Bipartisan U.S. Senate bill helping veterans exposed to edges of pits burn to passage

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate is set to approve a sweeping bill in the coming days, led by the bipartisan duo of Jon Tester of Montana and Jerry Moran of Kansas, that would expand health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burns abroad – although a few final details will linger.

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill were negotiating behind the scenes on Wednesday to determine how many amendments will be offered to the bipartisan package and how many votes each amendment will need to be added to the bill.

Tester, the Democratic chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, told the United States Newsroom that he was trying to get a final vote on the package this week, although that would depend on how quickly the leaders will come to an amendment agreement.

“The problem is that we open it up to amendments, and it gets pretty wild on both sides,” he said.

Tester said he hoped only two amendments would be offered to the bill, but he wasn’t sure that would be the final deal. While conversations are ongoing, Tester said, he hopes the Senate can quickly send the bill to the House for final approval.

“We want to try to do it soon. The sooner the better, to give certainty,” he said.

Moran, the top Republican on the panel, said Wednesday that he and Tester had agreed to two amendments, but ultimately the party leaders will decide how many proposals during the indoor debate. Adding amendments could prolong the debate and possibly change the details of the legislation.

“Senator Tester and I, between us, have come to a conclusion about what we would like to see. But the fact is, we have little control over what is the case,” Moran said, referring to Senate leaders.

Both amendments would address community care programs and reclassify the type of spending in the bill from mandatory to discretionary.

The categorization change would require funding for new VA health care and benefits programs to go through the government’s annual spending process in the same way that much of other Veterans Affairs funding is approved each year.

A spokesperson for Moran said in a statement that the senator supports the change, saying the way the bill is now drafted “reduces congressional oversight over the VA.”

“As an appropriator, Senator Moran strives to fund the VA each year and believes that funding for all veterans programs should receive the fullest consideration and deliberation of the Senate,” the doorman said. -word.

The bill itself enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate, where lawmakers vote 86-12 Tuesday to move the process forward.

North Carolina Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, Louisiana Senators Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan and Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey were among a dozen Republicans to vote no on the procedural hurdle .

Fire Pit Bill Named for Ohio Warden

Tester and Moran announcement agreement on the bipartisan bill, named for Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson of the Ohio National Guard, in mid-May.

Robinson – whose widow, Danielle, attended the State of the Union address earlier this year – died in 2020 of lung cancer likely caused by the time he spent breathing in fumes from the combustion sources during deployments in Kosovo and Iraq.

“Cancer from prolonged exposure to the burn sites ravaged Heath’s lungs and body,” President Joe Biden said during his speech. “Danielle says Heath was a fighter until the end. He didn’t know how to stop fighting, and neither did she. Through her pain, she found purpose to demand that we do better.

Several veterans service organizations, longtime veterans advocate and celebrity comedian Jon Stewart, Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, Democratic New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, Tester, Moran and others have come together. gathered on Tuesday in front of the US Capitol to demand the rapid adoption of the measure.

The bipartisan bill would extend VA health care eligibility to more than 3.5 million veterans exposed to burn sites since 9/11.

This would add 23 illnesses to the list of toxic exposure-related conditions presumed to be related to military service, ending the need for veterans with these conditions to try to prove to the VA that their illnesses were linked to military service. their deployments.

The package would direct more resources to VA health care centers, employees and claims processing as well as federal toxic exposure research.

The measure would also expand presumptions for veterans exposed to Agent Orange, a chemical used by the US military during the Vietnam War. American Samoa, Cambodia, Guam, Johnston Atoll, Laos and Thailand would all be added to the list of locations where veterans are believed to have been exposed to the chemical.

Covering healthcare, benefits are part of the ‘cost of war’

Speaking in the Senate on Wednesday, Tester said the $278.5 billion cost of health care and benefits coverage for these veterans would be “significant,” though he added that it was the “cost of war”.

“This bill will put the VA and put this nation on the right track to address decades of inaction and failure by our government, on our part, to pay the cost of war,” Tester said.

Final bipartisan package is much closer to House lawmakers’ version vote 256-174 to approve in early March, that the billion-dollar proposal that Tester and Moran introduced in February.

Veterans’ House Speaker Mark Takano, a California Democrat, said in a statement that he was pleased the senators “were able to build on the bipartisan momentum created in the United States House of Representatives. only a few months ago, and negotiate a deal and a path”. forward.”

“I’ve long said that we can’t let cost or implementation barriers get in the way of delivering on our promise – veterans exposed to toxic substances don’t have time to wait,” Takano added.