XPost: alt.military, alt.politics.republicans, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: republican-backstabbers@biden.us   
      
   In article    
   governor.swill@gmail.com wrote:   
   >   
   > Pelosi says that it is justly deserved because Militarists vote Democrat.   
      
   A U.S. military veteran who would have benefited from two   
   bipartisan measures recently sacked in the House and Senate said   
   lawmakers “spit” in veterans’ faces by rejecting both proposals.   
      
   Michael Braman, 45, is one of many veterans left angry and   
   confused after Senate Republicans suddenly tanked a widely   
   supported measure that would have expanded medical coverage for   
   millions of former military members exposed to toxic burn pits   
   during their service.   
      
   Supporters of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring   
   Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act — or PACT Act —   
   overwhelmingly expected the House-passed bill to sail through to   
   the president’s desk for a signature.   
      
   But in a procedural vote Wednesday night, 41 Senate Republicans   
   blocked the bill’s passage, including 25 who had supported it a   
   month ago.   
      
   “They’re playing games with our veterans and their families, and   
   that’s cruelty,” Braman said. “Our leaders of our country spit   
   in our face by going back on this bill.”   
      
   The move comes two weeks after a House committee declined to   
   advance the Maj. Richard Star amendment, which would make   
   medically retired and severely disabled combat veterans with   
   under 20 years of active service eligible for both disability   
   and retirement benefits.   
      
   “I’m fuming over this,” said Braman, who is relying on the   
   passage of both measures.   
      
   Braman said he was a star athlete in high school who never had   
   breathing problems. But when he returned home from a deployment   
   to Afghanistan, where he said he was constantly around open-air   
   burn pits, he was diagnosed with asthma.   
      
   Burn pits were common at U.S. military bases during the wars in   
   Iraq and Afghanistan. Dangerous materials, from electronics and   
   vehicles to human waste, were regularly doused in jet fuel and   
   set ablaze, spewing toxic fumes and carcinogens into the air.   
      
   "Depending on the wind, no matter where you were, you’d get the   
   smoke," Braman said.   
      
   After serving in the Army and the Army National Guard for 19   
   years and five months, Braman said the military forced him to   
   medically retire in 2014 due to disability caused mostly by post-   
   traumatic stress disorder.   
      
   Under the Maj. Richard Star amendment, Braman and about 50,000   
   other combat-disabled veterans like him would qualify for   
   hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars more a month in benefits.   
      
   When the House Rules Committee did not move that amendment   
   forward two weeks ago, Braman said he felt forgotten by the   
   nation he served.   
      
   At the time, however, he felt hopeful that at least the PACT Act   
   would succeed, expanding Veterans Affairs health care   
   eligibility to more than 3.5 million post-9/11 combat veterans   
   who were exposed to toxins while serving in the military.   
      
   “If we didn’t get both of them, at least I thought we would get   
   one. I was 100% sure we were going to get it. It was a done   
   deal,” Braman said.   
      
   Up until Wednesday, the PACT Act had received overwhelming   
   support in both legislative chambers. In June, the Senate passed   
   the original legislation 84-14. It underwent minor changes when   
   it moved to the House, where it passed 342-88.   
      
   When the bill returned to the Senate, the bill had not changed   
   much, but the view — and vote — of 25 senators did.   
      
   Some of the legislators told NBC News on Friday that they   
   refused to vote to end debate for the version of the bill that   
   reached the Senate floor Wednesday because of what a   
   spokesperson for Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican,   
   called a “budget gimmick that allows for $400 billion dollars in   
   spending over the next 10 years unrelated to veterans.”   
      
   Some of their Democratic colleagues believe the move was   
   political.   
      
   In remarks on the Senate floor about his colleagues' change of   
   heart, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said, "Republicans are mad   
   that Democrats are on the verge of passing climate change   
   legislation and have decided to take out their anger on   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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