Honoring our promises
Congress belatedly votes to attend to veterans affected by ‘burn pits’
Abill to address more shabby treatment of our nation’s war veterans is finally, belatedly on track to become law. The PACT legislation approved by the Senate on Tuesday will remove obstacles that make it difficult for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan to receive disability payments for illnesses related to exposure to toxic burn pits.
That it took this long for Congress to pass is a travesty. That it will soon become law is a triumph.
Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have faced a problem that’s all too familiar with service members deployed to combat theaters: the use of large burn pits to dispose of waste on military bases there. The open fires emitted large quantities of toxic smoke. The practice was used without consideration of the effects on troops who breathed toxic fumes from chemicals, medical waste, rubber and plastics.
The practice was scaled back in the mid-2010s, but not before thousands of troops were exposed. The Defense Department has estimated that as many as 3.5 million troops from recent wars may have health problems related to burn-pit smoke. Tens of thousands of these veterans have developed rare respiratory diseases and cancers that could have been caused by burn pits.
As it stands, more than 70% of disability claims related to burn pits are denied by the Department of Veterans Affairs, usually
on grounds that the veteran cannot prove that the burn pits caused the illness, and that there’s insufficient scientific evidence proving that burn pits cause various diseases.
But the evidence is weak because the military did not keep clear records of what was burned in the pits. Nor were individual service members monitored for exposure to the smoke.
In a major change, the new law directs the VA to presume that a number of respiratory illnesses and cancers are related to exposure to burn pits. Veterans who served near burn pits are no longer required to provide proof of a link to get disability
payments.
The law also extends from five to 10 years the grace period after their discharge when veterans who served near burn pits can get medical care through the VA.
President Joe Biden has pushed for the new approach, speaking of the nation’s “sacred obligation” to care for those who have served in the military. Biden’s son Beau, who served in Iraq with the Delaware Army National Guard, died at age 46 of a rare brain cancer.
“When the scientific evidence doesn’t give a clear answer one way or another, we should favor caring for our veterans while we continue to learn more, not waiting,”
Biden said.
The burn pit debate echoes the controversy over those who served in the “Blue Water” Navy off Vietnam and developed health problems related to Agent Orange. The military didn’t know that it was endangering troops when using the defoliant to clear jungles.
Only years after the war, when the link became clear, did Congress approve benefits for those affected, but the VA used wording in the law to avoid paying Blue Water Navy veterans, saying that because they were on ships just offshore, they did not serve “in” Vietnam.
It wasn’t until 2020, 45 years after the war ended, that those veterans were able to submit claims with a reasonable expectation of approval. By then, many had died.
Delaying critical care for veterans is unconscionable. Yet, in a shameful display last week, 30 Republican senators — who had voted to approve the PACT bill weeks prior — voted against the bill, putting the legislation on hold. Most came to their senses on Tuesday and, with Democrats who never waivered, sent the bill to the president’s desk.
The United States cannot send our service members into harm’s way and then refuse to pay the cost of their care when they return home. It is embarrassing this bill took so long to pass, but we should be thankful the nation will honor this commitment to its warriors.