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VA secretary: GOP-backed burn pit amendments would lead to ‘rationing of care for vets’

VA secretary: GOP-backed burn pit amendments would lead to 'rationing of care for vets'

Proposed amendments by Republican senators to a bill aimed at aiding veterans exposed to toxic burn pits would result in “rationing of care for vets,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough said on Sunday.

“I can’t in good conscience do that, because the outcome of that will be rationing of care for vets, which is something I just can’t sign up for,” McDonough told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) appeared on the show earlier Sunday morning to explain Republican opposition to the bill, which was blocked last week when it fell five votes short of the tally needed to bypass the filibuster.

All Democrats and eight Republicans backed the proposal, and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (DN.Y.) said Democrats will bring the bill forward a second time on Monday.

Republicans have accused their Democratic colleagues of a “budgetary trick” in the bill’s funding.

Toomey said Sunday that “to hide behind a veterans bill the opportunity to go on an unrelated $400 billion spending spree is wrong.”

But McDonough said the dollar amount Republicans are worried about isn’t a Trojan horse for the Democrats’ agenda.

“If you look at the bill for $400 billion that he’s talking about, you won’t see it. You would have to go deep in some — into some charts of the back of the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] report about — to find that. Why is that fund in the bill? The fund is in the bill so that we can ensure [that] all the spending for this program is for the veterans exposed to these toxins.”

GOP-backed amendments would put a year-on-year cap on spending and do away with the funding for veterans after 10 years.

“So the impact of that would be, if we — if his estimates are wrong about what we will spend in any given year, that means that we may have to ration care for veterans,” McDonough said.

“The CBO suggested, for one program we’re currently running, the MISSION Act, that we would be spending $14 billion a year less this year. So they’re $14 billion off. And that’s just four years out from their initial investment.”

Toomey is “asking us to take their word for it in eight or 10 years,” the secretary said. “I can’t in good conscience do that, because the outcome of that will be rationing of care for vets, which is something I just can’t sign up for.”

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VA secretary: GOP-backed burn pit amendments would lead to ‘rationing of care for vets’

VA secretary: GOP-backed burn pit amendments would lead to 'rationing of care for vets'

Proposed amendments by Republican senators to a bill aimed at aiding veterans exposed to toxic burn pits would result in “rationing of care for vets,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough said on Sunday.

“I can’t in good conscience do that, because the outcome of that will be rationing of care for vets, which is something I just can’t sign up for,” McDonough told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) appeared on the show earlier Sunday morning to explain Republican opposition to the bill, which was blocked last week when it fell five votes short of the tally needed to bypass the filibuster.

All Democrats and eight Republicans backed the proposal, and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (DN.Y.) said Democrats will bring the bill forward a second time on Monday.

Republicans have accused their Democratic colleagues of a “budgetary trick” in the bill’s funding.

Toomey said Sunday that “to hide behind a veterans bill the opportunity to go on an unrelated $400 billion spending spree is wrong.”

But McDonough said the dollar amount Republicans are worried about isn’t a Trojan horse for the Democrats’ agenda.

“If you look at the bill for $400 billion that he’s talking about, you won’t see it. You would have to go deep in some — into some charts of the back of the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] report about — to find that. Why is that fund in the bill? The fund is in the bill so that we can ensure [that] all the spending for this program is for the veterans exposed to these toxins.”

GOP-backed amendments would put a year-on-year cap on spending and do away with the funding for veterans after 10 years.

“So the impact of that would be, if we — if his estimates are wrong about what we will spend in any given year, that means that we may have to ration care for veterans,” McDonough said.

“The CBO suggested, for one program we’re currently running, the MISSION Act, that we would be spending $14 billion a year less this year. So they’re $14 billion off. And that’s just four years out from their initial investment.”

Toomey is “asking us to take their word for it in eight or 10 years,” the secretary said. “I can’t in good conscience do that, because the outcome of that will be rationing of care for vets, which is something I just can’t sign up for.”

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Toomey defends burn pit vote, citing ‘false accusations’ by Jon Stewart

Toomey defends burn pit vote, citing 'false accusations' by Jon Stewart

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on Sunday defended his “no” vote on a bill to aid military veterans exposed to toxic burn pits against what he called “false accusations” from comedian Jon Stewart.

Toomey, during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Jake Tapper, called the former “Daily Show” host a “pseudo-celebrity” and accused the bill’s Democratic backers of “the oldest trick in Washington.”

“People take a sympathetic group of Americans — and it could be children with an illness, it could be victims of crime, it could be veterans who’ve been exposed to toxic chemicals — craft a bill to address their problems, and then sneak in something completely unrelated that they know could never pass on their own, and dare Republicans to do anything about it,” Toomey said.

The legislation’s supporters, Toomey said, will then “unleash their allies in the media and maybe a pseudo-celebrity to make up false accusations to try to get us to just swallow what shouldn’t be there.”

Toomey insisted that he and his fellow Republicans don’t oppose the bill itself, but are worried instead about Democrats using it to acquire funds for unrelated matters and switch discretionary funding to mandatory.

Stewart has knocked the GOP for holding up the bill’s progress and for misinterpreting the proposal.

“Their constituents are dying,” Stewart said in DC last week.

On Sunday, Stewart blasted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for voting “no” and called claims about the spending language in the bill and the potential to misuse included funds “factually incorrect.”

All Democrats and eight Republicans voted for the bill when it was first introduced last week, but the tally fell five votes short of the amount needed to bypass the filibuster.

Toomey on Sunday emphasized the Republican push for an amendment vote on the bill.

“This is why they do this sort of thing, Jake, because it gets very deep in the weeds and very confusing for people very quickly … We are spending way too much money to use — to hide behind a veterans bill the opportunity to go on an unrelated $400 billion spending spree is wrong. And we shouldn’t allow it,” the Pennsylvania senator said.

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Jon Stewart knocks Cruz no vote on burn pit bill

Jon Stewart knocks Cruz no vote on burn pit bill

Comedian and former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart on Sunday knocked out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for voting no on a bill to aid military veterans exposed to toxic burn pits during their service.

“The bill that Ted Cruz voted yes on had the exact same funding provisions as the bill he voted no on. It’s the exact same bill. None of this makes any sense,” Stewart told moderator Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Stewart also pushed back on Cruz’s claims that the bill is a “budgetary trick” by the Democrats to make some discretionary spending mandatory.

“That’s just a word salad that he’s spewing into his coffee cup on his way to God knows where, as veterans sit in Washington, DC, in the sweltering heat, demanding that they pass this legislation that they’ve been fighting for, for 15 years,” Stewart said

The bill would expand health care coverage for veterans exposed to toxins and burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Senate Republicans blocked the bill last week. Though all Democrats and eight Republicans voted in favor, the bill was five votes short of the amount needed to bypass the upper chamber’s filibuster.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (DN.Y.) said Democrats will bring the bill forward a second time on Monday.

“At some point, we all have to live in reality. And what he is saying is just factually incorrect,” Stewart said Sunday, referring to Cruz.

Cross said in a video on Twitter last week that the bill “gives a $400B blank check—separate from vets care—for unrelated pork that will supercharge inflation.”

–-Updated at 10:26 a.m.

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