The PACT Act, which allocates health care funds for U.S. veterans suffering from exposure to toxic burn pits and Agent Orange, passed the U.S. Senate on Tuesday in a vote of 86-11 and is now heading the President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. Who are these politicians who voted against veterans getting the most basic care for diseases caused by America’s wars? Terrible, terrible people. Just the worst of the worst in Washington.
The bill passed the U.S. House in June and the Senate with majority support from both Democrats and Republicans not long after that. But a procedural technicality forced the vote to happen again in late July. Only this time, 25 Republicans switched their votes. The Republicans came up with all kinds of excuses, but it was the exact same bill. They were upset that Democrats were voting in favor of completely different and unrelated climate legislation that was finally progressing thanks to West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin.
Comedian and activist Jon Stewart did a stellar job of shaming Republicans for not voting for the legislation over the past couple of weeks, making appearances on TV while speaking plainly about how the members of the GOP were making up pathetic excuses about why they had switched their votes. And on Tuesday, there were enough Republican Senators who were shamed into switching back to their original vote of “yes,” finally giving these veterans the health care they need.
The 11 no votes included:
- Mitt Romney of Utah
- Rand Paul of Kentucky
- Mike Crapo of Idaho
- James Lankford of Oklahoma
- Mike Lee of Utah
- Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming
- James Risch of Idaho
- Richard Shelby of Alabama
- Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania
- Tommy Tuberville of Alabama
- Thom Tillis of North Carolina
All 11 senators also voted against the bill in June.
