Blindsided veterans erupt in fury after Senate Republicans suddenly tank PACT Act

[rebewranger]

 
Blindsided veterans erupt in fury after Senate Republicans suddenly tank PACT Act
Melissa Chan and Phil McCausland and Daniel Arkin and Dareh Gregorian - Yesterday 6:04 PM
 

Blindsided veterans erupted in anger and indignation Thursday after Senate Republicans suddenly tanked a widely supported bipartisan measure that would have expanded medical coverage for millions of combatants exposed to toxic burn pits during their service.
 
Supporters of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act — or PACT Act — overwhelmingly expected the House-passed bill to sail through to the president's desk for signature.
 
But in a move that shocked and confused veteran groups Wednesday night, 41 Senate Republicans blocked the bill's passage, including 25 who had supported it a month ago.

"We really expected yesterday to be a procedural vote that would go with easy passage," said Jeremy Butler, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a nonprofit veterans’ organization. "That was the absolute expectation."

 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/blindsided-veterans-erupt-in-fury-after-senate-republicans-suddenly-tank-pact-act/ar-AA1059jE?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=3955dfab980b4e8e887b4f9146fece19

[SZonian]

"It underwent minor changes when it moved to the House, where it passed 342-88. When the bill returned to the Senate, the bill had not changed much..."

"Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., who voted against the legislation in June, has remained vocally critical of the bill. Yesterday, after the vote, he said that the bill included a “budget gimmick" that moved $400 billion over 10 years from “discretionary to the mandatory spending category,” which he considered unreasonable."

"(Ron Johnson, R-Wis) Johnson voted for the bill in June, but voted against it on Wednesday. He said in a statement that the bill “opens the door for more reckless government spending."

So, in other words, veterans are being used by demoncRATS to advance more budgetary nonsense and because Republicans balk, they're the "bad guys"?  SMDH...

[Smokin Joe]

IOW, it was poison pilled.