These 41 Republican senators blocked a bill to expand healthcare for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits
41 Republican senators voted against a bill that would expand healthcare for veterans exposed to burn pits.
Democratic lawmakers blasted the GOP senators for blocking the bill's passage.
"It has an immorality to it," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a bipartisan bill that would expand healthcare benefits to veterans exposed to toxins from burn pits — an unexpected move that's sparked outrage from Democrats and activists.
The Senate failed to advance the legislation in a 55-42 vote, falling short of the 60 votes needed as 41 Republicans opposed the bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer switched his "yes" vote to "no" to allow him to bring up the legislation again in the future.
The bill, known as the PACT Act, represents the most significant extension of healthcare coverage for veterans in years, protecting an estimated 3.5 million former service members who had been exposed to burn pits in war zones. The legislation is projected to cost nearly $280 billion over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Burn pits were commonly used in Afghanistan and Iraq to dispose of waste, exposing military members to toxins that have been connected to several respiratory conditions, illnesses and cancers.
"It's hard to explain. It has an immorality to it — that 80% of Republicans would vote against our veterans," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during a press conference on Thursday.
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee who helped lead the bill, blasted his Republican colleagues for voting against it, warning that veterans could die because of the inaction.
"This eleventh-hour act of cowardice will actively harm this country's veterans and their families. Republicans chose today to rob generations of toxic-exposed veterans across this country of the health care and benefits they so desperately need—and make no mistake, more veterans will suffer and die as a result," Tester said in a statement on Wednesday.
Comedian Jon Stewart, an advocate for veterans and 9/11 first-responders, also ripped into Republicans on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
"They haven't met a veteran they won't screw over," Stewart said.
Republican senators are largely in favor of the bill as it passed the upper chamber last month in an overwhelmingly bipartisan 84-14 vote. The House then approved the legislation by a 342-88 vote, but the Senate took up the bill again on Wednesday after the House version had some tweaks to it.
Yet unlike the approval last time around, Republicans on Wednesday raised concerns with a section of the bill that deals with spending.
GOP Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who voted against the bill, said it includes a "budget gimmick that would allow $400 billion of current law spending to be moved from the discretionary to the mandatory spending category."
"By failing to remove this gimmick, Congress would effectively be using an important veterans care bill to hide a massive, unrelated spending binge," he said in a statement.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday called on Schumer to consider Toomey's amendment to the bill.
"As written, the legislation would not just help America's veterans as designed. It could also allow Democrats to effectively spend the same money twice and enable hundreds of billions in new, unrelated spending on the discretionary side of the federal budget," McConnell, who voted against the measure, said.
The Democratic-led Senate anticipated the bill would advance Wednesday's procedural vote, bringing it toward its final passage and then to President Joe Biden's desk for his signature before Congress leaves for its August recess. Yet now the legislation remains in limbo.
"Senator Toomey decides that he wants to rewrite the bill, change the rules, and tank it," Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said during a Thursday press conference. "How he convinced 25 of his colleagues to change their votes — I have no idea. What the hell?"
"This is total bullshit," she said.
Here are the 41 Republican senators who opposed the bill:
John Barrasso of Wyoming
Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming
Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee
Bill Hagerty of Tennessee
Josh Hawley of Missouri
Roy Blunt of Missouri
Mike Braun of Indiana
Todd Young of Indiana
Richard Burr of North Carolina
Thom Tillis of North Carolina
Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
John Kennedy of Louisiana
John Cornyn of Texas
Ted Cruz of Texas
Tom Cotton of Arkansas
Dan Sullivan of Alaska
Kevin Cramer of North Dakota
Steve Daines of Montana
Joni Ernst of Iowa
Deb Fischer of Nebraska
Ben Sasse of Nebraska
Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi
Roger Wicker of Mississippi
Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma
James Lankford of Oklahoma
Ron Johnson of Wisconsin
Mike Lee of Utah
Mitt Romney of Utah
Roger Marshall of Kansas
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky
Rand Paul of Kentucky
Rob Portman of Ohio
Mike Crapo of Idaho
James Risch of Idaho
Mike Rounds of South Dakota
John Thune of South Dakota
Rick Scott of Florida
Tim Scott of South Carolina
Richard Shelby of Alabama
Tommy Tuberville of Alabama
Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania
Correction: A previous version of this report misstated the state Sen. Sullivan represents. He represents Alaska.
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