Quote (Santara @ Jul 28 2022 02:03pm)
I was asking for a summarization of this bill, and why it would be polarizing.
https://www.virginiamercury.com/2022/07/27/u-s-senate-fails-to-advance-burn-pits-bill-for-veterans-in-dispute-over-spending/his main opposition is changing the allocation process, which still carries with it a process wherein members would vote even if the allocation goes from discretionary to mandatory.
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Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey said in a brief interview after the vote that he wanted to address a “budget gimmick” in the bill that he believes would lead to an increase in spending unrelated to providing health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits.
Toomey said he had “no quarrel with” the legislation creating $278.5 billion in new spending during the next decade that would be classified as “mandatory.”
Toomey’s opposition to the bill comes from a separate section of the package that “would authorize $400 billion over the next 10 years of existing spending … to be switched from discretionary to mandatory.”
“And the reason for that, is to create a $40 billion annual hole in discretionary spending under the cap,” Toomey said. “And allow all kinds of spending on who knows what.”
Tester on the floor rebuked Toomey for holding up the legislation, saying veterans would die while waiting for Congress to send the legislation to Biden for his signature.
“It impacts three-and-a-half million veterans in this country,” Tester said. “By the way, a few more will die before we get this bill passed.”
Tester argued that Toomey’s objection was about the retiring Pennsylvania senator’s lack of trust in his colleagues.
Tester said that going along with Toomey’s proposed changes to the bill would tie the hands of the Appropriations Committee in the future.
“This is about not even trusting the people in this body. We have an Appropriations Committee and we vote on appropriations bills,” Tester said, clearly furious. “Let the process work. Let’s not tie the hands of appropriators. Let’s make sure we let the process work. That’s what we’ve always done.”