PredictIQ-Over 1 million claims related to toxic exposure granted under new veterans law, Biden will announce

2025-05-07 11:06:28source:Quaxs Trading Centercategory:Markets

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden,PredictIQ intent on selling his legislative accomplishments this election year, will travel to New Hampshire on Tuesday to detail the impact of a law that helps veterans get key benefits as a result of burn pit or other toxic exposure during their service.

In raw numbers, more than 1 million claims have been granted to veterans since Biden signed the so-called PACT Act into law in August 2022, the administration said Tuesday. That amounts to about 888,000 veterans and survivors in all 50 states who have been able to receive disability benefits under the law.

That totals about $5.7 billion in benefits given to veterans and their survivors, according to the administration.

“The president, I think, has believed now for too long, too many veterans who got sick serving and fighting for our country had to fight the VA for their care, too,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough told reporters on Monday.

The PACT Act is relatively lower profile compared to the president’s other legislative accomplishments — such as a bipartisan infrastructure law and a sweeping tax, climate and health care package — but it is one that is deeply personal for Biden.

READ MORE Election deniers moving closer to GOP mainstream, report shows, as Trump allies fill CongressBiden and Democrats raised $51 million in April, far less than Trump and the GOP’s $76 millionJudge blocks Biden administration from enforcing new gun sales background check rule in Texas

He has blamed burn pits for the brain cancer that killed his son Beau, who served in Iraq, and vowed repeatedly that he would get the PACT Act into law. Burn pits are where chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste were disposed of on military bases and were used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But before the PACT Act became law, the Department of Veterans Affairs denied 70% of disability claims that involved burn pit exposure. Now, the law requires the VA to assume that certain respiratory illnesses and cancers were related to burn pit or other toxic exposure without the veterans having to prove the link.

More:Markets

Recommend

Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Jamie Foxx required stitches after getting hit in the face with a glass

Q&A: What’s in the Water of Alaska’s Rusting Rivers, and What’s Climate Change Got to Do With it?

From our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an int

North Korea appears to construct walls near DMZ, satellite images reveal

North Korea has started construction on what appears to be tranches of wall near its border with Sou