How angry are some Republicans at what they see as betrayal by a centrist Democrat? Angry enough to betray sick military veterans, apparently. That’s the only rational explanation for last week’s sudden about-face by two dozen Senate Republicans, including Missouri’s Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley, who opposed legislation they previously supported to make it easier for cancer-stricken veterans to get help from the government.
Facing ferocious public pushback, Blunt, Hawley and the other GOP senators who about-faced last week quickly about-faced again this week, resuming their previous support for the measure and passing it Tuesday. But this shouldn’t be mistaken for an all’s-well-that-ends-well story. What the episode reveals about the partisan insolence and general dysfunction infecting one of America’s two major political parties is beyond disturbing.
At issue was the Pact Act, a long-sought measure to streamline the process of getting federal health care benefits to millions of veterans sickened by toxins released by burn pits for chemical and biological refuse and other sources. It relieves vets of the burden of proving the cause-and-effect of their illnesses in order to obtain coverage. The cost of less than $30 billion a year is the least America can do for those who have served and fallen ill while militarily deployed abroad.
