President Joe Biden signed legislation on Wednesday morning that reshapes and expands military veterans’ healthcare coverage for exposure to toxins, ending a yearslong struggle for veterans groups.
The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022 addresses the needs of the roughly 3.5 million soldiers who were exposed to toxic burn pits, often referred to as this generation’s agent orange, in addition to creating a framework for the establishment of future similar services, strengthening federal research on toxic exposure, and improving the Department of Veterans Affairs’s resources.
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“This is the most significant law our nation has ever passed to help millions of veterans who are exposed to toxic substances during their military services,” the president said, adding that treating and caring for veterans is the country’s “one truly sacred obligation.”
“We can never fully thank you for your service and your sacrifice, and that’s not hyperbole, that’s literal fact,” Biden continued. “Less than 1% of you, less than 1% of you, risk everything to defend 99% of the population — 1% versus 99%. We owe you. You’re the backbone. You’re the steel. You’re the CEO. You’re the very fiber that makes this country what it is. And that’s not hyperbole. It’s a fact.”
Burn pits were commonly used during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to dispose of waste.
“You could actually see some of it in the air,” the president said, referencing his visits to Iraq back when he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Burn pits the size of football fields that incinerated wastes of war such as tires, poisonous chemicals, jet fuel, and so much more have already been mentioned.”
The president also spoke about his personal connection to the bill, referencing his late son, Beau Biden, whose cancer diagnosis the president has said could have been from burn pit exposure.
He signed the bill during an event held in the East Room, while nearly two dozen lawmakers, other administration officials, and veterans were in attendance. The president introduced Danielle Robinson, the wife of Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson, whom the legislation is named after, who was there with her daughter, Brielle Robinson.
The bill that Biden signed into law is years in the making from advocacy groups and lawmakers who negotiated for more than a year before Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), the chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, announced a bipartisan agreement in March of this year.
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More recently, Senate Republicans opted to vote against the bill, arguing that too much spending was made mandatory rather than discretionary. Both sides ultimately worked out a compromise, and the bill passed the chamber by a vote of 86 to 11.
