LANSING — Today, President Biden signed the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act into law to ensure veterans have the access to the vital health care options they need after serving their country. This is the largest bill to ever comprehensively address exposure to burn pits, and the biggest expansion of VA health care in decades.
“The 600,000 veterans who call Michigan home deserve to have the health care they need, and by signing the PACT Act into law President Biden and Democrats have delivered on our promise to care for our nation’s veterans and their families when they return home,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes. “While I’m grateful to the Michigan Democrats who voted to help those exposed to toxic substances in the line of duty, I’m appalled that Republicans Bill Huizenga and Lisa McClain voted against providing lifesaving care to those who put their lives on the line for our country. Michiganders deserve better than the GOP’s extremism, and McClain and Huizenga will be held accountable for this dereliction of duty.”
The legislative package will support veterans in Michigan by:
- Expanding VA health care eligibility to post-9/11 combat veterans, which includes more than 3.5 million toxic-exposed veterans;
- Creating a framework for the establishment of future presumptions of service connection related to toxic exposure;
- Adding 23 health conditions related to burn pit and toxic-exposure to the VA’s list of service presumptions, including hypertension;
- Expanding the list of locations officially recognized as being related to Agent Orange exposure from service (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Guam, American Samoa, and Johnston Atoll);
- Strengthening federal research on toxic exposure;
- Providing additional resources to ensure VA workforce and systems can withstand increased demand;
- Investing to improve VA claims processing, workforce, and health care facilities;
- Bolstering development of the VA’s workforce by increasing the limits of student loan repayment programs and streamlining the hiring process; and
- Passing the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022, a bill Peters previously cosponsored, to allow servicemembers and military families to seek financial compensation for injuries or illnesses they suffered as a result of contaminated water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina—an issue that has impacted some Michiganders.
