Biden signs toxic burn pit bill into law

WASHINGTON – President Biden signed the Comprehensive Poisons Commitment Act (PACT) into law on Wednesday, calling it “our country’s passage to help millions of veterans exposed to toxic substances.” The most important law is during their military service.”

As a nation, “we have many obligations, but only one truly sacred,” Biden said in the East Room of the White House said at the signing ceremony. The duty is to “equip those we send into danger and take care of them and their families when they return home. Today, we are one step closer to fulfilling this sacred duty with the bill I am about to sign into law.” The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will cost $278.5 billion over 10 years.

Biden says country has learned ‘terrible lessons’ from Vietnam War after ‘exposed to harmful effects of agents’ Orange spent years on veterans Showing up, leaving too many veterans without access to the care they need and deserve. “

“That’s why, back in 1991, I and others, he said, co-sponsored the Agent Orange Act to support veterans exposed to toxic substances in Vietnam” The PACT Act laid the groundwork.

“Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were not just at risk in combat, they inhaled toxic fumes from burning pits,” he continued, noting that As vice president and senator, he has visited these war zones. “You can actually see some of them in the air — football field-sized burning pits burning tires, toxic chemicals, jet fuel and other war waste. The veterans ate and slept not far from these pits; “it was there all the time,” he added.

Biden noted that when they got home, they were exposed to burns The soldiers in the pit were “different”, with many having headaches, numbness, dizziness and cancer, adding “My son Beau was one of them. Beau Biden, who served in Iraq as a member of the Delaware Army National Guard, died of brain cancer in May 2015 at the age of 46.

President welcomes widow and Signing ceremony with young daughter Heath Robinson, an Ohio National Guard sergeant who died of lung cancer after being exposed to burn pits at age 39. Robinson’s name appears in the bill’s official title. Biden also welcomed comedian Joe Jon Stewart, who lobbied for passage of the PACT Act.

The president listed some of the law’s provisions, including expansion for veterans injured by toxic exposure Access to health care and disability benefits, empowers the Department of Veterans Affairs to quickly determine which veterans are eligible for benefits under the Act, provides a monthly allowance of $2,000 to families of veterans who have died as a result of toxic exposure, and Increase hiring and retention of health care workers to treat veterans.

He urged eligible veterans to file a timely claim, saying “Veterans Affairs will act as quickly as possible to resolve your claim and Provide you with the benefits and care you deserve. Biden added that the Department of Defense and the state of Virginia are “building a more comprehensive database … to track and assess exposure.”

Biden also used this The event introduced his nomination for Monica Bertagnolli, MD, head of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Bertagnolli, who will be the first woman to lead the NCI, is currently a professor of surgical oncology at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Research Institute in Boston. Member of the Center for Gastrointestinal Cancer and Sarcoma Diseases.

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  Joyce Frieden oversees MedPage Today’s Washington coverage, including coverage of Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court, health care industry associations, and federal agencies. 35 years of experience in policy. Follow