Republicans Turn Their Backs On Veterans Poisoned By Burn Pits
Republicans, led by ex-president trump, continue to claim they are the best friends of law and order although while police were being pummeled and maimed and killed at the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol by trump supporters, trump delayed for excruciating hours before making a lame public statement that could have stemmed the violence and convinced rioters to go home.
Republicans also pump their chests for their claims to offer unwavering support of the nation’s veterans. That was until last week when they did a 180 and voted down a health care bill to protect millions of veterans exposed to toxic materials from open air burn pits that were commonly used by the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq to dispose of waste from 2010 to 2015, exposing military members to toxins that have been connected to respiratory conditions, illnesses and cancers. The sprawling burn pits were used to get rid of all refuse, garbage, food waste, medical waste, plastics, cardboard, heavy metals and vehicle parts. The detritus was ignited by jet fuel and burned through night and day, often near barracks, where service members breathed the fumes.
Many veterans attribute health problems that arose later, such as cancer and respiratory illness, to exposure to chemicals released into the air from the fires. The smoke carried a range of harmful substances, including lead, mercury, benzene, hydrocarbons, dioxins and volatile organic compounds.
The legislation would have expanded health care access to more than 3.5 million veterans who were exposed to toxins while serving in the military after Sept. 11, 2001. It also would have added 23 illnesses, including several cancers, to the list of conditions eligible for federal health care coverage.
The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 or PACT Act, was named after the veteran who died in 2020 to lung cancer believed caused by burn pit exposure.
The PACT Act would aid an estimated 3.5 million former service members who had been exposed to burn pits in war zones. The legislation is projected to cost nearly $280 billion over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The bill is a result of years of advocacy work by veterans groups and others who compare the burn pits to the Agent Orange herbicide that Vietnam era veterans were exposed to in Southeast Asia.
The bill would expand military veterans’ eligibility for medical care through the Department of Veterans Affairs by extending coverage for 10 years after discharge instead of the current five years. It also would presume that certain respiratory illnesses and cancers were related to burn pit exposure, allowing veterans to get disability payments to compensate for their injury without having to prove the illness was a result of their service. Currently, more than 70 percent of disability claims related to burn pit exposure are denied by the VA due to lack of evidence, scientific data and information from the Defense Department.
The legislation also would benefit many Vietnam War-era veterans by including high blood pressure in the list of conditions presumed to have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange. And, it would extend Agent Orange presumptions to veterans who served in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Guam and American Samoa.
Also covered in the act would be veterans who were exposed to radiation while participating in the cleanup of Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands between Jan. 1, 1977, and Dec. 31, 1980. Also covered for radiation exposure illnesses are service members who joined in the cleanup of radioactive materials at Palomares, Spain, or in the response effort following the on-board fire and crash of a B-52 bomber in the vicinity of Thule Air Force Base, Greenland.
The bill had bi-partisan support when it was approved by a vote of 342–88 in the House. The bill also had rare bi-partisan support in Senate when lawmakers voted 84–14 on June 16 to pass the measure. But on Wednesday, the bi-partisan merriment came to a screeching halt as 41 Republican and one Democratic senator changed their minds and voted 55–42 against the plan, blocking it from reaching the 60-votes needed to bypass a likely filibuster and killing the plan for now.
The one Democratic Senator opposed to the bill was Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who said he switched his vote to allow a future vote on the proposal.
The Republicans changed votes after the original bill was sent back to the House for possible changes before returning to the Senate for a final vote. Republican Senators then said they disagreed with the process for funding the bill, and voted no. The bill has 100 cosponsors, including 97 Democrats and three Republicans, including prime sponsor Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., who is not running for re-election. Toomey was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict trump of incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial
The cynic in me says the GOP decided they did not want to give a political victory to Democrats, after last week when President Joe Biden achieved two major successes in attacking climate change and growing the microchip industry in the U.S. And then there was Toomey, who is on trump’s enemy list for having voted to impeach the former president.
These are the 41 Republican senators who decided they did not support the bill:
John Barrasso of Wyoming; Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming; Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee; Bill Hagerty of Tennessee; Josh Hawley of Missouri; Roy Blunt of Missouri; Mike Braun of Indiana; Todd Young of Indiana; Richard Burr of North Carolina; Thom Tillis of North Carolina; Bill Cassidy of Louisiana; John Kennedy of Louisiana; John Cornyn of Texas; Ted Cruz of Texas; Tom Cotton of Arkansas; Dan Sullivan of Alaska; Kevin Cramer of North Dakota; Steve Daines of Montana; Joni Ernst of Iowa; Deb Fischer of Nebraska; Ben Sasse of Nebraska; Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi; Roger Wicker of Mississippi; Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma; James Lankford of Oklahoma; Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; Mike Lee of Utah; Mitt Romney of Utah; Roger Marshall of Kansas; Mitch McConnell of Kentucky; Rand Paul of Kentucky; Rob Portman of Ohio; Mike Crapo of Idaho; James Risch of Idaho; Mike Rounds of South Dakota; John Thune of South Dakota; Rick Scott of Florida; Tim Scott of South Carolina; Richard Shelby of Alabama; Tommy Tuberville of Alabama; Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Burn Pits 360 is a non-profit organization that offers a registry where family members can record the names of military members who have died from exposure to burn pits. There are 20,000 names on the registry and the group’s goal is to record the plights of 60,000 veterans.
“We are entirely dedicated to improving post-deployment health outcomes for current and former military personnel,” the website says. “There have been thousands of deaths resulting from the invisible wounds of war.”
Burn Pits 360 was founded by Army Reserve Capt. Le Roy Torres, who served for 23 years and was deployed to Balad, Iraq from 2007–2008. Torres also was a Texas State Trooper for 14 years. Torres was diagnosed with constrictive bronchiolitis and toxic brain Injury.
“After experiencing delay, denial of benefits, and ineffective treatment from his physicians, Torres and his wife, Rosie, founded Burn Pits 360,” the website says.
The group’s website profiles veterans who succumbed to illnesses related to burn pits.
One was Army Col. David McCracken, who was deployed several times after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. McCracken was 45 and in good condition, with no hereditary issues, when he ran a half-marathon at Disney World on Oct. 2, 2010. Seven days later, a biopsy showed that had McCracken had glioblastoma multiform (GBM). He died within 11 months.
SFC Frederick Timothy Slape retired from the Army after 20 years of service on Aug. 31, 2012. He was 42 when he was diagnosed with Stage 4 adenocarcinoma lung cancer with metastatic brain tumors, due to his extensive exposure to the burn pits during two tours in Afghanistan. Slape died on Oct. 22, 2015, nine weeks after diagnosis.
Army Spc. Cindy Aman fell to a progressive, untreatable lung disease caused by toxic exposure while deployed in Afghanistan.
“I went from being a physically fit person to having to give up my career as a police officer,” Aman wrote on the website. “There is no reason to wait decades to provide the care and treatment needed. These people who put their lives on the line to fight for our country held up their end of their promise no questions asked.”
The website reported that during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. government contractors burned up to 227 metric tons of hazardous waste at forward operating bases using jet fuel in large ground pits. Items burned included: batteries, medical waste, amputated body parts, plastics, ammunition, human waste, animal carcasses, rubber, chemicals and more.
Some of the devastating health conditions suffered by veterans exposed include neurological disorders, pulmonary diseases, rare forms of cancer, and many unexplained symptoms.