{"id":67658,"date":"2022-03-29T21:30:27","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T21:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/03\/29\/senate-leaders-promise-vote-on-expanding-benefits-for-burn-pit-victims\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:40:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:40:34","slug":"senate-leaders-promise-vote-on-expanding-benefits-for-burn-pit-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/veterans\/2022\/03\/29\/senate-leaders-promise-vote-on-expanding-benefits-for-burn-pit-victims\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate leaders promise vote on expanding benefits for burn pit victims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Senate leaders on Tuesday promised a vote later this year on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2022\/03\/03\/plan-to-give-new-benefits-to-burn-pits-victims-passes-house-faces-difficult-path-ahead\/\" target=\"_blank\">sweeping military toxic exposure legislation<\/a> that would dramatically expand benefits for veterans who served near burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite continued Republican concerns about the costly plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s our job to make sure we take care of veterans once they come back, and we\u2019re not going to rest until we deal with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/burn-pits\/\" target=\"_blank\">burn pits<\/a> and all of the other illnesses that people acquired when they fought for us,\u201d said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cToday, we\u2019re here to say enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Schumer\u2019s comments \u2014 which included a full endorsement of the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act passed by the House earlier this month \u2014 came during the latest Capitol Hill rally from veterans advocates demanding action on the issue of improved care and support for victims of burn pits, massive fires used by the military overseas to dispose of a host of waste materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2022\/03\/03\/plan-to-give-new-benefits-to-burn-pits-victims-passes-house-faces-difficult-path-ahead\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1485.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Plan to give new benefits to burn pits victims passes House, faces difficult path ahead<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The move comes just days after President Joe Biden urged Congress to provide more help for veterans suffering from the toxic smoke.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Advocates say toxic smoke from those fires spread throughout military bases, leading to respiratory illnesses and rare cancers among the troops who served there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But because the Defense Department did not monitor air quality or specific exposure to toxic substances, scientifically linking the fires to the veterans\u2019 illnesses later in life has been difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Family and friends of those veterans \u2014 some present, some deceased \u2014 spoke about their frustration that their loved ones\u2019 injuries still remain unrecognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the public at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI need all of these senators to understand what it is like to lay on the floor [beside] your dying husband for seven hours watching him die,\u201d said Danielle Robinson, widow of Army veteran Heath Robinson, who died in 2020 from lung cancer believed caused by toxic burn pit smoke in Iraq years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf you pass this bill, you are going to help so many veterans who are in the same situation right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The PACT Act covers a host of military toxic exposure injuries from multiple generations of combat, including adding hypertension to the list of illnesses presumed caused by Agent Orange exposure during the Vietnam War and includes presumptive status for radiation poisoning for thousands of veterans who served in areas near nuclear testing sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2022\/03\/08\/biden-vows-action-not-waiting-for-veterans-suffering-from-burn-pit-illnesses\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22067790731408.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Biden calls caring for burn pit illnesses a \u2018sacred obligation\u2019<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">In a speech to veterans in Texas, the president continued his push to improve benefits and care for those who served alongside burning waste pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the burn pit provisions have drawn the most attention in recent months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The legislation would codify that all troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan likely suffered some level of poisoning from burn pits used extensively throughout those countries, even though scientific specifics on the chemical vapors present remain incomplete. That would give them quicker access to medical care and disability benefits, skipping bureaucratic paperwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Altogether, more than 3.5 million veterans \u2014 about one in every five veterans in America today \u2014 could see some benefit change under the scope of the bill. The House approved it 256-174, with support from all of the chamber\u2019s Democrats and about three dozen Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">GOP lawmakers have raised concerns about the cost (about $207 billion over the next decade) and the potential burden it could place on VA\u2019s benefits system. About 240,000 claims are currently backlogged (waiting for final approval for more than four months), a number that has more than tripled in the last few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During a Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee hearing a few hours after the Tuesday rally, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan. and the panel\u2019s ranking member, said he is committed to \u201ccreating a law that will withstand the test of time while mitigating disruptions in VA\u2019s work to care for our veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But so far, support for the PACT Act in the Senate among Republicans is limited. Committee chairman Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., expressed frustration that cost concerns appear to be slowing down progress on a final compromise bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cRight now, our veterans are the ones that are paying that cost,\u201d Tester said. \u201cI don\u2019t believe they can wait any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2022\/03\/29\/what-are-military-burn-pits-and-why-are-veterans-worried-about-them\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/burn-pit-balad-air-base-dvids-march-2008-file-dvids.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">What are military burn pits? And why are veterans worried about them?<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The fires used in combat zones to dispose of waste may have caused serious illnesses in hundreds of thousands of U.S. service members.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The White House and Department of Veterans Affairs have signaled support for the measure. At the hearing, VA Secretary Denis McDonough said he has changes he thinks will allow his department to move faster to help veterans, but sees the measure as the right step forward on the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe need to ensure that the presumptive process created by this bill allows VA and future secretaries to act with transparency, efficiency and public participation for the benefit of veterans, not create additional administrative burdens that slow things down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said he expects to have additional information on how the PACT Act will impact VA operations later this spring. Schumer said he wants to bring the measure to the Senate floor as quickly as possible, but did not commit to a specific deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Advocates said a vote can\u2019t come soon enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe can\u2019t wait any longer,\u201d said comedian Jon Stewart, who has been an outspoken advocate on the burn pit issue in recent years. \u201cThis delay is unconscionable \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou cannot be America first when you put veterans last.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The sweeping bill has been stalled in the Senate over concerns related to cost and potential workload burdens on Veterans Affairs workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":46819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":21,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,24,89,16,26,65,21],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3328],"class_list":["post-67658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"U3TRAA7XTBCR7ETRKB5WIL3EXM","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2022\/03\/29\/senate-leaders-promise-vote-on-expanding-benefits-for-burn-pit-victims\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Senate leaders promise vote on expanding benefits for burn pit victims - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The sweeping bill has been stalled in the Senate over concerns related to cost and potential workload burdens on Veterans Affairs workers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate leaders promise vote on expanding benefits for burn pit victims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The sweeping bill has been stalled in the Senate over concerns related to cost and potential workload burdens on Veterans Affairs workers.\" \/>\n<meta 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