Biden visits Fort Worth as he seeks more health care for veterans
FORT WORTH, Texas - President Joe Biden visited North Texas Tuesday.
This was personal for him as he met with veterans and their caregivers at the Fort Worth VA Clinic to talk about expanding and improving care for sick military members.
Biden has questioned whether burn pits of military waste in Iraq led to his son Beau's death.
Tuesday’s visit was focused squarely on military veterans who, Biden said, for too long have had certain medical needs inadequately addressed.
Biden and Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough met with veterans and caregivers at the Fort Worth VA Clinic.
He arrived in Fort Worth just after 2:30 p.m., and Rep. Colin Allred tweeted that North Texas members of Congress were also on Air Force One to take part in the visit.
Biden spoke for about 20 minutes after a tour of a VA facility in Fort Worth, and said there are efforts his administration is taking to combat an alarming rate of suicide among veterans.
He spoke of adding nine additional respiratory cancers to the list of illnesses within veteran's health care coverage.
That is in response to scientific research highlighting a possible link between the conditions and toxic fumes from so-called "burn pits," a common practice for troops to discard of waste while deployed during combat missions.
"We are following the science in every case," Biden said. "We're not going to let our veterans suffer in limbo for decades. Even if the science is evenly divided, when the evidence doesn't give a clear answer, the decision should be caring for our veterans while we continue to learn more, not waiting, not waiting."
The President also called on Congress to move forward with pending legislation to expand areas care and coverage for veterans. His resounding theme throughout his remarks were, "We owe you. We owe you."
Before leaving Washington Tuesday, Biden announced from the White House that he is banning all Russian oil and energy imports into the U.S.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report