Burn pits legislation hits snag

WASHINGTON — Proposed legislation in Congress poised to give veterans health benefits for service-related illnesses is now in doubt, with some lawmakers claiming the cost will be too great. After the SFC Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act — named after the late husband of Sandusky native Danielle Robinson — passed in the Senate last month, it caught a snag with a conservative senator thinking it would cost too much. "It doesn't cost too much. It's the cost of war," U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said during a news conference last month. In this Feb. 7, 2020, photo, Heath Robinson is pictured with his wife, Danielle, a 2003 Sandusky High School graduate, and their daughter, Brielle, 6. Three months later, in May, Heath, 39, died. He suffered from a rare form of cancer caused by his exposure to burn pits during a 13-month stint in Iraq while serving as a medic with the Ohio Army National Guard. Register file photo/ANDY OURIEL It's a statement Brown has stood by since the beginning. The House of Representatives voted to pass the bill, again, on Wednesday following the two-week July Fourth recess. It was sent back to them by the Senate with amendments. "This is the second time the House has voted on this important bill, and we are proud that after the Senate passes this version we will finally send it to the President to be signed into law," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said. The Senate originally voted 84-14, but U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, has indicated he will block it due to the costs. Toomey is still holding out his vote for unanimous consent, blocking the bill from reaching President Joe Biden's desk. Supporters of the bill, including Sandusky native Susan Zeier, Danielle's mother and Heath's mother-in-law, were told that other Republicans will side with Toomey to defund the bill. "We are hosting a Zoom meeting to game plan putting pressure on him," Zeier said. BurnPits360, the only nonprofit to offer an independent burn pit exposure registry, is planning a rally at a Toomey office in Pennsylvania. The group hasn't yet decided where and when the rally will take place.