Senate OKs enhanced benefits for vets exposed to burn pits
Source: AP
By KEVIN FREKING
WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate on Thursday approved a sweeping expansion of health care and disability benefits for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in response to concerns about their exposure to toxic burn pits.
Passage of the bill by a vote of 84-14 sets a course that could help millions who served after Sept. 11, 2001, and caps years of advocacy work by veterans groups and others who liken burn pits to the Agent Orange herbicide that Vietnam era veterans were exposed to in Southeast Asia.
The bill is projected to increase federal spending by about $283 billion over 10 years and does not include offsetting spending cuts or tax increases to help pay for it. The House in March approved similar legislation that would have cost more than $320 billion over 10 years.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said after Senate passage that the House would move swiftly to take up the legislation and send it to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. Biden has encouraged the effort. In a statement after the vote, Biden said the bill makes good on our sacred obligation to care for veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors. He urged the House to act quickly so I can sign it into law right away.
FILE - An Afghan National Army pickup truck passes parked U.S. armored military vehicles, as smoke rises from a fire in a trash burn pit at Forward Operating Base Caferetta Nawzad, Helmand province south of Kabul, Afghanistan, April 28, 2011. The Senate is expected to approve on Thursday a large expansion of health care and disability benefits for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan in response to concerns about their exposure to toxic burn pits. (AP Photo/Simon Klingert, File)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-health-asia-middle-east-iraq-dedb87b89f771a6e8417f7d1c5aaf187
SWBTATTReg
(21,856 posts)of being denied, that there was no such thing as Area 51, etc.
They deserve it.
efhmc
(14,709 posts)Archae
(46,260 posts)12 Senate Republicans Burr, Cassidy, Kennedy, Lankford, Lee, Lummis, Paul, Romney, Sullivan, Tillis, Toomey, and Young voted against moving forward on the VA benefits for toxic-exposed veterans bill.
kimbutgar
(20,871 posts)senator X doesnt want to help the veterans who fought in our wars and got their lungs injured by the burn pits.
Please Democratic Party run those ads and take them down. I know Paul, Kennedy, Lee for sure are up for re election. I dont get Romney voting no but he was a draft dodger like Bush and TFG.