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Accompanied by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough,
Biden will visit a clinic for veterans in Fort Worth and receive
a briefing from staff on services for veterans and challenges
they face, the White House said.
He will deliver remarks on the administration's efforts to
address the problem, including a proposed rule to consider
adding certain rare cancers to the list of those presumed to be
connected to military service. He also will urge Congress to
help veterans facing those difficulties.
One such veteran "was stationed at bases and breathing in toxic
smoke from 'burn pits' that incinerated wastes of war —medical
and hazard material, jet fuel, and more," Biden said in his
State of the Union address earlier this month, referencing his
late son Major Beau Biden.
Beau Biden, a former Delaware attorney general, died of brain
cancer in 2015 at age 46.
"We don't know for sure if a burn pit was the cause of his brain
cancer, or the diseases of so many of our troops. But I'm
committed to finding out everything we can," the president said.
It is not the only effort inspired by Beau's illness. In
February, Biden announced plans to reduce the death rate from
cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years, part of an effort
to revive the "Cancer Moonshot" initiative to speed research and
make more treatments available.
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
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