IFPTE Urges Senators to Advance Honoring Our PACT Act and Fulfill Our Nation's Promise to Veterans
UPDATE: Honoring Our PACT Act passed with bipartisan support by a vote of 86-11. The legislation now goes to the President’s desk where it will be signed into law. See how your Senators voted.
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Last week, the Senate vote to advance the Honoring Our Pact Act, House Amendment to S. 3373, failed to receive the 60 cloture votes needed to advance the legislation for a final floor vote. The Senate opposition to this legislation is astonishing and unexpected as the legislation was passed by the Senate with strong bipartisan support on June 16, with 84 Senators voting for the bill.
As the Senate once again considers advancing and passing the Honoring Our PACT Act this week, IFPTE told Senators — and, in particular, the 25 Senators who voted for the bill in June only to vote against advancing the bill last week — that, “we urge you in the strongest terms possible to pass the motion to close debate and to vote to pass this legislation so that our nation may fulfill its promise to veterans.”
After the legislation failed to pass last week, IFPTE members reached out to union leadership and staff to express frustration and disbelief that this urgently needed and noncontroversial legislation that had already received bipartisan support was now being blocked.
The previous version of the bill is identical to the bill being considered, but the House and Senate had to pass the legislation again due to a technical issue. IFPTE’s letter mentions that, “If it’s not for a “blue slip” issue with changes made in the Senate – changes that were agreed with bipartisan support and with the unanimous support of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee – this legislation would have been signed into law by now after passing the House and Senate with strong bipartisan support. The only difference in the Honoring Our PACT Act legislation in the Senate and the legislation that passed failed to garner enough cloture votes to advance is that House Amendment to S. 3373 conforms to the origination clause.”
IFPTE also told Senators that the objections of some Senate Republicans to the bill are unfounded. In response to the justification that the bill’s funding is somehow improper, IFPTE responded, “The legislation creates the Cost of War Toxic Exposure Fund to pay for care and benefits to veterans in every state, disability claims processing, medical research, and other associated services. Significantly, the fund provides care, benefits, and services in a timely manner with stable funding. We respectfully and unreservedly disagree with any suggestion that providing funding for necessary care to our veterans is a “budget gimmick” or in any way controversial.”
Read IFPTE’s letter requesting Senators advance and pass the Honoring Our PACT Act here.