U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) visited American Legion Patchogue Post 269 on Wednesday to talk up her bill on female veteran health.
Gillibrand was a key component in passing the PACT Act, which extended VA health benefits for sick veterans impacted by burn pits, the open-air sites used by the military to dispose of waste. She introduced a bill to expand research on female-related health issues the PACT Act didn’t account for.
“There’s not been enough research into the impact of reproductive health from these toxins that were emitted at these burn pits,” Gillibrand said at the American Legion in Patchogue. “We’ve seen a disturbing rise in the number of children born with disabilities and other health challenges… We’ve also seen a rise of infertility.”
She also highlighted the Major Richard Star Act, which would allow veterans with combat-related disabilities to receive retirement pay and disability compensation simultaneously.
“It’s very frustrating when you have to prove a disability that is obvious, but you don’t have the record of what happened on that one day while you were deployed,” she said.
Separately, Gillibrand told WSHU she’ll support U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York in his bid to reclaim his seat as Majority Leader in January, after praising him for this month’s Democratic midterm victories.
“Sen. Schumer alone raised over half a billion dollars; we really just helped with campaigning, grassroots organizing [and] building a strong campaign on the ground in red and purple states all across the country,” she said.
