WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the nation honored its war dead this past Memorial Day weekend, a push in Washington to help more veterans get treatment for exposure to toxic burn pits is getting closer to the finish line.
What You Need To Know
- A bill named after the late Ohio National Guardsman Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson is making progress in the U.S. Senate
- The legislation would provide veterans access to VA care if they are suffering from exposure to toxic burn pits
- The U.S. military used the burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan to get rid of trash and human waste
- Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and VA Secretary Denis McDonough told Spectrum News they are hopeful the bill can become law this year
The landmark legislation is named after the late Ohio veteran Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson, an Ohio National Guardsman who died from lung cancer after being exposed to toxic fumes while serving in the Middle East.
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs estimated more than 3.5 million veterans have been exposed to the toxins from burn pits while serving overseas since 9/11.
“They make a commitment to this country,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told Spectrum News. “We make a commitment to them that, whatever their health problems after they’ve left the service, that we take care of those health problems — we the VA. And we’ve fallen short on that with Agent Orange. We’ve fallen short on that with burn pits. Finally, we’re doing this right. It’s a bipartisan effort that will work.”
Brown serves on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and has been working for months to get the SFC Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act passed.
The legislation would make veterans eligible for care from the VA if they were exposed to toxins from military burn pits after 9/11.
Robinson served in the Middle East in 2006 and 2007 and was later diagnosed with lung cancer after he was exposed in the pits, where everything from trash to human waste was burned at U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
If the legislation becomes law, VA Secretary Denis McDonough told Spectrum News it will provide much needed care for a lot of veterans, but will also flood the VA’s system with 4 to 5 million more claims for benefits.
“That’ll be a big challenge, which is why it’s so important that Sen. Moran and Sen. Tester have included a series of provisions to help us pay our docs more competitively,” McDonough said in an interview last week. “To help us hire people more quickly. To help us retain people once we have them.”
Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and Jon Tester (D-Montana) run the Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
They announced a bipartisan breakthrough deal on the bill earlier this month and are hoping the full Senate will take it up soon.
If it can get passed there, and in the House, it will become law.
