “negotiation to eliminate some of the mandatory spending in the bill” but that he expects the legislation “ultimately will pass in some form or another.” And Toomey promised that if the GOP’s concerns with the mandatory spending provision are addressed, the PACT Act will “[sail] through this chamber.”
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Schumer said the Senate would vote again on the PACT Act on Monday evening and that he would let Toomey’s amendment receive a vote. It’s possible that Democrats will concede to the GOP’s demands to nix some mandatory spending provisions and allow Toomey’s amendment to be included in the bill in order to guarantee its passage. But even if Democrats reject Toomey’s amendment, Senate Republicans are going to find it very difficult — near politically impossible — to block such a high-profile and popular piece of legislation for the second time in less than a week.
As Republicans face intensely negative headlines and mounting outrage over their legislative maneuvering, and Senate Democrats prepare to hold another vote on the bill, along with the amendment the GOP has been demanding, it seems likely that their party’s change of heart will be short-lived. Just as it did last month, the PACT Act should easily pass the Senate with bipartisan support next week.
