U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

Some Republican states set to ban abortion without exceptions for rape and incest

As states across the country prepare for the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade in June, attention has shifted to the forthcoming efforts to outlaw abortion in Republican-controlled states. And, despite the unpopularity of such measures, it seems that many red states are planning to ban abortion without any exceptions for rape or incest.

Of the 22 states with abortion bans that will instantly take effect if the landmark Supreme Court ruling is overturned, 10 have passed laws that make no exceptions for rape or incest: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.

The majority of these measures were passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures, suggesting that the issue may become an albatross for the party. When Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, he falsely asserted that his state’s abortion ban has an exception for rape and incest. When host Chuck Todd noted that it doesn’t, Reeves avoided taking a position on whether such an exception should be added to the law.

“That decision was made by the Mississippi Legislature, and I think there is certainly a conversation,” Reeves said. “We’ll see what happens based upon the ultimate outcome of the Dobbs case that is before the Supreme Court.”

Republican senators, meanwhile, are mostly ducking the question when asked. “You’re asking me a hypothetical question,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told reporters, according to Insider. “Come back and see me after the Supreme Court rules.”

“I’m not projecting ahead,” said Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the only woman in the Republican Senate leadership. “We need to go through the process with the Supreme Court.”

Most of the American public supports legal abortion in general, and banning abortion without exceptions is especially unpopular — even among Republicans.

The latest Yahoo News/YouGov poll, which was conducted from May 3 to May 6, found that 31% of U.S. adults want Roe v. Wade to be overturned. The 1973 Supreme Court ruling established a constitutional right to an abortion in the early months of pregnancy. A draft majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, written by Justice Samuel Alito and leaked to Politico last week, would remove that protection, paving the way for states or the federal government to outlaw abortion.

The Yahoo News/YouGov poll also found that only 22% of Americans support a national ban on abortion — which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said last Thursday may be passed if the GOP takes control of Congress — versus 48% who would support a federal law protecting abortion rights.

But the unpopularity of an abortion ban without exceptions is even starker: 71% said abortion in cases of rape or incest should be “generally legal,” while just 15% said it should be “generally illegal.” Eighty percent of Democrats, 60% of Republicans and 74% of independents said abortion should be legal in cases of rape or incest. Only 25% of Republicans said abortion should be illegal in cases of rape or incest. Eighty-eight percent of people who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 said it should be legal, as did 61% of those who voted for former President Donald Trump.

Other polls have found similar results. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in March found that just 8% of American adults think abortion should be illegal with no exceptions, whereas 29% said it should be illegal but with exceptions.

For the last four decades, most Republican elected officials have been broadly anti-abortion, but the lack of exceptions is a newer phenomenon. While every Republican president since Ronald Reagan has favored exceptions for rape and incest, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who chairs the National Republican Senate Committee, recently declined to comment to Insider on whether he will support such exceptions after Roe is overturned.

Not all Republican politicians are as reticent: In Pennsylvania, the frontrunner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, favors outlawing all abortions without exceptions.

“Something has changed, at least in Arkansas, and I perceive nationwide,” Arkansas state Sen. Jim Hendren, who left the GOP and became an independent after the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, recently told the Guardian. Hendren identifies as a “pro-life” legislator, but he voted “present” on Arkansas’s blanket abortion ban after determining that an amendment he drafted creating exceptions for rape and incest would not have the support to pass.

"The fact is, it’s a different ethical dilemma when you’re talking about a 10-year-old girl who is a rape victim being responsible for the actions of a criminal, versus someone who is responsible for their own actions,” Hendren said. He added that some of his Republican colleagues privately told him they agreed with his proposal but feared being branded as pro-abortion by a primary opponent.

Despite the unpopularity of no-exception abortion bans, even among Republican voters, the legislators responsible for such laws have not faced repercussions at the ballot box.

“We’ve seen state legislatures adopt restriction after restriction and ban after ban, and these legislators remain in power,” Elizabeth Nash, a policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion-rights think tank, told the Atlantic. “It doesn’t feel like there are any consequences for them.”

Under Roe, these laws were essentially symbolic. Once they take effect, the public may react. According to the Yahoo News/YouGov poll, Democrats led Republicans by 5 percentage points when survey respondents were asked which party they will vote for in the upcoming congressional elections, but the Democrats’ advantage widened to 13 points when the question was framed as a “pro-choice Democrat” versus a “pro-life Republican.”

Abortion rights advocates, meanwhile, argue that legal exceptions for rape and incest do not actually protect all victims of rape, as they typically require rape survivors to file a police report, which most rape victims — often feeling shame or fearing being ostracized — fail to do. (The Associated Press recently reported that just one-third of sexual assaults are reported to police, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.)

Idaho and Utah both have abortion bans with exceptions for rape or incest on the books, but they require the pregnant woman to have filed a police report and shown it to the abortion provider before getting the procedure.

Nash of the Guttmacher Institute told the AP last week that of 86 proposed state-level abortion restrictions this year, only a few include rape and incest exceptions.

"You might think these exceptions are helpful,” Nash said. “But in fact they’re so restricted, they’re very hard to use.”

https://news.yahoo.com/some-republican-states-set-to-ban-abortion-without-exceptions-for-rape-and-incest-204305491.html

[Rick Plant]

President Biden @POTUS

This afternoon, I signed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 into law. This bill provides another important tool in our efforts to support Ukraine and its people in their fight to defend their country and democracy against Putin’s brutal war.



https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1523796583120265217


Biden signs bill that aims to streamline U.S. military aid to Ukraine

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed a bill Monday that will streamline the lengthy process of supplying Ukraine with the military equipment needed for the fight against Russia.

“I’m signing a bill that provides another important tool that directly supports the government of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people and their fight to defend their country and their democracy against Putin’s brutal war,” Biden said from the Oval Office.

“The cost of the fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is even more costly,” Biden added.

Biden’s signature on the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 will make it easier for the U.S. to lend or lease military aid to allies affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Biden already has some power to lend or lease equipment, but the legislation he will sign into law will ease some of the requirements for doing so.

Under the measure, Ukraine can request streamlined transfers of U.S. weapons and other security assistance. The U.S. will get guarantees that the country will replace or reimburse the assets at a later date.

Monday’s legislation evokes the “Lend-Lease Act,” through which the U.S. supported allies, including the Soviet Union, during World War II.

On Friday, the Biden administration announced a new weapons package for Ukraine worth $150 million.

The latest military aid package, the ninth security assistance installment, brings the U.S. military aid commitment to $3.8 billion since Moscow invaded its neighbor in late February.

The $150 million pledged on Friday comes from the remaining $250 million in presidential drawdown authority, which allows the president to transfer excess weapons from U.S. arsenals without congressional approval.

Last month, Biden requested $33 billion from Congress after he exhausted his remaining drawdown authority. He reiterated his request on Friday.

He said that for Ukraine to succeed against Russia, the U.S. and its allies must continue to move weapons and ammunition into the country.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/09/biden-signs-ukraine-lend-lease-military-aid-bill-amid-russia-invasion.html

[Rick Plant]

President Biden @POTUS

Today, we’re launching a program that allows millions of American families to get high-speed internet for free. To learn if you qualify, head to http://GetInternet.gov.

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1523775142039597060

More than 30 million Americans live in places where speeds are too slow or where there is no broadband infrastructure at all.

Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’re delivering high-speed internet infrastructure to every part of this country.

High-speed internet is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.

But today, too many families simply can’t afford it.

That’s why in November, when we passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we created something called the Affordable Connectivity Program. Here’s how it works.

If your household income is twice the federal poverty level or less — or if a member of your household is on Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, or a number of other programs, you’re eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program.

Nearly 40% of American households qualify.

Families who are eligible can select a plan from a participating provider and receive high-speed internet at no cost in most cases.

To find out if you’re eligible and enroll in the program, call 877-384-2575 or head to http://GetInternet.gov.

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1523735716194357250

[Rick Plant]

Is DeSantis “scared” to state his stance on an all-out abortion ban?



During a virtual press conference on looming threats to abortion access, Orlando Democrat Rep. Anna Eskamani said Gov. Ron DeSantis is “scared” to indicate whether he would support an all-out abortion ban if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade case.

“I wouldn’t say we’re fearful, we don’t operate in a place of fear. We operate on a place of endurance and resilience. We absolutely expect there to be an all-out ban on abortions, whether it’s going to be during a special session, or in the general regular session. Now I will say that Governor Ron DeSantis is scared,” Eskamani said during questions Tuesday at the virtual press conference hosted by the Florida Democratic Party.

She added:

“It’s clear to me that Florida Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, are super awkward and uncomfortable talking about an all-out ban. They want to avoid it as much as possible, because they know the second they commit to it, it will wake up voters across the state of Florida and that is not what they want to do before a November election year.”

Eskamani has previously worked at a Planned Parenthood organization, including in Central Florida.

DeSantis’ spokesperson, Christina Pushaw said, “We are not going to respond to Rep. Eskamani’s comments.”

This is not the first time that reporters have asked about DeSantis’ stance on the potential for overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade case. But DeSantis has not answered questions directly on the issue.

However, he has focused on the leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion indicating that the high court will overturn the right for pregnant people to access abortions. And DeSantis has said he is awaiting the final ruling connected to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi.

DeSantis is considered a potential presidential contender and is currently running for reelection in the gubernatorial race this year.

He recently signed legislation that implements a ban on abortions after 15-weeks of pregnancy, starting July 1.

Eskamani continued during the press conference:

“The fact that he tip-toes around it and pivots to other issues – every time he’s asked about abortion, he pivots to other issues. I mean, that’s not a coincidence, that’s a tactic, because he’s trying to avoid talking about (an) all-out ban so that he doesn’t alarm voters on where he actually stands.”

“But we need people to know that if he’s reelected, next on deck will be an abortion ban — an all-out abortion ban in Florida,” she said.

State Sen. Lauren Book, the Democratic Leader in the Senate, said that Eskamani was “100 percent spot-on” when it comes to the November election and a potential all-out abortion ban.

https://floridaphoenix.com/blog/is-desantis-scared-to-state-his-stance-on-an-all-out-abortion-ban/

[Rick Plant]

Trump candidate loses Nebraska GOP primary



WASHINGTON – Charles Herbster, a Donald Trump-endorsed businessman who has been repeatedly accused of se*ual misconduct, lost his bid to be the GOP's nominee for Nebraska governor in the state's Republican primary on Tuesday.

University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen was the winner of the gubernatorial primary, according to the Associated Press, just ahead of Herbster and state senator Brett Lindstrom.

Herbster could not overcome the many misconduct allegations lodged against him, despite his denials.

Eight women, including a state senator, told the Nebraska Examiner during the campaign that Herbster had groped, forcibly kissed or improperly touched them at public events over the past six years.

Trump's candidates have fared well in 2022 Republican primaries, but the Nebraska governor's race proved that the ex-president's endorsement is not an automatic ticket to victory.

Pillen, who is also a veterinarian and a pig farmer, enjoyed the support of more establishment Republicans in Nebraska, including current Gov. Pete Ricketts.

Pillen adapted a familiar Trump phrase in thanking his supporters. "Tonight, we will celebrate a great victory," the new nominee said in a speech Tuesday night. "Tomorrow, it's back to work in the fight to keep Nebraska great."

Speaking with his supporters, Herbster called the race "one of the nastiest campaigns" in Nebraska history, and that may have played a role in his defeat. Herbster also said he spoke to Pillen and conceded the contest.

Herbster was one of at least nine candidates nationwide facing accusations of a se*ual nature.

The list includes former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican seeking a U.S. Senate seat, and former football star Herschel Walker, a GOP member running for the U.S. Senate from Georgia. Trump has endorsed Walker.

Will voters care?: At least 9 midterm candidates face misconduct or abuse allegations

Trump, who has been repeatedly accused of se*ual assault himself, re-doubled his support for Herbster in the wake of the allegations. He told a crowd at a rally in Nebraska that "I have to defend my friends... These are malicious charges to derail him long enough that the election can go by before the proper defense can be put forward."

The Republican nominee for Nebraska governor will be favored in the fall election against Carol Blood, a state senator who won the Democratic primary in this GOP-leaning state.

Trump endorsed Herbster back in October, but several Republicans in Nebraska did not follow suit.

In addition to Ricketts, Pillen had the had the support of the Nebraska Farm Bureau. The former Nebraska football player also had the endorsement of former congressman and Cornhuskers coach Tom Osborne.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/05/10/nebraska-primary-results/9710268002/

[Rick Plant]

Republicans respond to potential South Philly ‘ballot harvesting’ by GOP operative with firings, campaign attacks

PHILADELPHIA — The fallout from the discovery of a potential GOP “ballot harvesting” operation in South Philadelphia continued Tuesday, as two state party staffers lost their jobs, the matter became fodder for attacks in the Republican primary for governor, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle jockeyed to define just what the situation said — or didn’t — about the security of voting by mail.

Republican Party officials fired Shamus O’Donnell, 27, and C.J. Parker, 24, both of whom had been affiliated with the Republican Registration Coalition, the political action committee behind the South Philadelphia mail ballot operation, according to four party sources familiar with the matter.

Prior to his termination, O’Donnell, the PAC’s former treasurer and a Republican ward leader in Northeast Philadelphia, had worked as a field organizer for the state party, most recently on the campaign of state Senate candidate Sam Oropeza. Parker, also a GOP ward leader in the Northeast, had worked as a personal aide to state party Chair Lawrence Tabas.

O’Donnell and Parker declined to comment Tuesday and party officials, including Tabas, did not respond to requests for comment.

But the sources who described the terminations — and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter — said the party’s decision to cut ties with the two men stemmed from an Inquirer story last week that raised questions about the PAC’s work registering people in South Philadelphia to vote by mail.

The news organization found that dozens of Republican mail ballots for the May 17 primary were being diverted to a P.O. Box registered to the Republican Registration Coalition. The committee’s chairman — Billy Lanzilotti, a onetime Republican ward leader in Philadelphia and former campaign staffer for U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R., Bucks — said he’d helped the voters fill out their ballot applications, inserting his P.O. box on the form where voters would typically write their home addresses.

Though Lanzilotti maintained he was doing this as a “service to the voters” and intended to hand deliver the ballots once they arrived, many of the affected voters said they did not remember applying to vote by mail and had no idea why their ballots were going to Lanzilotti instead of directly to them. One said Lanzilotti had delivered his ballot back to the city once it had been filled out — which would violate state law.

Of the top 10 mailing addresses for Philadelphia ballots, Lanzilotti’s P.O. box was the only one that was not an elections office or a nursing home.

Philadelphia’s fellow GOP ward leaders voted Saturday to oust Lanzilotti from his position as the leader of South Philadelphia’s 39th Ward, calling the situation troubling at a time when Republican lawmakers and candidates have attacked mail voting and falsely characterized it as rife with abuse by their Democrat rivals.

In an interview Tuesday, Matt Wolfe, an attorney for O’Donnell, said his client had no involvement in Lanzilotti’s ballot operation and had merely agreed to sign on as treasurer for his PAC.

“Shamus had no knowledge of the mail ballot applications and what Billy Lanzilotti was doing,” said Wolfe, who also serves as a Republican ward leader in West Philadelphia.

He declined to say whether O’Donnell had lost his job with the state party but said the Republican City Committee had not considered voting to remove O’Donnell and Parker as ward leaders when they ousted Lanzilotti last week.

None of the affected voters interviewed by The Inquirer said Lanzilotti had attempted to influence or alter their votes.

State law forbids third-party ballot delivery — what Republicans call “ballot harvesting” — except when disabled voters specifically authorize someone else to turn in their ballot for them. But the Lanzilotti ballots, even if delivered in a way forbidden by state law, have not been found to be fraudulent.

Voter fraud — especially the kinds of complex, shadowy operations at the center of many baseless conspiracy theories — is rare.

But that didn’t stop Republicans from seeking to weaponize the situation Tuesday in their ongoing efforts to cast doubt on the security of voting by mail.

In the governor’s race, candidate Bill McSwain attempted to connect Lanzilotti’s operation to one primary opponent, former Delaware County Councilmember Dave White.

Lanzilotti’s Republican Registration Coalition PAC was formed earlier this year with $6,500 in donations from a fund controlled by GOP fund-raiser and former Republican National Committee member Bob Asher, who is supporting White in the primary. Lanzilotti had gathered signatures for White’s nominating petitions in Southeast Philadelphia.

“There is a clear connection between Dave White’s closest advisers and a scheme to manipulate … voters perpetrated by Dave White operative Billy Lanzilotti and the Republican Registration Coalition,” McSwain’s campaign manager, James Fitzpatrick, said in a statement Tuesday. “Any connection between a gubernatorial candidate and potential election misconduct is unacceptable.”

Bob Salera, campaign manager for White, shot back, denying any connection to Lanzilotti.

“These baseless allegations are what the last desperate gasps of Bill McSwain’s dying campaign look like,” he said. “It’s just sad.”

In Harrisburg, State Rep. Seth Grove, R., York, the House GOP’s elections point person and chair of the House Government Committee, cited the situation as he renewed his call for changes to how counties process and approve mail ballot applications — a measure that was part of a much larger bill vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf last year.

“This is nothing more than ballot harvesting,” Grove said in a statement Tuesday.

It’s not clear the specific policies advocated by Grove would have prevented the South Philly ballots from going out.

The signatures on the ballot applications for example, appear to be legitimate. The mailing address fields — where Lanzilotti’s P.O. box is written — appear to have been filled out in different handwriting. But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court noted in 2020 that elections workers aren’t trained handwriting analysts as it barred counties from conducting signature analysis on ballot envelopes.

And Democrats pointed to the fact that Lanzilotti was caught as proof that the system was working and secure.

City elections officials have said they will segregate the affected ballots when they are returned so they can be considered separately from the rest of the election’s ballots.

“As you can see,” State Sen. Anthony Williams, D., Philadelphia, wrote in a letter to his colleagues Monday, “the current systems that we have in place to provide secure elections worked, as the individual who engaged in this egregious behavior was identified and removed from the process.”

© The Philadelphia Inquirer

[Rick Plant]

This bill should have been passed unanimously with no question in the Senate, but Republicans are blocking another bill that helps Americans. These Americans are our veterans who gave their lives to defend our country and became sick due to their service. Republicans make lame excuses as to why they can't pass a necessary bill to give life saving health care to our veterans but had no problem voting "yes" for a $1 trillion tax cut that went for billionaires and corporations under Trump. Republicans don't care about our vets, they just use them as pawns for their campaigns at election time. When it comes time to vote for health care for Americans and our veterans, the GOP makes excuses and prevents the bill from passing. Tell these Senate Republicans that our veterans deserve to have quality healthcare and voting them out of office in November will stop all their obstruction from passing the legislation that the overwhelming majority of Americans want.   

Senate GOP Puts Up Roadblocks to Bipartisan House Bill for Veterans’ Burn Pit Care



Thousands of military veterans who are sick after being exposed to toxic smoke and dust while on duty are facing a Senate roadblock to ambitious legislation designed to provide them care.

The Senate could start work as soon as this week on a bipartisan bill, called the Honoring Our PACT Act, that passed the House of Representatives in March. It would make it much easier for veterans to get health care and benefits from the Veterans Health Administration if they get sick because of the air they breathed around massive, open-air incineration pits. The military used those pits in war zones around the globe — sometimes the size of football fields — to burn anything from human and medical waste to plastics and munitions, setting it alight with jet fuel.

As it stands now, more than three-quarters of all veterans who submit claims for cancer, breathing disorders, and other illnesses that they believe are caused by inhaling poisonous burn pit smoke have their claims denied, according to estimates from the Department of Veterans Affairs and service organizations.

The reason so few are approved is that the military and VA require injured war fighters to prove an illness is directly connected to their service — something that is extremely difficult when it comes to toxic exposures. The House’s PACT Act would make that easier by declaring that any of the 3.5 million veterans who served in the global war on terror — including operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Persian Gulf — would be presumed eligible for benefits if they come down with any of 23 ailments linked to the burn pits.

Although 34 Republicans voted with Democrats to pass the bill in the House, only one Republican, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, has signaled support for the measure. At least 10 GOP members would have to join all Democrats to avoid the threat of a filibuster in the Senate and allow the bill to advance to President Joe Biden’s desk. Biden called on Congress to pass such legislation in his State of the Union address, citing the death of his son Beau Biden, who served in Iraq in 2008 and died in 2015 of glioblastoma, a brain cancer included on the bill’s list of qualifying conditions.

Senate Republicans are raising concerns about the measure, however, suggesting it won’t be paid for, that it is too big, too ambitious, and could end up promising more than the government can deliver.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would cost more than $300 billion over 10 years, and the VA already has struggled for years to meet surging demand from troops serving deployments since the 2001 terror attacks on America, with a backlog of delayed claims running into the hundreds of thousands. Besides addressing burn pits, the bill would expand benefits for veterans who served at certain nuclear sites, and cover more conditions related to Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam, among several other issues.

While the bill phases in coverage for new groups of beneficiaries over 10 years, some Republicans involved in writing legislation about burn pits fear it is all too much.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, summed up the concern as stemming from promising lots of assistance “that might look really good,” but the bottom line is that those “who really need the care would never get into a VA facility.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another member of the panel, agreed. “What we’re concerned with is that you’ve got a backlog of 222,000 cases now, and if you implement, by legislative fiat, the 23 presumptions, we’re gonna go to a million and a half to two and a half million backlog,” he said. Tillis has advanced his own burn pits bill that would leave it to the military and VA to determine which illnesses automatically were presumed to be service-connected. That tally is likely to cover fewer people. “So the question we have is, while making a new promise, are we going to be breaking a promise for all those veterans that need care today?”

Republicans have insisted they want to do something to help veterans who are increasingly getting sick with illnesses that appear related to toxic exposure. About 300,000 veterans have signed up with the VA’s burn pits registry.

Sen. Jerry Moran from Kansas, the top Republican on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, held a press conference in February with Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), the committee chairman, advocating a more gradual process to expand access to benefits and define the illnesses that would qualify.

The event was designed to show what would easily gain bipartisan support in the Senate while the House was still working on its bill.

Veterans’ service organizations, which try to avoid taking partisan positions, have praised such efforts. But they’ve also made clear they like the House bill. More than 40 of the groups endorsed the PACT Act before it passed the lower chamber.

Aleks Morosky, a governmental affairs specialist for the Wounded Warrior Project, plans to meet with senators this month in hope of advancing the PACT Act.

“This is an urgent issue. I mean, people are dying,” Morosky said.

He added that he believes some minor changes and input from the VA would eliminate the sorts of problems senators are raising.

“This bill was meticulously put together, and these are the provisions that veterans need,” Morosky said. “The VA is telling us that they can implement it the way they’ve implemented large numbers of people coming into the system in the past.”

He pointed to the recent expansion of Agent Orange benefits to Navy veterans and to VA Secretary Denis McDonough’s testimony to the Senate Veterans’ Affairs committee in March. McDonough largely supported the legislation but said the VA would need new leasing authority to ensure it had adequate facilities, as well as more say over adding illnesses to be covered.

Senate Republicans are not so sure about the VA’s ability to absorb such a large group of new patients. Tillis and Rounds suggested one solution would be to greatly expand the access to care veterans can seek outside the VA. They pointed to the Mission Act, a law passed in 2018 that was meant to grant veterans access to private health care. Some critics say it has not lived up to its promise. It’s also been expensive, requiring emergency appropriations from Congress.

“You better think about having community care — because there’s no way you’re going to be able to ramp up the medical infrastructure to provide that purely through the VA,” Tillis said.

Tester said in a statement that the committee was working on McDonough’s requests — and could have a modified bill for a vote before Memorial Day.

“In addition to delivering historic reform for all generations of toxic-exposed veterans, I’m working to ensure this legislation provides VA with additional resources and authorities to hire more staff, establish new facilities, and make critical investments to better ensure it can meet the current and future needs of our nation’s veterans,” Tester said.

Whether or not those changes satisfy enough Republicans remains to be seen.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Armed Services subcommittee on personnel and earlier wrote a burn pits bill, said neither cost nor fears about problems on implementation should get in the way of passing the bill. Her proposal was incorporated into the House’s PACT Act.

“To deny service because of a lack of resources or a lack of personnel is an outrageous statement,” Gillibrand said. “We promised these men and women when they went to war that when they came back, we would protect them. And that is our solemn obligation. And if it needs more resources, we will get them more resources.”

She predicted Republicans would come along to help pass a bill.

“I’m optimistic, actually. I think we just need a little more time to talk to more Republicans to get everybody on board,” she said.

© Kaiser Health News