VA has approved million claims under burn pit law

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that his administration had approved more than 1 million claims from veterans injured by toxic exposures during their service, actions made possible by a new law he championed, officials said.

The president signed the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, or PACT, Act, into law in the summer of 2022, with the goal of quickly getting benefits to veterans who had been suffering from a variety of maladies that did not qualify for treatment by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

At an event at the Merrimack YMCA in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Biden praised his administration for making good on the nation’s obligations to the people who defend it.

“I took office, I determined that come hell or high water we were going to protect the heroes and protect our nation,” Biden said, describing the thousands of members of the armed forces who were poisoned by toxic exposures. “My son Beau was one of those veterans, so this is personal to me.”

Biden has long speculated that Beau Biden developed brain cancer because of exposure to burn pits when he served in Iraq as a member of the Delaware National Guard. Before signing the legislation, Joe Biden described the lingering effects of the exposures.

“Toxic smoke, thick with poisons, spreading through the air and into the lungs of our troops,” the president said at the time. “When they came home, many of the fittest and best warriors that we sent to war were not the same. Headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer. My son Beau was one of them.”

Officials told reporters Monday that more than 888,000 veterans and their surviving family members are the recipients of about $5.7 billion in health benefits from the 1 million claims approved under the PACT Act since its passage.

That includes veterans suffering from cancer, allergic rhinitis, bronchial asthma, high blood pressure, sinusitis and other conditions, often related to the respiratory system. The law is aimed at providing support for veterans exposed to toxins, often from open burn pits that spewed them near where soldiers were living and working.