After President Joe Biden contacted him to thank him for his advocacy, Jon Stewart held a protest in front of the Capitol on Monday to push senators to support legislation providing greater cash for veterans who had been exposed to toxic burn pits.
Stewart, who last week called the lawmakers “motherf***ers,” launched into another expletive-filled tirade.
“I see it.” Stewart said, “I am a liberal piece of s***,” in front of the Capitol’s front steps. “I am Hunter Biden’s cocaine dealer,” I am aware of this.
However, the Wounded Warriors initiative, the DAV, the American Legion, the IAVA, and the VFW are not.
Why are they still standing there then? You’re free to assault me at will. You can also harass me online, he added.
But now for the lovely part. I could care less. You don’t scare me at all.
I couldn’t care less. It’s about time we started paying it off,’ he remarked. “These are the folks I owe debts of appreciation to, and we all express gratitude to.
He urged the Senate to continue meeting until the legislation—which the House has already approved—was passed.
I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but they are permitted to remain open past five o’clock.
Not a public library, they are. The senators are permitted to remain open past five, he said.
If not all of the members are present when you return, keep the lights on. Don’t shut the doors.
Additionally, stay here tonight.
After Republicans voted last week to block advancing the veterans bill ahead in the parliamentary process, Stewart and Democrats were incensed.
In an effort to support them on Saturday, Biden sent Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough to Capitol Hill with boxes of pizza.
In order to thank the activists, including Stewart, the president had a face-to-face meeting with them.
Biden has previously stated that he thinks his son Beau Biden’s exposure to dangerous burn pits while serving in Iraq led to the brain illness that ultimately claimed his life in 2015.
I had intended to visit the family battling for legislation banning fire pits at the Capitol.
On Saturday, the same day he tested positive for a rebound case of covd, Biden tweeted, “COVID got in the way.”
I FaceTimed them and sent some pizza as a result. We have a sacred duty to look after our veterans. He continued, “I won’t stop working alongside them to pass this measure,” and included a video of him conversing with the protesters who were camping out on the Capitol steps.
Eight Republicans and eight Democrats joined together last week to support the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.
However, the bill’s 55 yes votes were insufficient to end the filibuster, which kept it from moving further in the legislative process.
Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Senate Democrats, had promised to put it up for a second vote, perhaps this week.
On Monday afternoon, Schumer declared on the Senate floor, “In the coming days, the Senate will also finish its work passing the PACT Act, the largest expansion of veteran health care benefits in decades, and a piece of legislation that should sail through this chamber with overwhelming bipartisan support.”
“Over the past three days, the Capitol steps have been the scene of something we should never see in this country: dozens of veterans protesting through the night, enduring heat and torrential rain, calling on the Senate to act on their health care benefits,” he said.
He stated, “In the days to come, we are going to give Senate Republicans another chance to do the right thing, to work with us so we can get this law on the President’s desk A-S-A-P.”
Democrats were incensed by the Republican action.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, declared during a news conference on Thursday, “This is pure bulls***.” “This is literally the worst sort of overpoliticization I have ever seen,” a witness said.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, continued, “There will be veterans who pass away between now and the time the legislation is passed.”
The act was the result of years of effort to enhance medical care for veterans who have been hurt after being exposed to toxins like Agent Orange spray and smoke from burn pits.
Prior to passing the House 342-88 last week, the bill had previously passed the Senate 84-14 with a sizable bipartisan majority in early June.
The House made some changes, though, and sent the bill back to the Senate for another procedural vote, where it lost.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., stated that he did not vote to invoke cloture, or end debate and pass the bill, because a “budgetary gimmick” in the text allocated $400 billion in “unrelated spending,” even though the bill would expand health care coverage for more than three million veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits.
In an angry tirade on Thursday, Stewart referred both Toomey and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as “cowards” for their votes against the bill.
He also referred to the senators who opposed the bill as “motherf***rs.”
America is screwed if this is America First.
The legislation expands care for post-9/11 veterans exposed to burn pits and adds 23 new toxic and burn pit exposure conditions to the Department of Veterans Affairs database.
Human, medical, and other waste have traditionally been disposed of in burn pits, but it is now known that exposure to the toxins they emit can cause asthma, rhinitis, and cancer.
Additionally, the bill increases access to care for Agent Orange-exposed Vietnam War veterans.
Veterans who were exposed to toxins are required by the law to limit their access to medical care and to provide strong documentation that their illness developed while they were serving.