WASHINGTON (AP) – A bill that would improve health care and disability benefits for millions of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits won final approval in the Senate on Tuesday, ending a brief stalemate over the move had enraged advocates and inspired some to camp outside the Capitol. .
The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 86-11. It now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. Biden described the legislation as the largest expansion of service-connected health benefits in 30 years and the largest single bill ever to address exposure to burn pits.
“I look forward to signing this bill, so that veterans and their families and caregivers affected by toxic exposures will finally get the benefits and comprehensive health care they earned and deserve,” Biden said.
The Senate had overwhelmingly approved the legislation in June, but a renewal was required to make a technical fix. That process was derailed when Republicans made a late attempt to change another aspect of the bill last week and blocked it from moving forward.
The sudden delay outraged veterans’ groups and advocates, including comedian Jon Stewart. It also put GOP senators in the awkward position of delaying the top legislative priority of service organizations this session of Congress.
A group of veterans and their families have camped out at the Capitol since that vote. They had endured storms and Washington’s notorious summer humidity, but they were in the galleries as senators cast their votes.
“You can go home knowing what you have done and accomplished for the United States of America,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., told them.
The legislation expands access to health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs for millions of people who served near burn pits. It also directs the VA to assume that certain respiratory diseases and cancers were related to burn exposure, allowing veterans to obtain disability payments to compensate for their injury without having to prove that the disease was the result of their service
Approximately 70% of disability claims related to exposure to burn waste are denied by the VA due to a lack of evidence, scientific data, and information from the Department of Defense.
The military used burn pits to dispose of things like chemicals, cans, tires, plastics, and medical and human waste.
Hundreds of thousands of Vietnam War veterans and survivors will also benefit from the legislation. The bill adds hypertension, or high blood pressure, as a presumptive disease associated with exposure to Agent Orange.
The Congressional Budget Office projected that about 600,000 of the 1.6 million living Vietnam vets would be eligible for greater compensation, although only about half would have diagnoses serious enough to warrant more compensation.
Additionally, veterans who served in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Guam, American Samoa, and Johnston Atoll will be presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange. That’s another 50,000 veterans and survivors of deceased veterans who would be compensated for illnesses believed to have been caused by their exposure to the herbicide, CBO projected.
The bill also authorizes 31 major VA clinics and medical research facilities in 19 states.
The bill is expected to increase federal deficits by about $277 billion over 10 years.
The bill was a years-long effort by veterans and their families who blamed burn pits used in Iraq and Afghanistan for respiratory problems and other illnesses veterans suffered after returning home. at home. It was named after Sgt. First Class Heath Robinson of Ohio, who died in 2020 of cancer he attributed to prolonged exposure to burn pits. His widow, Danielle Robinson, was first lady Jill Biden’s guest at the president’s State of the Union address earlier this year.
Stewart, the former host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” also increased exposure to the ailments veterans faced. He was also in the stands watching Tuesday’s vote. He cried and held his head in his hands as the final vote began.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a situation where people who have already given so much have had to fight so hard to get so little,” he said after the vote. “And I hope we learn a lesson.”
The House was the first to act on fire legislation. An earlier version that the House passed in March was expected to increase spending by more than $320 billion over 10 years, but senators cut some of the costs early on by phasing in certain benefit improvements. They also added funding for staffing to help the VA keep up with the expected increase in demand for health care and an increase in disability claims.
Some GOP senators remain concerned that the bill will increase delays at the VA due to increased demand from veterans seeking disability care or compensation.
“What we’ve learned is that the VA can’t deliver on what it’s promised because it doesn’t have the capacity to handle the increase,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.
Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., led the effort to pass the bill in the Senate. After the move, Tester told reporters he got a call from Biden, thanking him for “lifting a huge weight” off his shoulder.
For Biden, the issue is very personal. She has raised the possibility that cremation pits in Iraq were responsible for the death of her son Beau.
“We don’t know for sure if a burn pit was the cause of his brain cancer or the illnesses of so many of our troops,” Biden said in his State of the Union address. “But I’m committed to finding out as much as we can.”
Moran said when the bill failed to pass last week, he was disappointed, but remembered the strength of the protesters who had sat outside in the scorching heat for days.
“Thank you to the United States Senate for showing that when there’s something good and a good cause, this place still works,” Moran said.
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Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.