The News Journal: The PACT Act finally meets 'our sacred obligation' to Delaware veterans | Opinion
By Tom Carper, Chris Coons, Lisa Blunt Rochester, and Vince Kane
“Our sacred obligation.”
That’s how our friend and commander-in-chief, President Joe Biden, describes the debt we owe those who have served the United States in theaters of war worldwide. As Delaware’s congressional delegation, responsible for serving nearly 80,000 veterans in our state, and as Director of Wilmington’s VA Medical Center, focused on meeting the health care needs of veterans, we all share the president’s view of that obligation.
That’s why, over the past few weeks, the congressional delegation voted to pass the Honoring our PACT Act — a bill aimed at providing benefits for Veterans who had known or suspected toxic exposures, including those who worked near burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill represents the single most significant expansion of care from the Veterans Administration since the passage of the GI Bill during World War II. We were delighted to see Biden sign it into law earlier this month.
Let’s be clear — it took far too long for Congress to act to get these Veterans the resources they need. Vietnam veterans, like Sen. Carper, have been fighting for decades to establish a presumption of harm for exposure to chemicals like Agent Orange. But now that the bill has been signed into law — our work is still not over. By comparison, the PACT Act will expand VA benefits eligibility to more the 3.5 million Veterans, by some estimates. That means implementing the bill and ensuring that the VA has the resources they need to provide our Veterans with care must be a top priority for Congress and the Biden Administration.
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