Working for Veterans' Benefits
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to be here today with my friend, assistant Democratic leader Joe Neguse, to talk about my law, the Honoring our PACT Act.
It was signed into law by President Joe Biden in August of 2022 and has since helped more than a million veterans and their survivors receive the healthcare and benefits that they have earned.
In the 116th Congress, we passed the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019 that helped blue water Navy veterans receive care and benefits for exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam war.
These veterans waited decades for this relief. I am so glad that we could help them cut red tape and make it easier for them to receive healthcare for certain conditions, but it took way too long to get it done.
After blue water Navy, we were hearing from veterans around the country about being exposed to burn pits and other toxins when they were serving our country more recently. They were experiencing serious illnesses that they thought were connected to their toxic exposure.
Many of these servicemembers were directed to throw trash, plastic, and other items into burn pits, and this meant breathing in the toxic air, or they were exposed to jet fuel for long periods of time due to their job in the service.
It is easy to look back and think that this was not a good idea, but they did not have a choice at that time and were following orders.
It was taking the Department of Veterans Affairs too long to address these veterans' illnesses on its own due to the perceived cost and the difficulty in obtaining the scientific evidence needed in order to help.
We knew there was a strong need, and with the lessons learned from blue water, we knew we needed to act. This was the origin of the Honoring our PACT Act.
When we send our servicemembers into harm's way, we make a pact to care for them when they come home. This is one of the most sacred promises in our country and the ultimate goal of this law.
Thanks to the PACT Act, veterans no longer need to prove the connection between their service and an illness. The law outlines 23 categories of presumptive respiratory illnesses and cancers, representing over 300 individual conditions for which veterans can quickly get healthcare and benefits. Since the law was signed, several more presumptive conditions have been added to the list with more on the way.
Congress was able to work together on a bipartisan basis to get this done for veterans. Unfortunately, not much has gotten done for veterans since then, which truly troubles me. Helping those who have served should be a nonpartisan issue and one that gets due attention, no matter which party is in charge.
I will continue momentarily, but I yield to my friend from Colorado (Mr. Neguse), our assistant Democratic leader.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, let me add that Representative Ruiz--Dr. Ruiz was instrumental in the part of this PACT Act package that dealt with the 23 presumptive illnesses.
Let's be clear that the 23 presumptive illnesses aren't just 23 diseases. They are actually buckets, Mr. Speaker, 23 buckets, we are talking more like 300 illnesses that are covered by the PACT Act.
We endeavored hard to make sure that veterans did not have to wait decades for all of the hard scientific evidence to come in. We relied on analogues, such as the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers, and the toxic substances that our first responders were subjected to, and we observed that those first responders had a pattern of illnesses that began to arise in numbers that did not match what would be in the general population and we could use such approaches to begin to identify those very similar kinds of diseases that were arising from exposure to toxic burn pits.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I have the urge to say ``oorah.'' I thank the gentleman for his service to our country, not only as a Representative but also as a marine veteran.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for her work on the section of the PACT Act that relates to justice for those servicemembers who were in residence at Camp Lejeune. It is a decades-long effort to bring justice for those members, and I urge our government to move as expeditiously as possible to get those claims settled with all of our veterans across the country who have served at Camp Lejeune.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Landsman for his amazing advocacy for our Nation's veterans.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Ilhan Omar for all her amazing work to help the veterans in her district and across our country.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Kennedy for hitting the ground running as one of our newest Representatives. I know he is going to be getting the message out to the veterans who live in his district to make sure that they submit their PACT Act claims and to access the benefits that they have earned through their service.
When President Biden signed the Honoring our PACT Act, he declared that every eligible veteran should be able to apply immediately. We had written the law in such a way that the healthcare and benefits would be phased in, but President Biden decided that every veteran should be able to apply for benefits as soon as it became law.
Within 24 hours, the Department of Veterans Affairs had created a website where veterans and their families could learn more about the law and how to apply for benefits. This shows how committed President Biden has been with House Democrats to support the veteran community. He understood what a difference this important law would make for veterans, and he did not want them to wait to be able to apply.
The successful implementation of the PACT Act shows that the Biden Administration was invested in helping veterans and implemented this law far faster than most laws. We all know, and we all knew veterans and their families could not wait any longer. This was many years coming for veterans who were already facing illness or cancer from toxic exposure, and many of these veterans were able to get updated disability ratings and access to healthcare.
I find it odd that while the PACT Act is sometimes known as the burn pits bill, when we talk about veterans waiting for decades, the PACT Act actually addressed Agent Orange claims and exposure to Agent Orange that had not been covered by previous legislation. So this took care of unfinished business with Agent Orange and exposure to radiation. So those veterans who were from previous conflicts, conflicts previous to Afghanistan and Iraq, were also eligible to get their toxic exposure illnesses addressed and covered by this legislation.
In fact, this legislation covers veterans who were involved in the global war on terror around the world. It was not just confined to those veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Before the PACT Act, veterans were likely to need to prove exposure to specific chemicals in order to receive healthcare and benefits. This is nearly impossible when talking about burn pits because of the myriad of materials that were burned in them. Over 6 million veterans and their survivors have completed a toxic exposure screening to ensure they are eligible for care and benefits now and in the future.
VA also announced recently that over 1 million veterans had been granted their disability benefits, which is tremendous news, less than 2 years since this bill became law.
I would be remiss if I did not mention the veterans service organizations who all came together to support this bill and willed it into law. They showed Congress and President Biden just how important it was that we took care of veterans and their survivors.
Democrats and President Biden have proven time and time again that we do not just say thank you for your service. Our actions show just how grateful we are for that service and that we were willing to pay for all the costs of war.
So I want to thank Assistant Leader Neguse and all of my colleagues who have joined me on the floor today for this Special Order hour on the Honoring our PACT Act.
I am proud to have authored this important legislation that has helped thousands of veterans.
I am grateful to Speaker Emerita Pelosi who understood that we needed to deliver for veterans in the 117th Congress and who was a key player in getting this legislation over the finish line.
I want to thank President Biden for his continued support of the veteran community. I don't know of a President who has any greater love for veterans than President Biden. It is who he is. So it is with great sincerity and great emotion that I thank him for his decades of service to our veterans. As I said much earlier, he decided that all eligible veterans would be immediately able to apply for benefits instead of the original phased-in approach. He knew how critical this would be for countless veterans and their families.
We put partisanship aside and came together to help veterans and their families. More than 1 million veterans and survivors have already received benefits, and thousands more veterans have signed up for VA healthcare.
However, as I said earlier, there are some 300,000 veterans who have submitted an intent to file at some point last year who have 365 days to actually submit their claim. For most of these veterans, this 365- day window is this month or early August. In order to receive backdated benefits back to 2022, these veterans need to submit their claims as soon as possible.
However, we are not going to stop here. While we celebrate the Honor the PACT Act and the more than 1 million veterans who have benefited from it, we know there is more work to do. As ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I am working to end veteran homelessness and to make the VA an even more welcome place for women and LGBTQ+ veterans and stop attempts at more privatization of VA healthcare.
We made a solemn promise to our servicemembers that if they serve our country, then we will take care of them. This means every veteran.
We also ensure and will ensure they get the best possible care at VA facilities. We will honor our pact with them, and we will honor the promise that we made to them with my legislation, but I will not stop working to improve the lives and livelihoods of veterans around the country.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Office of Assistant Leader Joe Neguse and Ranking Member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee Mark Takano for hosting this special order hour and helping to raise awareness about the extended efforts made to secure and expand PACT Act benefits for over 1 million veterans and survivors.
The landmark bipartisan Sergeant First Class Health Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, otherwise known as the PACT Act, was signed into law in 2022, enacting perhaps the largest health care and benefit expansion in VA history.
This law provides expanded benefits to Veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances, helping generations of Veterans--and their survivors, receive the critical care they deserve.
And as of 2024, these VA health care benefits were expanded to millions of Veterans--years earlier than initially called for by the 2022 passage of the PACT Act.
As a senior member of this Congress and a longtime supporter of Veterans, I know the passage of this law has been a step in the right direction to address all harms Veterans in America sadly face and continue to face, particularly Black and minority Veterans.
There is a long and painful history of denial of service-related toxic exposure that dates back to nuclear testing conducted during and in the decades following WWII that cause premature deaths, cancers and other service-related injuries.
For decades, millions of Veterans have unknowingly been exposed to toxic substances and radiation during their military service.
As a result of these exposures, Veterans have had to face a range of serious health complications, including many types of cancers, cardiovascular, respiratory, and neurological disorders, and other chronic illnesses.
Although the severity of the health issues can vary, many Veterans have faced debilitating conditions that require ongoing medical care and support and can cause disability, reduced quality of life, and premature death.
Current estimates suggest that more than 5 million Veterans were exposed to toxic substances or radiation during their service.
The type and extent of exposures vary significantly, depending on the time and location of a Veterans' military service:
During World War II, service members involved in construction projects and serving on ships were exposed to asbestos.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Veterans involved in nuclear testing and handling nuclear weapons risked exposure to radioactive materials.
During the Vietnam War Veterans faced exposure to Agent Orange, a toxic herbicide containing dioxin.
In particular, the pattern of not acknowledging service-related toxic exposure includes Agent Orange service-related exposure that was not acknowledged until passage of the Agent Orange Act of 1991.
Agent Orange was a herbicide used to defoliate vegetation and kill crops over the rural landscape in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971.
The health conditions caused by this exposure were compounded by mental distress when the government denied that the conditions were linked to Vietnam era military service.
Before passage of the PACT Act, Veterans with toxic exposures had to prove a direct connection between their medical conditions and a specific toxic exposure that they faced during their military service.
Because of the difficulty connecting a condition to an exposure, the VA denied nearly 80 percent of disability claims related to burn pit exposures before the passage of the PACT Act.
The PACT Act sought to remedy this from ever happening again.
In particular, the law added a ``presumptive'' service connection for hundreds of conditions linked to burn pits, agent orange, and other hazards while serving our country, and thus lowered the burden of proof required to receive disability benefits.
Now, the average nationwide percent service connection rate for Veterans with these granted claims is 70 percent, meaning that they receive more than $20,000 in earned benefits payments from VA each year.
Additionally, nationwide, we know that Veterans have submitted over one million total claims since the PACT Act was enacted. And over 76 percent of all claims have been approved, a sharp increase from pre- PACT levels--resulting in over $2.4 billion in benefits to Veterans and the survivors.
These benefits are also particularly important to the state of Texas, which has the largest veteran population in the U.S.
Since its enactment in 2022, Texas has led the Nation in Veterans filing disability claims associated with the PACT Act at over 161,920.
From these PACT Act-related claims, VA has delivered more than $600,231,041.75 in earned benefits to Texas Veterans and survivors.
Importantly, since the PACT Act was signed into law, more than 68,867 Texas Veterans have also signed up for VA health care.
These numbers make clear that the PACT Act is working, ensuring that the courageous men and women who serve our country avoid having to navigate unnecessary webs of red tape to receive treatment or benefits.
Just as our Veterans made a commitment to serve our Nation, we too have a responsibility to serve them long after they take off the uniform.
With the passage of the PACT Act and the proactive steps the Administration has taken following its enactment to ensure that actual benefits are realized for over one million Veterans, Congress has done just that.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source