There is local anger over a stalled bill that would help veterans exposed to toxic burn pits. The bill would have authorized $285 billion over the next decade to treat illnesses tied to burn pits.
The final vote in the Senate last week was 55-42 in favor, but it needed 60 votes to invoke cloture and end debate.
In June, the U.S. Senate comfortably passed the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, better known as the PACT Act, with support from both sides of the aisle. The legislation is named after an Ohio solider who died in 2020 from a rare form of lung cancer after serving in Kosovo and Iraq in the early 2000s.
The House also passed the bill by a wide margin, but on Wednesday, it went back to the Senate after the House made minor changes. This time around, 42 senators, including 41 Republicans, voted against it. Nineteen of them had voted in favor of the bill in June, including Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman.
Portman had previously been vocal in his support of the PACT Act, writing in June that it was "our duty to stand by them and ensure transparency in the tracking of illnesses connected to their service, specifically burn pit exposure." It is worth noting that he did vote against cloture that time as well, although that time most Republican senators voted to end debate.
"Rob voted for the PACT Act last month and supports helping veterans who have been exposed to toxic chemicals while serving our country," Portman's press secretary Mollie Timmons told 3News in a statement. "He will vote for it again when it comes up for a final passage vote."
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