Jon Stewart blasts inaction on veteran care needs: ‘When it’s time for war, we always have the money.’

(Video: Fox News)

Ahead of a Memorial Day weekend rally to promote legislative efforts to get veterans the care they need, comedian and advocate Jon Stewart decried the inaction of Congress noting how, “When it’s time for war, we always have the money.”

Earlier this week, Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) introduced a new iteration of the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act called the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022. Stewart joined Capt. Rafael Barbosa in appearing with Fox News host Bill Hemmer on “America’s Newsroom” Friday to discuss the more than 10-year struggle to address the serious health consequences of exposure to burn pits.

The Department of Veteran Affairs detailed that these pits used to eliminate waste ranging from paper products and refuse to excrement and body parts by burning them with jet fuel caused health problems for as many as 3.5 million veterans who are expected to prove their injuries were due to exposure. Hemmer also highlighted the exceedingly high suicide rate among veterans compared to non-veterans when he asked Stewart to expand upon the import of getting service members the care they need.

“You know it’s incredibly important. Look, there’s a very small percentage of Americans who bear the onus and brunt of America’s wars,” Stewart explained, “and it’s a tiny percentage and it’s the veterans and their families and oftentimes their caregivers, and, you know, out of sight, out of mind. When it’s time for war, we always have the money, man, get the credit card out, put down that $6 trillion to go to war for 20 years, and then we try and balance the budget on the backs of veterans as they’re coming home to reintegrate and assimilate and deal with all the health problems.”

Barbosa, who served as a pilot in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, explained that as a pilot in Iraq, “the burn pit was literally on the approach end to the runway. So as we were coming home from a mission, we could literally tell where the airfield was by the burn pit in our FLIR camera.” Now suffering from stage-4 colon cancer, Barbosa went on to explain that the situation in Afghanistan was even more “archaic” by comparison.

Stewart has frequently called out lawmakers for their claims of wanting to support the veterans who contend, “But we wanna do it the right way. We wanna be responsible.”

To that he has suggested, “You know what would have been nice? If they had been responsible 20 years ago and hadn’t spent trillions of dollars on overseas adventures. If they had been responsible and hadn’t spent billions of dollars for defense contractors to poison our own troops.”

The comedian went on to state on Fox News, “The burdens of that reintegration, the burdens of fighting your own government, that you had just recently, you know, sacrificed to protect and defend, also leads to a lot of the mental health stresses, it leads to the financial stresses – the PACT Act doesn’t solve all their problems, but it removes at least some of the burden and obstacle and it starts to switch the burden of proof back to the government as opposed to the veteran.”

A previous iteration of the PACT Act had stalled in Congress after making its way through committee in June 2021 only to be stalled for a vote until the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed it in March of this year. The new bipartisan measure which Stewart said was “six to eight senators away” from passing, would have to return to the House for another vote before President Joe Biden could sign it into law.

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8 thoughts on “Jon Stewart blasts inaction on veteran care needs: ‘When it’s time for war, we always have the money.’

  1. Amen, JON! WE HAVE MONEY FOR UKRAINE’S BORDER, BUT NOT FOR OURS, IT SEEMS, TOO.

  2. I am fortunate to have Medicare as well as continuing health care from the union I retired from so thank goodness I only use my VA card to get veteran discounts at places like Home Depot.
    I have wondered if a better system might be dismantling the entire VA system and replacing it with a system separate from but similar to medicare where.

  3. Yep! throw money at war, that is somebody else’s war, never mind the vets, the border, the schools, the local police etc.

  4. When it comes to the government you have the users and the used anymore. There was a time , at least at one point, when the G I bill was passed to help returning soldiers, but you have seen the politicians getting rich from their political possessions limit those rewards for serving your country, while investing in 20 year wars that feed the war machine that likewise fills the coffers of the politicians with political donations aka payola. Meanwhile they have limited services of the VA and it’s hospitals for war related injuries that must be proven as a direct result of a war injury as well as limiting funds of the VA to create both lines and inadequate care. The list goes on, but essentially the motto of the new politician is ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country can do for you.

    1. I think you meant, “Ask NOT what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!”

  5. Let us not forget that the Biden Socialist Regime is now sending Doctors from VA Hospitals down to the Border to provide health care for the Thousands of Illegal Aliens that are crossing though Biden’s Open Border Door. Why are Vets being deprived care that they deserve for all that they gave for this country while these Criminals are provided care at Tax Payer’s Expense. And Please, Please, Stop Calling these Criminals Migrants. The word Migrant implies that at some point in time they will return to where ever they came from. We all know this is NOT the case, they are here to star of for as long as the Biden Socialist Regime is paying for their American Dream. They are NOW and Have Always Been, ILLEGAL ALIENS AND CRIMINALS.

  6. Veterans should have top notch care. They have money for everything else. Veterans should get it before a dime is spent on another country or some of the pork it’s spent on.

    1. I have a strong feeling the money is there but is all used up by typical governmental bureaucracy before that money ever reaches the patient care level.

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