EXPLAINER: How health care for veterinarians became a fight in Congress | National News

Lawmakers have been increasingly listening to constituents with respiratory illnesses and cancers who attribute service near burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military used the pits to dispose of chemicals, cans, tires, plastics, and medical and human waste.

Veterans groups say service members who were exposed to the wells have waited long enough for better health benefits, and lawmakers largely agree. Ultimately, the Senate is expected to send the measure to President Joe Biden’s desk. It’s just a matter of when.

HOW WOULD THE BILL HELP IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETERANS?

First, veterans who served near burn pits will get 10 years of health care coverage through the Department of Veterans Affairs upon separation from the military instead of five.

Second, the legislation directs the VA to assume that certain respiratory diseases and cancers were related to exposure to combustion pits. This removes the veteran’s burden of proof, allowing him to obtain disability payments to compensate for his injury without having to prove that the illness was the result of his service.

Approximately 70% of disability claims related to fire pit exposure are denied by the VA due to a lack of evidence, scientific data, and Department of Defense information.

IS THERE HELP FOR OTHER VETERANS? Yes. For example, hundreds of thousands of veterans and survivors of the Vietnam War will also benefit. The bill adds hypertension, or high blood pressure, as a presumed disease associated with Agent Orange exposure. The Congressional Budget Office projected that about 600,000 of the 1.6 million living Vietnam veterans would be eligible for higher compensation, though only about half would have diagnoses serious enough to warrant receiving it.

Additionally, veterans who served in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Guam, American Samoa, and Johnston Atoll are presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange. That’s another 50,000 veterans and survivors of deceased veterans who would receive compensation for illnesses allegedly caused by their exposure to the herbicide, the CBO projected.

HOW MUCH WILL THE INVOICE COST?

The bill is projected to increase federal deficits by about $277 billion over 10 years, the CBO said. Lawmakers did not include compensatory spending cuts or tax increases to help pay for the expenses.

WHERE ARE THINGS IN CONGRESS? Both the House and the Senate have overwhelmingly approved the bill. The Senate did so in June, but the bill contained a provision related to revenue that must originate in the House, requiring a repeat to make a technical fix.

The House approved the standing bill with a vote of 342-88. So now the measure is back before the Senate, where the previous iteration had passed by a vote of 84-14. Biden says he will sign it.

THEN, WHY HASN’T THE SENATE PASSED IT YET?

When the CBO scored the bill, it projected that nearly $400 billion scheduled to be spent on health care would shift from discretionary spending to mandatory spending, which is mostly shielded from the painful battles that occur each year over where to spend the money on appropriations bills.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog, said a reclassification of nearly $400 billion from discretionary to mandatory “would reduce the pressure to keep those costs under control and make it easier for appropriators to spend more elsewhere in the budget.” budget without compensation.”

That dynamic also applied to the bill when the Senate passed it in June. However, senators overwhelmingly voted in favor of the measure.

But, last week, more than two dozen Republicans who voted for the bill in June voted against moving it forward this time. They sided with Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who is seeking a vote on an amendment that he says would not reduce spending on veterans but would prevent spending increases on other non-defense programs in the future.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has offered to let the Senate vote on the Toomey amendment with 60 votes needed for passage, the same number needed to advance the bill itself.

It’s unclear how the delay will be resolved, though Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell predicted on Monday that the bill would pass this week.

Veterans advocacy groups, a key voting bloc in the upcoming midterm elections, are furious and mounting political pressure on lawmakers to act. At a news conference on Capitol Hill the day after last week’s procedural vote, speakers used terms like “villains” and “reprehensible” to describe Republican senators who voted against promoting the measure last week. but they voted for almost exactly the same bill in June.

“Veterans are angry and confused by the sudden change from those who thought they had their backs,” said Cory Titus of the Military Officers Association of America.

“You just screwed over the veterans yesterday,” added Tom Porter of the group US Veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Now, we will hold them accountable.”