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The Senate voted to advance legislation that aims to help veterans suffering from exposure to burn pits on Tuesday.
Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee announced in mid-May that they had reached an agreement on how to resolve the issue. The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022 was announced on March 18, after more than a year of negotiations, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), the chairman of the panel, said at the time.
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If enacted, the proposal will expand VA healthcare eligibility for post-9/11 combat veterans, 3.5 million of which were exposed to toxins, create a framework for the establishment of future similar services, strengthen federal research on toxic exposure, improve the VA’s resources, and expand related conditions to the VA’s list of service presumptions.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the bill’s advancement was “a critical step towards delivering healthcare and benefits to veterans and survivors impacted by toxic exposures.”
“Veterans and advocates across the country have spoken out about the importance of this legislation, which represents one of the most significant and substantive expansions of benefits and services in the Department of Veterans Affairs history,” she added. “America’s veterans are the best of us. Delivering for our veterans is a key pillar of the ‘Unity Agenda’ the president outlined at the State of the Union because we can all unite around supporting veterans who have served our nation.”
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Burn pits were often used to burn waste ranging from mundane trash to munitions to hazardous material and chemical compounds at military sites in Afghanistan and Iraq.
