WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, President Joe Biden signed into law the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022, which will deliver comprehensive benefits to all generations of veterans who have suffered from exposure to burn pits or other toxic substances, for the first time in our nation’s history. The legislation is named in honor of Heath Robinson, a Central Ohio veteran who deployed to Kosovo and Iraq with the Ohio National Guard and passed away in 2020 from cancer after exposure to burn pits during his military service. U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) successfully fought to get this legislation through the Senate and to the president’s desk, in the face of Republican obstruction.

“Providing health care and benefits for veterans who suffer from toxic exposure is a cost of going to war. If you were exposed to toxins while serving our country, you deserve the benefits you earned, period. No exceptions,” said Brown. “Our veterans have waited too long already, and today we are finally delivering for them and their families by making the PACT Act the law of the land.”

Brown has been a leading voice in advocating for the passage of this legislation. Recently, while in Ohio, he joined veterans and their families who have been harmed by exposure to toxic burn pits to discuss this bill.

Brown recently joined SFC Robinson’s family to urge his Senate colleagues to keep their promise to our veterans and pass the PACT Act. In March, Brown welcomed Heath’s widow Danielle Robinson to Washington D.C. for President Biden’s first State of the Union Address. Robinson was invited to be the guest of First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.

A one-pager on the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022 can be found HERE.

Read what Ohio media are saying about the passage of the PACT Act and Brown’s efforts to get this to the President’s desk:

Ironton Tribune: EDITORIAL: Vote betrays those who sacrificed

  1. “The legislation, for which Brown, who serves on the U.S. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has been a major champion, would expand VA health care eligibility to post-9/11 combat veterans and more than 3.5 million toxic-exposed veterans, add burn pit and toxic exposure-related conditions to the VA’s list of service presumption and strengthen federal research on toxic exposure. The bill would also improve the VA’s resources on the issue as well as training for toxic exposure veterans.”

Sandusky Register: EDITORIAL: Vote against veterans is 'unconscionable'

  1. “Funding healthcare for veterans is not a liberal or a conservative, or a Democratic or Republican party issue; it's an American responsibility. As U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown has repeatedly said, paying for it is ‘the cost of war.’”
  2. “To fail to do that, in Sen. Brown's words, would be simply ‘unconscionable.’”

Sandusky Register: EDITORIAL: Left on the battlefield

  1. “U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, both voted in favor of the PACT Act in the Senate in a show of bipartisan support. Brown, who has spearheaded the legislation and guided it through the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, on which he is a member, has repeatedly said the cost of providing health and survivor benefits for veterans injured or killed in war is ‘the cost of war.’”

27 WKBN, Youngstown: Sen. Brown urges action after GOP senators block bill expanding care for veterans exposed to toxins

  1. “According to the Associated Press, the VA denies more than 70% of disability claims related to burn pit exposure.”
  2. “‘It’s time we do this… every day we wait are more soldiers, and more Marines and more people coming home and not getting the health care,’ Brown said.”

3 WKYC, Cleveland: Senate Republicans block legislation named after Ohio soldier meant to help veterans exposed to toxic burn pits

  1. “Sen. Sherrod Brown, Portman's Democratic counterpart in Ohio, voted in favor of the legislation in June and again the second time around in July.”
  2. “‘Millions of men and women – patriots like Heath Robinson – served this nation without asking once what was in it for them,’ Brown said. “Yesterday, Senate Republicans thanked them for their service by using them and their families as a bargaining chip in their latest political game. Their gimmick will not work – we're going to make good on our promise to veterans.’”

Sandusky Register: Republican senators kill veterans benefits legislation

  1. “U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, in a post on Twitter Wednesday, called the Republican vote ‘unconscionable.’”
  2. “‘Senate Republicans are playing politics and attempting to use veterans and their families as a bargaining chip,’ he posted. ‘These veterans sacrificed their bodies serving our country and have waited long enough already.’”
  3. “Brown, a proponent of the legislation, attended a news conference on Capitol Hill Thursday morning.”

7 WTRF, Wheeling/Steubenville: Sen. Brown makes final push for passage of PACT Act to protect veterans from toxic burn pits

  1. “Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown has been one of the lawmakers spearheading the PACT Act, and says the President has told him personally he will sign it.”

Columbus Dispatch: Bill to help burn-pit victims inspired by Ohio veteran delayed by U.S. Senate Republicans

  1. “‘For whatever reason, Republicans decided that their political calculations and their politics are more important than what we do for this nation's veterans,’ Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said during a news conference Thursday.”

Cleveland.com: U.S. Senate passes legislation named for Ohio guardsman that would help veterans injured by burn pit toxins

  1. “The legislation adopted in an 84 to 14 vote is named the ‘Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022’ after an Ohio National Guard soldier from Pickerington who died in 2020 at age 39 from diseases caused by burn pit exposure. He encountered the toxins while deployed in Kosovo and Iraq, said U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat.”
  2. “‘It’s time we ensure that our veterans receive the full benefits and care they deserve after sacrificing so much for our country,’ Brown said.”
  3. “Both Brown and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, said Ohio veterans frequently tell them of the difficulties they’ve had getting VA care for burn-pit-related ailments.” 

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