SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 10, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — President Joe Biden visited Salt Lake City on Thursday to meet with veterans and celebrate successes in the nation’s “one truly sacred obligation” to take care of those who serve their country.
Biden marked the one-year anniversary of the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act with a visit to the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City, where the president passionately spoke about providing benefits and services to veterans who have been impacted by toxic exposures during their service.
“We have many obligations as a nation,” Biden said, “[but] we only have one truly sacred obligation, and that’s to equip those we send into harm’s way and care for them and their families when they come home and when they don’t.”
One year after signing the PACT Act into law, Biden touted its successes in providing health benefits veterans exposed to toxic chemicals, as well as compensation for their families.
The bipartisan legislation is named after Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson, a decorated combat medic who died from a rare form of lung cancer. The law facilitates timely benefits and services to veterans from all generations who have been impacted by toxic exposures.
Biden said the U.S. “learned a horrible lesson after Vietnam” and the effects of exposure to Agent Orange. Far too few veterans at that time were able to access the health care they needed and deserved, he said.
“I don’t want to see that again. The PACT Act means today’s veterans and their families won’t suffer the same painful, frustrating delays and denials,” Biden said.
The PACT Act also empowers the Veterans Administration to move quicker to determine whether a veteran qualifies for the benefits, and it provides funding for new facilities, research and increased staffing at VA hospitals, the president said.
Biden acknowledged his personal connection to veterans exposed to toxic chemicals. His son, Beau, was exposed to such chemicals from burn pits in Iraq and later died from brain cancer.
“My son was about 400 yards from one of the burn pits, living there for a year,” Biden said. “They’d breathe that toxic material sometimes for months at a time. In the case of my son and his buddies, it was for an entire year.”
The exposure ultimately caused “headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer,” the president said.
“This is not about my son, but just an example how close it was,” he said.
“We’re determined to address this problem, come hell or high water, and compensate these veterans and their families who have suffered the consequences of this tragedy.”
Biden also addressed mental health issues among veterans, noting that “more veterans have been and continue to die of suicide than in battle over the past two decades.”
“Seventeen a day [are] dying of suicide nationwide,” Biden said. “Even one veteran dying of suicide, particularly if they couldn’t get the help immediately, is one too many.”
The president also encouraged those struggling with mental health to seek help without fear or shame.
“There’s no difference between having a mental health problem and breaking your arm or your leg. No difference,” he said. “And you should not be worried about asking for help any more than you would if you broke your leg. We have to make sure people know there’s nothing to be ashamed of when seeking that help.”
Biden arrived in Utah on Wednesday afternoon. The president also planned to attend a fundraiser in Park City on Thursday.
