Biden is at the end of a three-state swing through the American
West to invigorate his reelection bid by touting the economy,
new infrastructure projects and legislative accomplishments to
Americans, many of whom are unhappy about the direction of the
country.
Biden will meet with veterans at the George E. Wahlen Department
of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City to
highlight the one-year anniversary of the PACT Act, which has
already provided 4.1 million veterans with free screenings for
toxic exposures and processed nearly 459,000 claims.
The U.S. military used burn pits to dispose of waste on foreign
bases until the mid-2010s. Fumes from burning everything from
rubber, chemical waste and ammunitions to human feces have
caused rare cancers and respiratory illnesses in veterans.
Under the law, certain cancers and ailments, including
hypertension, are presumed to be connected to the burn pits and
the need for veterans to prove they were connected was
eliminated.
The bill is expected to cost an estimated $180 billion over the
first four years. It would benefit nearly 3.5 million veterans
who developed cancer and other illnesses after being exposed to
fumes from the pits.
The issue is personal to the president. Biden has said he
believes there may have been a connection between the brain
cancer that killed his son Beau Biden at age 46 and the burn
pits that Beau was exposed to during his military service.
The White House and the Biden campaign are eager to win over
skeptical Americans about the effectiveness of his policies to
boost the economy and fight global warming.
Some Americans who voted for Biden in 2020 say they believe the
economy has fared poorly under his stewardship and they might
not vote for him in the 2024 election, according to a Reuters/Ipsos
poll released last week.
About half of the respondents who voted for Biden in 2020 said
they have heard little or nothing of his major policy
initiatives to reduce inflation or boost spending on
infrastructure.
(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw and Nandita Bose; Editing by
Leslie Adler)
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