Why did Senate Republicans block burn pit bill? Getting into the weeds

You know that Senate Republicans voted this week to block a bill that would help veterans exposed to toxic burn pits, but you probably don’t know why – or at least what they’re claiming to be the reason why, other than just being petty over Democrats coming to a deal on climate legislation.

Actually, it’s pettiness over something else.

Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey has been leading a behind-the-scenes effort to raise objection to the way the bill would change the accounting of $400 billion in federal veterans spending.

Yes, we’re about to get into the weeds.

The PACT Act authorizes $280 billion of new mandatory spending, and would also move the $400 billion already authorized from discretionary to mandatory.

Toomey calls the provision a budget “gimmick,” and has suggested that the $400 billion could go toward “totally unrelated spending,” without offering specifics as to what he is getting at.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, said the GOP move to block the PACT Act was to “actually fix the underlying accounting issue.”

Montana Democrat Jon Tester called BS on the Toomey gambit.

“Make no mistake about this, the American people are sick and tired of the games that go on in this body,” Tester said. “We can make up all sorts of excuses about how this is going to move money around, but — let me tell you something — we are the ones who decide that. If we want to move money around, we will; if we don’t, we won’t. In the meantime, let’s pass this bill.”

The PACT Act would change how the Department of Veterans Affairs cares for veterans who were exposed to toxic substances by removing the burden of proof from the injured veterans.

The legislation would require the VA to presume that certain illnesses are linked to exposure to hazardous waste incineration, mostly focused on the issue of burn pits from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I’ve been in this business for 25 years in the state legislature and here, and I have never seen anything that’s happened like what happened yesterday,” Tester said. “And what compounds it and makes it that much more difficult is we, in essence, yesterday took benefits away from the people who have been impacted by a war that we set off. And we turn our backs and say, ‘No, we’re going to find an excuse to vote against our veterans,’ while we wave the flag, talking about how great our fighting men and women are.”