WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. John Boozman said Thursday that he's continuing to push for a bill that would expand health care access to toxic-exposed veterans after fellow Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton joined other GOP senators in blocking the legislation this week.
"I think in the next week or so, I feel very strongly that we'll get it passed," Boozman said Thursday.
Supporters say the legislation would bolster federal toxic-exposure research and expand U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care eligibility for combat veterans who served after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The measure includes a portion offered by Boozman that would expand health care and disability compensation benefits to veterans of the Vietnam War era who served in Thailand, according to the senator's office.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and Republican U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas announced an agreement on the legislation in May, saying in a written statement that the measure would provide "historic relief to all generations of toxic-exposed veterans."
Last month, the Senate passed the legislation in an 84-14 vote. The House took out what Tester called a "de minimis" item in the legislation and passed the legislation back to the Senate.
Cotton previously for it
Cotton, who previously voted for the Senate agreement in June, voted against advancing the legislation from the House on Wednesday. He was joined by 40 other Republican senators in the procedural vote. The item fell short of the needed three-fifths majority.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a Republican, said there had been "an agreement between Senator Tester and Moran for two amendment votes when this bill passed," according to CNN.
Cornyn, according to CNN, said Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer "would not allow those votes to occur."
Veterans' advocates who support the legislation criticized the delay.
"Senator Cotton from Arkansas, who is a veteran, changed his vote. [So] you're looking at health care being delayed for men and women that Senator Cotton served with," said Jeffrey Byrd, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of Arkansas.
More veterans are going to suffer every day the legislation gets delayed, he said.
The bill is one of the top priorities for the veterans community, said Tanya Taylor, the former state chaplain for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of Arkansas.
"I have a great amount of frustration with that," she said of Cotton's vote. "Especially with him being a veteran himself."
"I would love a great, detailed explanation behind it," she added.
Cotton had indicated his support for the Senate agreement last month.
"For those Arkansans who were exposed to burn pits, who have illnesses or other conditions relating to those exposures, it'll make sure that they're getting in the line at the VA, that they're getting the benefits and the health care they need," he told the Democrat-Gazette in an interview.
Cotton declined to talk with the Democrat-Gazette on Thursday.
The legislation would add 23 conditions related to burn pits and toxic exposure to the department's catalog of service presumptions, in which the department presumes that conditions were the result of a person's military service.
Boozman said some Republicans want to change the way the legislation is going to be funded.
Tom Porter, executive vice president of government affairs at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said the Republicans who blocked the bill ignored the pleas from veterans.
"There are several of them that are veterans. That's especially bad," he said. "How can fellow veterans turn their backs and stab us in the back like that?"
John Wells, chairman of the board of directors of the Louisiana-based nonprofit Military-Veterans Advocacy, said he remained confident that the legislation would pass Congress and described this week's vote as a speed bump. Some of those who voted against the measure have been some the biggest supporters of veterans, he added.
"Really, we were only [a] couple of votes shy as it was," he said.
Tester, who is chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs committee, said the move by Republicans equated to "political malpractice."
"The truth is what happened yesterday is they voted against the men and women who fight for this country that want to return back to civilian life and have a normal life. And not only those folks, but their families," Tester said at a press conference Thursday.
He argued that there would be consequences for not moving forward with the measure.
"There are going to be veterans [who] die between now and when this bill passes. And this is a piece of legislation, by the way, that everybody thought on June 16th was a done deal," he said, referencing the date when the Senate agreement originally passed the chamber with significant Republican support.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a Democrat, called the Republican reversal "total bulls**t."
"They have put their politics before the life and well-being of service members who have given everything to this country. For what? For what? For some political stunt?" she said.