Important Veterans' Bill Deserves Commonsense Toomey Amendment and Prompt Passage

Statement

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the PACT Act:

"Yesterday, the Senate should have been able to clear bipartisan legislation to expand VA health benefits for millions of men and women who have served bravely in our armed forces.

"I appreciate our colleagues on the Veterans Affairs Committee for their hard work on the PACT Act. I support the substance of the bill.

"But even on legislation this major and this costly, the Democratic Leader tried to block the Senate from any semblance of a fair amendment process.

"Specifically, the senior Senator for Pennsylvania has an amendment that would ensure we do not just apply a financial band-aid to the problem, but actually fix the underlying accounting issue.

"As written, the legislation would not just help America's veterans as designed. It could also allow Democrats to effectively spend the same money twice and enable hundreds of billions in new, unrelated spending on the discretionary side of the federal budget.

"There is no excuse why the Democratic Leader should continue to block Senator Toomey's commonsense amendment. A bill this important and this bipartisan deserves for us to fix this accounting gimmick, and then it deserves to become law."

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