The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022, known as the Honoring our PACT Act of 2022, is an

Act of Congress An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called Public and private bills, private laws), or to the general public (Public and private bills, public laws). For a Bill (law) ...

intended to significantly improve

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

access and funding for veterans who were exposed to toxic substances during military service. The act was first introduced on June 17, 2021, by Representative

Mark Takano Mark Allan Takano ( ; born December 10, 1960) is an American politician and academic who has been the United States representative for California's 41st congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Takano became the first ...

( D- CA). The House of Representatives passed the bill by 256–174 on March 3, 2022, and passed the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

by 84–14 on June 16, 2022. Due to a previously unnoticed technical constitutional issue with the bill, a revised version needed to pass the Senate again, but failed a cloture vote 55–42 on July 27, 2022, after 25 Republicans flipped their votes. Republicans cited a preexisting provision that made previously approved veterans' funding mandatory rather than discretionary as justification for their vote changes, while erroneously claiming the provision would increase spending authority unrelated to burn pits. The failed cloture vote occurred immediately after the bipartisan

CHIPS and Science Act The CHIPS and Science Act is a U.S. federal statute enacted by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 9, 2022. The act provides roughly $280 billion in new funding to boost domestic research ...

passed the Senate, after which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin announced their agreement on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The act would be approved through reconciliation, which would require only 50 votes plus Vice President Harris as the tie-breaking vote as Senate President. The failed cloture vote on the veterans' bill was widely seen from Democrats and veterans as retaliation for agreeing on the inflation bill. Dozens of veterans, many of whom were exposed to burn pits themselves, continuously camped outside the United States Capitol in protest for five days. The bill passed the Senate by 86–11 on August 2, 2022, amid pressure from the veteran groups and other activists. There was no change in the funding mechanism or of the bill's text between the first and the second Senate vote. On August 10, 2022, it was signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Background

Burn pit A burn pit is an area of a United States military base in which waste is disposed of by burning. According to the United States Army field manual, there are four other ways outside of burn pits to dispose of nonhazardous solid waste: incinerators ...

s were used as a waste disposal method by the United States Armed Forces during the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War, but have since been terminated due to the toxic fumes that posed health risks to nearby soldiers. From 2007 to 2020, the VA denied 78% of disability claims by veterans that were alleged to have been caused by burn pits. The Honoring our PACT Act removes the requirement that veterans prove that burn pits caused their illness and gives retroactive pay to veterans who did not receive care for their illnesses after claiming disability caused by burn pits. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of the Act would be $300 billion from 2022 to 2032. President Joe Biden has said he believes the

brain cancer A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondar ...

experienced by his son, Beau Biden, was a result of his exposure to burn pits during the Kosovo and Iraq Wars (Beau Biden died of that cancer in 2015).

Camp LeJeune Justice Act of 2022

Section 804 of the PACT Act contains a new federal cause of action for those exposed to and injured by the toxins in the water at

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune () is a United States Armed Forces, United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Its of beaches make the base a major area for Amphibious warfare, amphibious assault training, and its ...

. Until this became law, only exposed veterans had the possibility of compensation (as a VA disability benefit) because the federal courts cut off the right to sue under the Federal Tort Claims Act in MDL-2218.

Legislative history

{, class="wikitable" !Congress !Short title !Bill number(s) !Date introduced !Sponsor(s) !# of cosponsors !Latest status , - , rowspan="2" ,

117th United States Congress The 117th United States Congress is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on ...

, rowspan="2" , Honoring our PACT Act of 2022
H.R.3967
, June 17, 2021 ,

(D-CA) , 100 , Passed Senate with an amendment , -
S.3373
, December 9, 2021 , Tim Kaine (D- VA) , 2 , Enacted

References

External links

Honoring our PACT Act of 2022PDFdetails
as amended in the

GPO GPO may refer to: Government and politics * General Post Office, Dublin * General Post Office, in Britain * Social Security Government Pension Offset, a provision reducing benefits * Government Pharmaceutical Organization, a Thai state enterpris ...

br>Statute Compilations collection

Honoring our PACT Act of 2022PDF
as enacted in the US Statutes at Large United States federal health legislation Veterans' affairs in the United States Acts of the 117th United States Congress Presidency of Joe Biden United States legislation United States federal veterans' affairs legislation