[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 126 (Thursday, July 28, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S3761]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                PACT Act

  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I am coming down to the floor to speak 
briefly on our efforts to protect women's access to birth control and 
contraception, but before I do, I just want to note something that 
happened here today that was really odd.
  So a few weeks back, we came together and had a consensus bipartisan 
vote to stand up for our veterans. A number of Republican and 
Democratic legislators here in the House and the Senate worked together 
to develop something called the PACT Act.
  This is groundbreaking legislation, decades in the making, that 
provides veterans access to healthcare for exposure to toxic chemicals, 
exposure that comes through being subjected to military burn pits--
these are pits where a lot of toxic chemicals and plastics are burned 
at military installations--but also for exposure to chemicals like 
Agent Orange.
  So we had an 84-to-14 vote here just a few weeks ago in favor of the 
PACT Act and then the bill came back to the Senate due to some 
technical corrections having nothing to do with the substance of the 
bill. And yesterday the vote went from 84 to 55. Thirty Senators 
reversed their vote, and the bill failed. All 30 of those were 
Republicans.
  What happened in 2 weeks that convinced 30 Republicans, who 
previously thought it was a good idea to help veterans, to decide 
instead to tank a bill that was helping veterans?
  There are really only two explanations.
  The more charitable explanation is that 30 Republicans just changed 
their minds; that 3 weeks ago they thought it was a good bill, helping 
veterans was a good idea, and 3 weeks later they decided that it wasn't 
a good idea; that they would rather spend that money on somebody else 
instead of our most vulnerable veterans.
  Now, that would be pretty fantastic to have 30 Members of the Senate 
change their minds on the merits of a bill, especially a bill that 
helps veterans, the most vulnerable veterans in this country, veterans 
who are dealing with cancer and respiratory illnesses.
  The less charitable explanation is this. Republicans are mad that 
Democrats are on the verge of passing climate change legislation and 
have decided to take out their anger on vulnerable veterans because 
that is the other thing that has changed in the last 3 weeks. 
Republicans thought that Democrats weren't going to be able to pass a 
bill asking corporations to pay a little bit more, tackling climate 
change. Yesterday, news emerged that there is an agreement that makes 
it likely that a climate change bill is going to proceed on the Senate 
floor, and, magically, 30 votes flipped.
  That is the less charitable explanation because that would be pretty 
horrific if Republicans were mad about a climate change bill and 
decided to take out their anger on veterans--on vulnerable veterans.
  So maybe in the coming days we will figure out which one it was. 
Maybe we will figure out if 30 votes flipped because the merits of the 
bill dictated that flip or maybe we will find out that Republicans have 
decided to just take out their anger about the reconciliation bill on 
veterans. Either way, this is not a good day for veterans in this 
country.
  Democrats are standing up for veterans. We are going to keep voting 
for the PACT Act. We are going to bring it back. But 30 Republicans who 
thought helping veterans was a good idea just 3 weeks ago all of a 
sudden abandoned the cause.