WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs said this week that 1 million claims have been granted for benefits under the toxic exposure law that Congress approved less than two years ago, following the military’s use of open-air burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The law, approved with broad bipartisan support following years of advocacy by veterans, their families and service organizations, has also led to more than 145,000 people enrolling in health care provided by the VA.

In Maryland, the VA has approved 19,274 of the 31,440 claims filed by veterans in the state, and an additional 3,072 people have enrolled in VA health care, according to agency data.

The milestone was announced Tuesday by President Joe Biden at a speech in New Hampshire. VA Secretary Denis McDonough told reporters on a call ahead of the announcement that the law has made “tangible, life-changing differences for” veterans and their survivors.

“That has meant more than $5.7 billion in earned benefits for veterans as well as access to no-cost VA health care across all 50 states and the territories,” McDonough said.

White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden said during the call that the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics law, known as the PACT Act, “represents the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic-exposed veterans, including veterans exposed to burn pits and certain veterans exposed to radiation and Agent Orange.”

“This is truly personal for the president given his experiences as a military parent,” Tanden said. Biden’s son, Beau, died from brain cancer in 2015, at age 46.

The approval rate for benefits under the PACT Act is about 75%, according to a senior administration official.

Burn pit exposure

Congress struggled for years before reaching a compromise on when and how to provide health care and benefits for veterans exposed to open-air burn pits during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hazardous chemicals, medical waste, batteries and other toxic substances were disposed of in those burn pits, typically located on military bases. Service members had no choice but to live and work alongside the smoke, often breathing it in.

The law added 23 illnesses to the list of conditions that the VA presumes are connected to military service, eliminating the arduous and complicated process that many veterans had to undergo to try to get health care and benefits for those diagnoses.

Before the bill became law, veterans often had to prove to the VA that their illnesses were connected to their military service if they wanted to receive benefits or health care for those illnesses.

The U.S. Senate voted 84-14 in June 2022 to send the legislation to the House, where it was delayed for weeks over a dispute about incentivizing health care providers to move to rural or very rural areas.

The bill passed the House following a 342-88 vote in July, after that section was removed from the package. Senators voted 86-11 in August to send the bill to Biden’s desk.

The president signed the bill during a ceremony on Aug. 10.

“When they came home, many of the fittest and best warriors that we sent to war were not the same,” Biden said during the signing ceremony. “Headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer. My son Beau was one of them.”

The VA has an interactive dashboard that provides veterans with information about how to apply for health care and benefits under the PACT Act as well as how many claims have been submitted.

The agency also has a calendar of in-person events that can be found here. Veterans or their family members can also call the VA at 800-698-2411 to inquire about PACT Act benefits.

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Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at 9:12 am |
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Updated: May 21, 2024 at 9:15 am

Gov. Wes Moore told University of Maryland students to be prepared to make hard choices and be strong when faced with unexpected challenges in their lives and careers during his keynote speech at the university’s spring commencement Monday evening.

In his 15-minute speech at SECU Stadium in College Park, the Maryland governor urged graduating students to choose to be “tough” and step out of their comfort zone when confronting unforeseen challenges of the future. Moore evoked his slogan of “Maryland tough,” adopted in the aftermath of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in March.

A livestream of the spring commencement, set to start at 7 p.m., was canceled shortly before the ceremony began because of technical difficulties, a UMD spokesperson said. The School of Public Health ceremony was postponed to Tuesday night because of a power issue at Xfinity Center. Where Tuesday’s ceremony would take place was unclear Monday night.

Other speakers included Darryll Pines, UMD’s president, Jennifer King Rice, UMD’s senior vice president and provost, and Tolulope Ajayi, Class of 2024’s student speaker.

“When people ask me, ‘What kind of training helped you respond when the unthinkable happened?’ My answer isn’t, ‘Well, you know I have a bachelor of arts in International Relations,”’ Moore said in prepared remarks provided to The Baltimore Sun. “My answer is, ‘I choose tough. That was my preparation.’”

The governor’s speech came the same day the 984-foot Dali, the ship that struck and knocked the Key Bridge into the Patapsco River, was refloated. The ship sat for 55 days under a span of the bridge weighing millions of pounds that crews used explosives to remove.

About 9,000 winter and spring graduates were honored for earning bachelor’s degrees at Monday night’s ceremony. Around 3,000 students received master’s degrees and 1,200 earned doctoral degrees. The Class of 2024 graduated from high school in 2020 during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The things that are hard are the things that last. The things that come easy are the things that don’t matter. And those who are willing to push will be the ones who are willing to prevail.” —@GovWesMoore #UMDgrad pic.twitter.com/a7Y8JE81kN

— Univ. of Maryland (@UofMaryland) May 21, 2024

Moore, an Army veteran who attended the Johns Hopkins University, said he’s a Terp by association as his wife, Dawn Moore, earned a degree in government and politics from UMD.

“You don’t just educate Marylanders — you create Marylanders — and I couldn’t be prouder to stand with you as the 63rd governor of the state we love,” Moore said.

The governor said he joined the Army at 17 because the military promised to pay his college tuition. His service prepared him for his future career as a business owner, as a father and as the first Black governor in state history. It also prepared him to quickly respond to a late-night phone call with the news that the Key Bridge was destroyed, the Port of Baltimore was blocked and six construction workers had been killed.

Moore said Monday that speedy salvage efforts have accomplished in weeks what was expected to take months, and that crews are on track to clear the harbor channel.

“Choosing tough is pushing yourself to your very limit — and then pushing some more,” Moore said. “And if you choose tough, I promise that you will be ready to take on the world.”