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Biden says he would have gone to a ‘holy war’ if Congress hadn’t passed the toxic burn pits bill in a speech on the death of his son Beau, his uncle who served in the Battle of the Bulge and a veteran of World War II 102 years.
- Biden was delivering remarks at the National Guard/Reserve Center Major Joseph R. ‘Beau’ Biden III named for his son who died in 2015 of brain cancer.
- “I go through this building a lot for Air Force One, to fly back and forth to Washington, and I always get a lump in my throat,” Biden said.
- We are determined or determined to do something about it. Come hell or high tide,’ Biden said on burn pit legislation
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President Biden vowed Friday that there would have been a “holy war” if Congress did not pass legislation expanding medical care for veterans exposed to burns.
Biden was delivering remarks at the Major Joseph R. ‘Beau’ Biden III National Guard/Reserve Center, named after his son, who died in 2015 of brain cancer, and is credited by the president to his son’s service in Iraq .
“I go through this building a lot for Air Force One, to fly back and forth to Washington, and I always get a lump in my throat,” Biden said.
‘Do you all know what a burn hole is? It is an eight to 10 foot hole, with a height of 12 feet deep. About the size of a football field, a great big rectangle. And every damn ugly thing in the world was burned. All. All. Toxic waste, everything,’ Biden said.
“I’m not a doctor, but it’s pretty clear that a lot of men and women get sick,” he added. “It’s not exclusive to me and my family.”
We are determined or determined to do something about it. Come hell or high tide,’ Biden said. “I made it very clear to the United States Congress that if they didn’t pass this bloody burned wells bill, I was going to go to holy war, it’s not a joke.”
Biden later revealed that his uncle Frank Biden fought in the Battle of the Bulge and earned the Purple Heart, but never received it. Joe Biden, when he became president, got the Purple Heart from his uncle and presented it to her at home.
Biden said his uncle told him, “I don’t want the damn thing,” adding that “the others died.” I lived.’
Biden is pictured with Ray, a 102-year-old World War II veteran.
We are determined or determined to do something about it. Come hell or high tide,’ Biden said. “I made it very clear to the United States Congress that if they didn’t pass this bloody burned wells bill, I was going to go to holy war, it’s not a joke.”
The Battle of the Bulge was Adolf Hitler’s last major offensive in World War II in Belgium. It was the deadliest battle in history for the US Army, suffering 100,000 casualties.
Biden then paid tribute to a 102-year-old veteran who he said flew 25 missions in World War II over Germany.
“First lieutenant, young, 102 years old, Ray,” Biden said. ‘My claim to fame is that he used to be his county councillor!’
Biden signed the burn pit legislation, the PACT Act, in August. It passed the Senate in a vote of 86-11 after back and forth over the GOP’s concerns about its funding.
The bill removed the burden of proof from veterans who suffer a litany of illnesses from asthma to terminal cancers after being exposed to toxins in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We learned a horrible lesson after Vietnam about the harmful effects of Agent Orange,” Biden said. ‘Agent Orange fell on the heads of so many people. They had all kinds of diseases, but they couldn’t prove it, you had to be able to prove it.
“We insist that no… all you have to do is prove that you were hit by the blow that landed on your head.”
It also expanded VA health care eligibility benefits for an estimated 3.5 million veterans, according to the Pentagon.
The measures added 23 respiratory diseases and cancers that have been linked to toxic burns in the law, paving the way for veterans who suffer from them to get care.
All Veterans now also receive toxic exposure screenings at VA hospital appointments.