newYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on Sunday trotted out “pseudo-celebrities” like comedian Jon Stewart to “fabricate false accusations” about the veterans benefits bill blocked by Republicans last week. He criticized the Democrats for that.
During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union Address, Toomey said he had blocked the PACT Act. The PACT Act, which provides millions of veterans with treatment for illnesses related to burn pit exposures, encourages additional amendments to prevent excessive spending on unrelated categories. Because you want it. Be a veteran.
Toomey ripped Democrats apart for trying to portray him as the anti-veteran who blocked the bill with Stewart being on the front lines of this issue.
“First of all, this is Washington’s oldest trick,” Toomey said. “People take a group of sympathetic Americans. It could be a sick child. It could be a crime victim. It could be a veteran exposed to toxic chemicals.” and create bills to address their problems and then sneak in. Something completely irrelevant they know cannot pass by itself and what the I dare to do something. I swallow things that shouldn’t exist.”
Biden connects via FaceTime with veterans exposed to burn scars: He has a ‘sacred duty’ to help them
“Let me be clear,” he said. “Republicans are not against anything in the PACT Act. My honest Democrat colleagues will fully appreciate my objection. If I had my way, if I got a penny, Not a single penny will change spending on veterans programs, what I’m going to do is make sure my colleagues in the Democratic Party spend 400 billion irrelevant things that have nothing to do with veterans and are not in the veterans space. It’s about changing government accounting methods designed to allow the dollar to continue to be spent.”
Sen.Pat Toomey suspends final approval of Burnpit Veterans Assistance package citing spending concerns
“They could have agreed to this a month ago and this bill could have passed anytime,” he added. I will vote in favor of the bill.”
The Senate voted 84-14 in favor of the PACT bill last month, winning majority votes in both the House and Senate. It represents the most comprehensive veterans health care reform to date, providing presumed service connections for veterans who become critically ill after inhaling toxic gases drifting on bases abroad, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. Established.
The bill went back to the House and recently passed a revised version, but with $400 billion already allocated for discretionary appropriations, moving it to mandatory appropriations would be a “failure to avoid capped spending.” It’s just a gimmick.
Officials in Senator Toomey’s office cited a provision added to the PACT Act just before the bill’s debate on the Senate floor that said any budgetary funds related to burnpits could be classified as mandatory expenditures. said to be sexual. They told Fox News that his amendment would only focus on preventing current discretionary spending (which occurs regardless of the PACT Act) from transitioning to a mandatory spending budget. said. Any new voluntary funds related to exposure to toxic burning pits can still be transferred to mandatory budgets.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Dennis McDonagh, who appeared in the “State of the Union Address” after Toomey, said the senator’s amendment would lead to distribution of health care to veterans.
“The ($400 billion) fund is in the bill, so we can ensure that all spending on this program goes to veterans exposed to these toxins,” McDonough said. says. “And he says it won’t affect our programming – in good conscience, I don’t think so. The 10-year fund will be abolished under his amendment.” The implication is that if his estimate of how much to spend in a given year is wrong, he may need to distribute care to veterans. There is none.”
In an appearance on ABC News “This Week” Sunday, Stewart said it was “bananas” that Toomey was stuck with on the bill.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“The Toomey Amendment is really about capping the fund,” Stewart argued. “It’s going to put a cap on it and give it a 10-year sunset clause. We’ve been through this. What Toomey’s amendment wants to do is let veterans who are sick and dying die on 9/11.” At Ground Zero, you have to put on your hat and go back to Washington, full of cancer, and march through the halls of the hill to get your money. I begged.”
“I mean, the whole thing is pretty ridiculous,” he added. “I don’t understand anything about this because nothing has changed.”
Fox News’ Perry Chiaramonte contributed to this report.