On Wednesday night, in a blatant betrayal of veterans, 41 Senate Republicans blocked the PACT Act, which would have expanded VA care eligibility to 3.5 million post-9/11 combat veterans who were exposed to toxins while serving in the military. The Senate passed the original legislation 84-14. The House made some minor changes, but it passed with wide bipartisan support. But when it came back to the Senate, 41 Republican Senators, without giving a reason, blocked it despite widespread bipartisan support from people like Jon Stewart on the left and various veterans service organizations on the right.
This shows a basic problem with the way Washington is run – the politicians there are against totally good bills just because it was pushed by the other party.
NBC News reported quotes from rank and file veterans who were blindsided:
“It’s angering. It’s frustrating.”
“I know these senators are getting ready for a break. But I didn’t get a break when I was deployed. They should not be allowed to go home until they figure this out.”
“These veterans fought for our freedom. It’s partisan tactics on the backs of veterans that are sick and dying.”
The act was named after Heath Robinson, a sergeant with the Ohio National Guard, who was deployed to Kosovo and Iraq, who died prematurely from lung cancer due to burn pit exposure.
This is one of many reasons why Mitch McConnell needs to go just as much as Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump. He has a proven track record of obstructing things just because he can and just because the other party is pushing legislation in question. And this is one of many reasons why we need term limits. It is obvious that backroom deals behind closed doors led to the scuttling of this bill. Too many people in DC have been in power for too long and can no longer relate to the people who elected them in the first place.
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