Deal on toxic exposure bill includes more VA staff, dozens of new VA medical clinics

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Deal on toxic exposure bill includes more VA staff, dozens of new VA medical clinics
By Leo Shane III
May 24, 06:01 PM
The flames of a burn pit grow as a storm approaches Combat Outpost Tangi in Afghanistan in August 2009. (Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade/Army)

Veterans Affairs officials would set up 31 major medical clinics across America and hire thousands more claims processors and health care staff under compromise toxic exposure legislation unveiled in the Senate Tuesday.

The provisions would be attached to the already massive Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act (or PACT Act) which passed out of the House in March. That measure carried a price tag of more than $200 billion over the next decade and would potentially affect as many as one in five veterans living in America today.

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Lt Col Charlie Brown SSG Michael Noll Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Cpl Vic Burk MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SGT Charlie Lee PO2 Marco Monsalve SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth ] SSG William Jones Sgt (Join to see) SrA John Monette SFC Bernard Walko SPC Michael Terrell SMSgt Anil Heendeniya CPL Douglas Chrysler A1C Medrick "Rick" DeVaney GySgt Jack Wallace CDR Andrew McMenamin, PhD SGT Mark Anderson