Edward Case

As our nation and Hawai‘i continue through unpredictable economic times, I am focused in Congress on addressing our immediate challenges while investing in a more sustainable and prosperous future. My efforts include fighting inflation and the high cost-of-living concerns, and working through my House Appropriations Committee and otherwise to secure federal investment to improve our infrastructure, strengthen of core industries like tourism, defense and agriculture, and grow new industries 

Supply Chains & Cost-of-Living

The high and increasing cost of gas, groceries, rent and other consumer goods in Hawai‘i is extremely concerning and must be addressed. Supply chain disruptions, which are responsible for stock shortages and accelerating inflation, must be directly addressed. 

 

To address underlying problems in our shipping marketplace, I reintroduced three bills to modernize the Jones Act for Hawai‘i and other U.S. noncontiguous areas (Alaska and the island territories). My bills would (1) exempt such locales from the Jones Act while ensuring that any company that enters the U.S. domestic shipping market complies fully with U.S. law, including labor and environmental requirements (the Noncontiguous Shipping Relief Act); (2) limit the rates that Jones Act carriers can charge to within 10 percent of comparable international rates (the Noncontiguous Shipping Reasonable Rate Act); and (3) exempt noncontiguous areas from the Jones Act if a duopoly or monopoly exists (the Noncontiguous Shipping Competition Act).

 

I will prioritize these bills and work to lead a conversation in Congress about the practical effect of the Jones Act on our Hawai‘i and ways to provide relief to the noncontiguous areas. For more information, you can read my press release on the introduction of the bills last Congress (2021-2023) at https://bit.ly/3qCpLHk.

Periods of economic uncertainty, such as the 2008 financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic, illustrate how reliant Hawaii’s economy is on tourism and vulnerable it is to a recession. I have long supported developing a technology industry in Hawai‘i to help diversify our economy. To that end, I have been an advocate for the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs, which help high-tech startups get federal contracts. 

I am also focused on helping Hawaii’s small businesses, which are the lifeblood of our state. The average small business in Hawai'i employs just 12 people, but as a whole, small businesses make up the vast majority of our workforce and are the backbone of our economy. 

 

As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I have fought to bolster small business training, education and entrepreneurial development programs that can help our Hawai‘i. For example, I helped draft and enact into law a Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bill that provides $1.2 billion for the Small Business Administration, which delivers various federal programs to assist small businesses. This includes:

$140 million for Small Business Development Centers,

$41 million for the Microloan Technical Assistance Program,

$27 million for the Women’s Business Centers Program,

$25 million for the Native American Community Development Financial Institution Assistance Program,

$20 million for the State Trade Expansion Program,

$10 million for the Regional Innovation Clusters Program, and

$4 million for the Historically Underutilized Business Zones Program.

In the current Congress, I am focused on investments to support school infrastructure projects, provide for growing technology needs in the classroom, improve teacher recruitment and training, sustain Native Hawaiian immersion education programs and ensure minorities and women can pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM).

For more information about elementary and secondary education issues under consideration by Congress, please read a report prepared by the Congressional Research Service.

Career and technical education (CTE) programs have been critical in providing high school students with the relevant technical knowledge and skills they need to prepare for further education and occupations in emerging professions. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I helped secure $1.4 billion for CTE programs in Fiscal Year 2023. Research has proven that these programs mitigate high school dropout and absentee rates and increase participants’ overall employment outcomes and earnings.

The American Rescue Plan Act, which I voted to pass in March 2021, provided our Hawai‘i Department of Education with $460 million to help students return to the classroom and schools deal with the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including to support teacher training, address learning loss, maintain clean classrooms and modernize technology systems.

I believe it is important to talk directly to those affected by these challenges. This is why I regularly visit our schools to talk with students and staff about adjusting to in-person instruction despite the challenges posed by the ongoing health crisis. You can watch a video of my visit to Mililani High School on my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWNNPSqFFdU).

Protecting our precious environment is one of my top priorities. My assignments on the House Committee on Appropriations and Committee on Natural Resources provide me with specific responsibilities and opportunities to combat climate change, safeguard our oceans and public lands and oppose attempts to roll back critical environmental protections.

 

We must pivot our nation to a clean and renewable energy future that will reduce carbon emissions and address global warming. To accelerate our transition to clean energy, I supported the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which is our nation’s largest-ever investment in the fight against climate change. The bill invests billions to set our country on the path to reduce 40% of our emissions by 2030. The IRA also includes $2.6 billion to conserve and restore coastal habitats, support healthy forests and help communities implement climate resilience and adaptation activities. Click here to learn more about the IRA, why I supported it and how it will help our Hawai‘i. 

 

While we work towards eliminating the human-caused drivers of climate change, we also need to manage the very real effects that we are already facing. To this end, I cosponsored multiple pieces of legislation in the 117th Congress, such as the Ocean Based Climate Solutions Act, which would address the marine environment impacts of climate change and institute a comprehensive federal framework for ocean climate action and conservation.

From warmer temperatures and acidification to nonpoint-source pollution, trash, overfishing and beyond, our oceans are on an unsustainable path and desperately need our help to save them. As a member of the Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee, one of my top priorities is securing the long-term health of our oceans. I’ve worked with several of my colleagues to advance legislation to modernize our laws that govern coral, fisheries conservation and the deep ocean. 

 The Restoring Resilient Reefs Act, which I was an original cosponsor of and the President signed into law in December 2022, reauthorized our national Coral Reef Conservation Program and provides additional funding to states and territories for coral reef conservation purposes. I encourage you to watch my remarks at the U.S. Coral Reef Taskforce about our country’s efforts to preserve and protect coral reef ecosystems. You can view those remarks here.

 

The Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act, which I authored with House Natural Resources Water, Oceans and Wildlife Subcommittee Chairman Jared Huffman, would reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs all of our nation’s fisheries. The legislation makes much needed updates to the law to ensure we deal with climate change and shifting stocks, modernize fisheries data systems, support fishing communities, encourage cooperation between industry and managers and increase accountability in fisheries management. If you would like to learn more about our legislation which we hope to reintroduce this Congress, I encourage you to read Chairman Huffman’s press release here.

 I have also introduced legislation to ban mining on our deep seabed, a potentially catastrophic practice which could irreversibly damage our ocean ecosystems and the communities that rely on them. The American Seabed Protection Act and International Seabed Protection Act will protect our fragile oceans from the severe risks of seabed mining by imposing moratoria on mining unless and until its consequences are understood and an appropriate protective regulatory regime is established. Paired together, the bills establish the United States as an international leader in protecting our precious oceans through a responsible process to address the potentially devastating effects of widespread, unregulated deep seabed mining. You can read more about my introduction of this legislation here.

Finally, in the 118th Congress (2023-2025), I am working to oppose harmful measures proposed in the Natural Resources Committee that would favor exploitation of our natural world for short-sighted benefits and erode our land-mark environmental laws like the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act.

The federal Pell Grant program has been essential to preserving college opportunities and narrowing the achievement gap for lower income and otherwise disadvantaged students. I have consistently supported programs like the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program that provides debt forgiveness in return for public service in certain fields such as medical care in underserved areas. The whole issue of student loan repayment is under active debate in Congress. I am working with my colleagues in this effort to ensure these programs work better for students and borrowers in our Hawai‘i and across the country.

My goal is to preserve the best of American health care while closing the unacceptable gaps in availability, affordability, access and quality. It is critical to get this right for current and future generations, and I believe we need a renewed national debate, including within Congress, on how best to do so. That is why it is critical for Congress to remain focused on protecting and improving the Affordable Care Act, lowering prescription drug prices and increasing investments in biomedical research.

 

In the big picture, I am committed to achieving access to affordable, quality health care for all Americans. Despite the advances that have been made under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and, in Hawai‘i, under the Prepaid Health Care Act, there are still tens of millions of Americans who are uncovered and tens of millions more who are insufficiently or unaffordably covered. And there remain unacceptably high costs throughout much of current health care, especially prescription drugs, as well as attempts to reverse the ACA’s prohibition on discriminating against those with pre-existing conditions.

Throughout my time in Congress, I have consistently voted for the legislation that will increase affordability and reduce premium costs for consumers. In March 2021, I supported passage of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) because it included a broad expansion of ACA premium subsidies for people enrolled in Marketplace health plans. Since its enactment, ARPA’s enhanced premium tax credits have made health insurance more accessible for millions of low- and middle-income Americans. This is why on August 12, 2022, I supported a three-year extension to the enhanced premium tax credits by voting to pass the Inflation Reduction Act. Today, we are seeing in real-time the impacts of these tax credits on our healthcare system. In January 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced a record-breaking enrollment 16.3 million people signed up for health care coverage in the ACA Marketplaces during the 2022-2023 Open Enrollment Season, including 3.6 million new enrollees. Over the past two years, the number of people who have signed up for affordable health care plans through HealthCare.gov has increased by nearly 50 percent. In addition, four out of five HealthCare.gov enrollees can now find a health plan for $10 or less per month. These tax credits have and will continue to help millions of Americans gain health insurance and millions more find affordable health plans that work for them.

I believe that prescription drug prices in the United States are too high and that we must act to control them so people don’t have to choose between health care and food, housing and other necessary expenses. 

That is also one of the reasons why I voted for the Inflation Reduction Act because it will give Medicare the authority to directly negotiate prices on the costliest drugs for the first time. In addition, the measure will penalize pharmaceutical companies that raise the price they charge Medicare patients faster than inflation. Negotiating drug prices isn’t just good for lowering the cost of drugs for patients, but it can save the Medicare program billions and help us reinvest those savings in other healthcare needs. Lastly, the Inflation Reduction Act will also make vaccines free for all Medicare beneficiaries and cap seniors’ out-of-pocket costs on insulin products to $35 per month and prescription drug spending to $2,000 a year, enabling Medicare’s 64 million enrollees to spend less out of pocket for their medications. I am working closely with my colleagues in Congress and federal agencies on the implementation of these critical Medicare reforms to ensure they result in real cost-savings for patients across our Hawai‘i. 

I believe full funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other related agencies is necessary to invest in critical healthcare research and for our country to stay at the forefront of medical and scientific innovation. Such advancements will help improve our understanding of disease and accelerate the development of new treatments and cures. Today, we are seeing in real time the impact of this important research through the development of vaccines and diagnostic breakthroughs to combat SARS-CoV-2, more commonly referred to as COVID-19. If medical innovation advances at the current pace, we could discover more effective treatments and cures to cancer and other diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer’s in our lifetimes.

As a member of the House Committee on Appropriations, I worked to secure $47.5 billion for NIH in Fiscal Year 2023, representing a 57 percent increase over the past eight years. Funding highlights include targeted investments in research to address Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, opioid abuse and health disparities, among other conditions. These funds will also support the continued establishment of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a new biomedical research agency to provide NIH with the additional capacity needed to accelerate the pace of biomedical breakthroughs and execute our national priorities. I will continue to champion the NIH so that we can support scientific discoveries to improve health outcomes and save lives.

Maximizing Inflation Reduction Act Federal Funding For Hawai'i

 

Two landmark pieces of legislation, both of which I strongly supported, were enacted in the 117th Congress (2021-2023). The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan) is the largest reinvestment in our country’s infrastructure in generations. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is the largest climate/energy-related investment in our history. Here are links to summaries of both measures (IRA - IIJA).

But these game-changing initiatives will ultimately only be as effective as they are fully understood and implemented all the way down to our local communities. For my part, this means assuring that I track each of the hundreds of federal programs through which the funding will be distributed and assure that my government and community partners throughout Hawai’i are fully aware of these opportunities and fully seek and obtain the funding. 

We are doing all of this on the IIJA with our state and county government partners, through which the vast majority of the funding will be obtained and distributed. The IRA funding is much more broadly available, to communities and individuals, and so here I provide more information on the IRA and such opportunities as well as how I can help maximize related federal assistance to Hawai’i.

IRA Federal Funding Programs

The provisions of the IRA that address climate change prevention and mitigation and energy transformation invest some $369 billion in clean energy, increase renewable energy production, lower energy costs and our dependency on imported oil, and reduce national emissions to 40% below 2005 levels by 2030. This will help our Hawai‘i achieve its goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2045. 

This downloadable spreadsheet includes a list of the IRA federal funding available to state and county governments and non-profit organizations to implement these initiatives. It details who is eligible and in as much detail as currently available, information on how to apply. Based on the latest information available to my office, the IRA has roughly 135 programs, including 45 major competitive grant programs, that will be administered by a dozen federal agencies. My office will update this spreadsheet as I identify new funding opportunities available to our Hawai‘i. 

If you need assistance in understanding and applying for funding from these programs or a letter of support for your application, please contact my Honolulu office at (808) 650-6688. 

Tax Credits and Rebates for Individuals

The IRA creates, extends and expands many key tax incentives that will give Hawai‘i families the long-term certainty they need to affordably invest in clean energy, household efficiency improvements and zero emissions vehicles. Federal agencies, especially the Internal Revenue Service, are now working to implement the law. For the latest information, please check the White House’s IRA website at https://www.whitehouse.gov/cleanenergy/.

For individuals who want to purchase zero emissions vehicles, the IRA create $4,000 tax credits for lower and middle income individuals to buy used clean vehicles and up to $7,500 tax credits to buy new clean vehicles. As explained in this Congressional Research Service report, most of these tax credits are effective starting in 2023.

For homeowners, the IRA appropriates $9 billion for residential energy efficiency and electrification financial assistance programs. The electrification rebates supports consumers on a wide range of projects, including replacing appliances, adding insulation and upgrading in-home electrical delivery systems. As explained in this Congressional Research Service report, much of this program will be managed at the state level. I will post more information on this webpage as the rebate program is set up.

 Two landmark pieces of legislation, both of which I strongly supported, were enacted in the 117th Congress (2021-2023). The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is the largest climate/energy-related investment in our history. You can learn more about that bill here. The other bill, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (also known as the BIL or Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) is the largest reinvestment in our country’s infrastructure in generations. This webpage is dedicated to explaining this law in detail and providing resources on its programs.

This game-changing law and its many initiatives will ultimately only be fully effective if fully implemented all the way down to our local communities. For my part, this means assuring that I track each of the hundreds of federal programs through which the funding will be distributed and assure that my government and community partners throughout Hawai‘i are fully aware of these opportunities and fully seek and obtain the funding. 

 

We have already begun doing all of this on the BIL with our state and county government partners, through which the vast majority of the funding will be obtained and distributed. To date, $994 million in BIL funding has been announced and is headed to Hawai‘i. You can read more about the BIL funding headed to Hawai‘i here, and you can review a resource guide prepared by the staff of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee here.

 

This downloadable spreadsheet includes a list of the BIL federal funding available to state and county governments and non-profit organizations to implement these initiatives. It details who is eligible and in as much detail as currently available, information on how to apply. My office will update this spreadsheet as I identify new funding opportunities available to our Hawai‘i. 

 

The BIL generally falls into the following major categories: transportation; climate, energy and the environment; drinking water; and broadband. Each of these major categories is explained below in greater detail.

If you need assistance in understanding and applying for funding from these programs or a letter of support for your application, please contact my Honolulu office at (808) 650-6688 or email me at ed.case@mail.house.gov.

The BIL is a historic opportunity to repair the one-in-five miles of our roadways and more than 45,000 bridges in the United States rated as “in poor condition.” The law also contains funding to rebuild and reinvest in our railways, public transit infrastructure and the safety of our transportation system. It further reauthorizes federal surface transportation programs for five years and invests billions in

transformational projects that will create good-paying jobs, grow the economy and make our transportation system safer and more resilient.

1. Based on formula funding alone, Hawai‘i will receive about $316 million over five years to improve public transportation options across the state

2. Airports in the state will receive approximately $246 million for infrastructure development for airports over five years. 

3. Hawai‘i can expect to receive approximately $9.2 million over five years in funding to augment commercial motor vehicle safety efforts to reduce crashes.

4. Over five years, Hawai‘i will receive approximately $15 million in 402 formula funding for highway safety traffic programs, which help states to improve driver behavior and reduce deaths and injuries from motor vehicle-related crashes.

Ensuring our national defense is one of my most important responsibilities. I am dedicated to assuring that our armed services have all that they need to protect our citizens and preserve our liberties.

As a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, I am deeply involved in the oversight of our military and providing adequate funding of our armed forces. This is critical not just for our country, but for our Hawai‘i which is the center of our defense efforts in the vast Indo-Pacific. Through my Appropriations Committee and otherwise, I am focused on supporting Hawaii’s military installations, ensuring our servicemembers have all the training and equipment they need to fulfill their missions, and assuring a good quality of life for them and their families.

Military installations in Hawai‘i play a crucial role in keeping the U.S. safe and protecting our national interests worldwide, especially given the shift in our national security strategies and resources to the Indo-Pacific. The First Congressional District of Hawai‘i alone includes many major military facilities, including Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Fort Shafter, Camp H.M. Smith, Tripler Medical Center Army Base and Fort DeRussy. It is also the home of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. Marine Forces Pacific, U.S. Army Pacific, U.S. Pacific Air Forces, Space Force Indo-Pacific and Special Operations Command Pacific. These military facilities and commands directly employ approximately 30,000 active duty personnel, civilians and contractors. Statewide, the direct and indirect impacts of military expenditures generate nearly $15 billion in Hawaii’s economy, creating more than 100,000 jobs for those who live in our islands.

For our military to remain the best in the world, it must have up-to-date equipment and state-of-the-art technology. I am committed to making the investments needed to defend our nation against evolving threats and prepare for future challenges. This especially includes programs and organizations that are closely linked to our Hawai‘i, such as the Hawai‘i National Guard and the research programs conducted by high-tech businesses and universities in Hawai‘i.

 Caring for Military Personnel and Their Families

We must ensure that our Armed Forces remain the finest in the world, which begins with investing in our servicemembers and supporting their families. I have supported pay increases for our troops and improving their benefits.

 In addition, I am committed to ensuring that when we deploy our troops, they know we will care for their spouses and children. Through my appropriations subcommittee assignment, I have conducted oversight over the Department of Defense’s management of military housing and other activities throughout Hawai’i, our country and overseas. I have also advocated for and was able to secure $1.3 billion in Fiscal Year 2021 to fund the construction, operation and maintenance of family housing projects. The additional funds above the initial budget request helped address long-standing issues affecting our servicemembers’ quality of life.

It is my special kuleana (responsibility), together with my Hawai’i congressional colleagues, to represent some 385,000 residents of Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander ancestry throughout our Hawai’i. Together with their ‘ohana throughout our country, they now number over 1.5 million who share the heritage of the original peoples of the Pacific.

I work with other colleagues in Congress who share this kuleana to ensure that our federal government respects, protects and promotes the language, knowledge, resources, cultural practices and traditions of our Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander communities. Addressing these concerns is not only important to Hawai‘i but also to Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders wherever they live as well as to other indigenous peoples and communities throughout our country who have similar priorities.

Quality internet service is necessary for Americans to do their jobs, to participate equally in school learning, business opportunities and health care and to simply stay connected. Yet, by one definition, more than 30 million Americans live in areas where there is no broadband infrastructure that provides minimally acceptable speeds – a particular problem in rural communities throughout Hawai‘i.

The BIL will help ensure that every American has access to reliable high-speed internet through a historic investment in broadband infrastructure deployment. The legislation will also help lower prices for internet service and help close the digital divide so that more people in Hawai‘i can make full use of the internet. Ultimately, the BIL will help the State of Hawai‘i implement the Hawai'i Broadband Strategic Plan, which articulates our state’s approach to addressing many of the broadband and digital inequity issues facing Hawai'i.

I am deeply honored to represent some 112,000 Hawai‘i veterans and their families. This is a responsibility I take very seriously, especially as our veterans ‘ohana is one of the largest percentages of any state in our nation both overall and in key areas like women and minority veterans and delivery of services is often complicated by our unique qualities.

As a result, our veterans community sometimes faces unique challenges in Hawai‘i and throughout the Pacific that require targeted advocacy with our federal government and tailored solutions. I am especially able to address these issues and the broader challenges facing all of our country’s veterans as a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which has responsibility for overseeing and funding of all of our federal veterans programs. My focus areas are:

Addressing the unique concerns of veterans living in Hawai‘i,

Improving the healthcare and other benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and

Assisting veterans with their individual needs.

Addressing Hawai‘i Veterans’ Needs

Hawaii’s veterans often face unique challenges that others on the mainland don’t have to face. It is my priority to tackle these issues head-on. Below are four examples:

Benefits for Native Hawaiian Veterans. Native Hawaiians have a long history of proudly serving in our military, yet recent data also shows that Native Hawaiians are disproportionality represented in Hawaii’s homeless population. That is why I fought to secure $1.88 million for the Native American Veteran Housing Loan Program in Fiscal Year 2021. This program offers lower closing costs and lower interest rates on mortgages to Native Hawaiian veterans. 

Telehealth and Connected Care. Telehealth and Connected Care programs benefit Neighbor Island and Pacific Island veterans who must otherwise fly to O‘ahu to receive certain kinds of care. I advocated for and Congress provided $5.2 billion in Fiscal Year 2022 for the VA’s telehealth and connected care programs, which has been helping more veterans in Hawai‘i receive the health counselling and consultation they need without having to visit the congested Tripler campus.  

Parking at the Spark M. Matsunaga VA Medical Center. I am working closely with the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System, Tripler Army Medical Center and senior military leaders in Washington to find a solution to the parking problem at the Spark M. Matsunaga VA Medical Center. Reports of veterans walking from far away lots or missing appointments completely due to a lack of parking are shocking and unacceptable. I am committed to finding a solution.

Records Request Backlogs. Backlogged requests have prevented veterans from receiving timely benefits claim decisions for too long. I worked with my Hawai‘i delegation colleagues to address and eliminate Federal Archive backlogged  requests from veterans for military personnel records to use for Veteran Affairs benefits eligibility determination. In addition to current funds, the National Archive will receive $60 million to improve customer service and prevent future backlogs.

An efficient and robust veterans healthcare system is critical to keeping our nation’s promises to our veterans, yet too often veterans do not receive the help they desperately need. To help keep our promises, as a Member of the House Appropriations Committee, for Fiscal Year 2023 I helped draft and pass legislation that provided $314.4 billion in both discretionary and mandatory funding for the VA, an increase of $12.3 billion above the prior year’s level. This included increases for mental health services, suicide prevention outreach, gender-specific healthcare, telehealth and opioid abuse prevention.

I am also committed to improving the VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks (MISSION) Act. While over 30 veteran service organizations supported the program, I am aware that many veterans in Hawai‘i have had difficulties with the transition. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I will continue working closely with my colleagues and the VA to ensure the Act’s provisions are designed and implemented with the best interests of our nation’s veterans in mind.

One of my most critical responsibilities as your Congressman is to help with your individual needs. Although I cannot mandate a particular result or override the decision of a federal agency, I can often assist with answering questions, finding solutions or simply cutting through red tape to ensure veterans receive the benefits they are entitled to receive. If you or a veteran you know has questions or requires assistance, please do not hesitate to contact my office at https://case.house.gov/forms/casework.

This historic legislation has expanded access to care for all our veterans exposed to toxic substances in the line of duty, the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act. On March 3, 2022, I voted with a majority of the House to pass the PACT Act to fulfill our promise to our veterans and on August 10th, 2022, the President signed the Act into law. 

Recognizing the harms inflicted by exposure to burn pits and airborne hazards, the PACT Act codified a presumption that servicemembers stationed in certain theatres were exposed to toxic substances at particular times. This legislation shifted the burden of proof off veterans and their loved ones and eased access to care for a broad array of conditions and cancers. It also streamlined the Department of Veterans Affairs’ processes for establishing toxic exposure presumptions, ensuring that veterans do not have to wait decades for help.