Jon Stewart and Democrats rail against stalled burn pits legislation: CTT and Shelby Vote Against Bill...

[DKW 86 7,914]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/28/politics/pact-act-burn-pits-jon-stewart/index.html

If you want to vote against vets, well, FU...

[TexasTiger 14,363]

18 minutes ago, DKW 86 said:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/28/politics/pact-act-burn-pits-jon-stewart/index.html

If you want to vote against vets, well, FU...

They hate vets, women and children.

[aubiefifty 18,301]

Democratic lawmakers and activists, including Jon Stewart, expressed their anger and frustration on Capitol Hill on Thursday toward Republican senators who blocked a bipartisan bill that would expand health care access for military veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.

“This is total bulls***,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said at a press conference outside the Capitol on Thursday morning. “This is the worst form of politicization I’ve literally ever seen. This is total BS. We had the votes.”

Last month, the Senate voted 84-14 in favor of the legislation, called the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, which had passed the House earlier this year.

The measure would boost health care services and disability benefits for veterans suffering from exposure to the burn pits that were used in Iraq and Afghanistan to incinerate waste, with troops often using jet fuel as an accelerant.

 

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., at a press conference on Capitol Hill Thursday. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock)

 

Because of a parliamentary glitch involving a tax provision, it was sent back to the House, where it easily passed. But more than two dozen Republican senators, led by Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, voted Wednesday to delay its passage in order to cut some of the mandatory spending contained in the bill.

"My concern about this bill has nothing to do with the purpose of the bill," Toomey said, voicing his opposition to what he described as a "budgetary gimmick" that would allow $400 billion in additional spending.

The move outraged those, like Gillibrand, who had fought for its passage.

“We had strong bipartisan support for this bill,” Gillibrand said. “And at the eleventh hour, Sen. Toomey decides that he wants to rewrite the bill, change the rules and tank it. How he convinced 25 of his colleagues to change their vote, I have no idea. I mean, what the hell!”

 

Jon Stewart speaks to Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., at Thursday's press conference. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

 

"Make no mistake about it," Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said on the Senate floor Wednesday, shortly after the bill was blocked. "The American people are sick and tired of the games that go on in this body. They're sick and tired of us working for Democrats or working for Republicans and not working for the American people. But this is bigger than that."

Tester blasted the "cowardice" shown by Republicans who "chose today to rob generations of toxic-exposed veterans across this country of the health care and benefits they've earned and so desperately need."

"This is a sad day in the United States Senate," he said.

Stewart, who has spent the past few years advocating on behalf of military veterans, did not mince words while speaking alongside vets and their families at Thursday's press conference.

 

Stewart speaks to reporters Thursday. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

 

"So ain't this a bitch," Stewart said. "America's heroes, who fought in our wars, sweating their asses off outside with oxygen, while these motherf***ers sit in the air conditioning, walled off from any of it. They don't have to hear it. They don't have to see it. They don't have to understand that these are human beings.

"I'm used to the hypocrisy," he continued. "I'm used to the cowardice. The Senate is where accountability goes to die.

"I'm used to all of it," Stewart added. "But I'm not used to the cruelty."

[wdefromtx 3,635]

Was the $400B added in by the house? What is it used for? Haven’t had time to dig into it. Curious if any of y’all looked at the bill instead of relying on media. 

[AUDub 11,974]

4 hours ago, wdefromtx said:

Was the $400B added in by the house? What is it used for? Haven’t had time to dig into it. Curious if any of y’all looked at the bill instead of relying on media. 

That $400 was already in the bill, cleared, and well known. It changed from discretionary to mandatory. Y’all just say anything on the internet these days.

[DKW 86 7,914]

20 hours ago, wdefromtx said:

Was the $400B added in by the house? What is it used for? Haven’t had time to dig into it. Curious if any of y’all looked at the bill instead of relying on media. 

This was a F up by the Reps. My first read on this was that it allowed, or set the stage for the several MIC donors to get sued. I cant prove that, but the only reason to kill this bill was that is cost the MIC some real cash later on. STT and SRS both swapped their votes late in the process, is what I heard.

Edited July 29, 2022 by DKW 86

[AUDub 11,974]

5 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

This was a F up by the Reps. My first read on this was that it allowed, or set the stage for the several BIC donors to get sued. I cant prove that, but the only reason to kill this bill was that is cost the MIC some real cash later on. STT and SRS both swapped their votes late in the process, is what I heard.

Stewart called it "parliamentary ****ery"

[aubiefifty 18,301]

part of the burn pits i believe is haliburton. they were sued and they sued back.they actually counter sued our troops. can you imagine anyone suing troops injured or dead because they value the dollar and profit more than they value kids lives? it makes me sick. they did the responders of 911 as well. our country has turned ugly and it is only going to get worse.....................

[aubiefifty 18,301]

not only are they denying the vets the help they need they are celebrating it on the floor with fist bumps.

[homersapien 12,262]

Gotta love Trae Crowder. 

I totally identify with him. All southerners aren't crazy.

[aubiefifty 18,301]

i love me some trae. and for the record the repukes did this against first responders on 9/11, agent orange in nam, AND burn stuff in iraq AND larryland. i would love to see ted out there with a weapon fighting for his country because it would never happen. he is not in it to stand up for his country he is in it for what he can get out of his country to enrich himself. i mean the dude let a pig insult his wife. he did nothing. hell he left tejas for warmer climates and could care less what his fellow texans were going through. he had to be shamed to come home. and we vote these people in and it is bull****. of course ted is a fine christian man so he will probably always get voted in by waving the jesus flag. now this is not an insult to jesus it is an insult to ted.