Members of Connecticut's congressional delegation are crediting veterans for getting behind the new PACT Act, which extends healthcare benefits to service members exposed to toxic substances, such as the smoke from "burn pits," sites in Iraq and Afghanistan where military waste was burned.
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT02) says that Vietnam vets were especially supportive of the plan: "The bitter experience that they went through in terms of Agent Orange... it literally took almost 50 years to get the help that they needed... They did not want to see that experience repeated."
Before its eventual passage by an 86-11 vote, the bill stalled in the Senate, where Republicans who had supported it switched sides. Veterans, with an assist from TV personality Jon Stewart, staged high-profile, overnight protests outside of Congress to help win back those GOP votes.
On Wednesday, veterans and members of Congress met in Rocky Hill to mark the bill's signing by President Biden.
"Any credible veterans' issue is non-partisan," says K. Robert Lewis, a Vietnam vet and the American Legion's Department Service Officer for Connecticut. He talked to WTIC's Dave Mager about his important work and the impact of the PACT Act:
