• President Joe Biden is traveling to New Hampshire to discuss the impact of the PACT Act, aimed at assisting veterans exposed to toxins.
• Since the law’s enactment in August 2022, over 1 million claims have been granted, benefiting around 888,000 veterans across the U.S.
• The total benefits given under the PACT Act amount to approximately $5.7 billion, according to the administration’s data.

President Joe Biden, intent on selling his legislative accomplishments this election year, will travel to New Hampshire on Tuesday to detail the impact of a law that helps veterans get key benefits as a result of burn pit or other toxic exposure during their service.

In raw numbers, more than 1 million claims have been granted to veterans since Biden signed the so-called PACT Act into law in August 2022, the administration said Tuesday. That amounts to about 888,000 veterans and survivors in all 50 states who have been able to receive disability benefits under the law.

That totals about $5.7 billion in benefits given to veterans and their survivors, according to the administration.

THOUSANDS OF US VETERANS CONTINUE TO RECEIVE ADDITIONAL BENEFITS AS 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF PACT ACT APPROACHES

“The president, I think, has believed now for too long, too many veterans who got sick serving and fighting for our country had to fight the VA for their care, too,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough told reporters on Monday.

The PACT Act is relatively lower profile compared to the president’s other legislative accomplishments — such as a bipartisan infrastructure law and a sweeping tax, climate and health care package — but it is one that is deeply personal for Biden.

He has blamed burn pits for the brain cancer that killed his son Beau, who served in Iraq, and vowed repeatedly that he would get the PACT Act into law. Burn pits are where chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste were disposed of on military bases and were used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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But before the PACT Act became law, the Department of Veterans Affairs denied 70% of disability claims that involved burn pit exposure. Now, the law requires the VA to assume that certain respiratory illnesses and cancers were related to burn pit or other toxic exposure without the veterans having to prove the link.

President Joe Biden in Goffstown, N.H. on March 11, 2024.

Democrats have all but owned the Granite State’s four Electoral College votes, winning seven of the past eight presidential contests – including Joe Biden’s eight-point victory over President Donald Trump in 2020.

But the latest NHJournal/Praecones Analytica poll finds Biden tied with Trump in New Hampshire, putting him at risk of becoming the first Democrat to lose the state since Al Gore in 2000.

The survey of 862 registered voters taken the week of May 15-20 found Granite Staters evenly split between Biden and Trump at 36 percent, with 14 percent backing independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and another 12 percent choosing none of these.

Those numbers may explain why Biden is making his second Granite State stop in two months, an unusual travel pattern for a Democratic president in a competitive national election. For Biden, who rarely travels far from D.C. or his Delaware beach house, it’s particularly notable.

Biden is scheduled to appear in Nashua on Tuesday. On Monday, the Biden administration announced more than $3 million in Brownfield Grants “to rehabilitate and revitalize communities in New Hampshire,” including Nashua and Jaffrey.

“This helps to put President Biden’s visit this week into greater context, as that sound you hear is the 2024 battleground map expanding for Donald Trump, seemingly putting New Hampshire in play this fall,” said veteran New Hampshire GOP strategist Jim Merrill, who worked on the Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio presidential campaigns.

According to Praecones Analytica’s Dr. Jonathan Klingler, Biden’s struggles come from his loss of support among swing voters.

“While registered voters of both parties are largely united around their nominee, independent/undeclared voters are splitting their support in four statistically indistinguishable ways: between Biden, Trump, Kennedy, and other unnamed candidates,” Klingler said.

“In comparison to exit polls from the 2020 presidential election, independent/undeclared voters in New Hampshire demonstrate significantly lower support for Biden, as Biden won around 60 percent of these voters in 2020, compared to around a quarter if the election were held today.”

Biden is struggling in the polls in several states Democrats have done well in for years. The latest numbers show Biden and Trump in a close race for Minnesota, which hasn’t backed a GOP presidential candidate since President Richard Nixon’s 1972 49-state landslide.

And in Nevada, which Democrats have carried in six of the past eight elections, Trump has a six-point lead in the RealClearPolitics average, outside the margin of error.

But a Democrat in danger of losing a state in the heart of deep-blue New England would be a bad sign for the incumbent.

Biden also has a Kennedy problem. The new poll shows Kennedy’s support among Democrats is nearly twice as high (11.2 percent) as among Republicans. (6.6 percent).

RFK, Jr. first suggested a possible presidential run at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics in March, 2023. His progressive message has a large potential audience among Democratic voters who twice picked U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for the party’s presidential nominee.

Some Granite State political pros speculated that Biden’s weakness with swing or undeclared voters may be in part from his decision to dump the First in the Nation primary and his criticism of the Granite State as not diverse enough to be allowed to hold the Democrats’ first primary.

“He spent months insulting New Hampshire, and he wonders why he’s got a problem,” one Granite State Democrat and Biden supporter told NHJournal on background. “Politically active people, our party base, we understand the big picture, but the average voter thinks he was just being a jerk to us.”

Courtesy photo

Behind Gov. Chris Sununu from left are: Laurence Gagnon Migausky, Attachée Principale, Quebec Government, Commissioner Robert Quinn, NH Department of Safety, and Director Rob Buxton, NH HSEM

Concord, NH – Today, Governor Chris Sununu and Laurence Gagnon, a representative of the Quebec government, signed a historic security agreement between the State of New Hampshire and Quebec. 

This cooperation agreement comes as new challenges related to cross-border security emerge, including an increase in illegal border crossings, and is the first security arrangement that includes border security between New Hampshire and a foreign territory.

“Quebec is an incredibly important friend, neighbor, and ally,” said Governor Chris Sununu.  “I would like to thank Premier of Quebec François Legault and his team for updating our cooperation agreement to include additional language on border security — an issue that affects both of our citizens.” 

This cooperation agreement between New Hampshire and Quebec was first signed on September 23, 2004, in Montreal by Governor Benson and Premier Charest. Today’s update includes new language to acknowledge the seriousness of the issues surrounding New Hampshire’s northern border. 

The new language reads: “AWARE of the emergence of new issues related to border security, notably the important migratory flows in North America’s northeastern region, and wishing to collaborate on finding solutions to these issues while respecting the principles of privacy, civil liberties, and human rights.”

Note: A full copy of the agreement can be found here.