For decades, the veterans we serve were told their illnesses were imagined. They came home from the burn pits of Iraq and Afghanistan with cancers, respiratory disease, and neurological symptoms — and they were dismissed, denied, and left to fight alone.

 

We built Burn Pits 360 to end that. 

We wrote the playbook.

We built the coalition.

We went to Washington door after door until the PACT Act became law for veterans of every era.

The science has finally caught up to what our community always knew.

Peer-reviewed research published in the journal Fire now confirms that burn pit exposure reaches the brain — driving neuroinflammation, PTSD, depression, and cognitive decline.

Our veterans said it for years. 

The world is finally listening.

Which is why what is happening in Congress right now is so hard to accept.

What H.R. 9237 actually does

A nearly 600-page bill, H.R. 9237, is being rushed to the House floor — fast enough that few will read the fine print before a vote. Its sponsors are calling it the “Take Care of America’s Veterans Act.” But a name wrapped in a flag is not the same as a promise kept.

According to a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee analysis, the bill would:

•       Cut more than $60 billion in disability compensation for future veterans with conditions like tinnitus and sleep apnea — reductions that could reach as many as 1.5 million veterans and service members.

•       Nearly triple the VA home loan funding fee, from 0.5% to 1.42% — roughly $2,990 more for a veteran refinancing a $325,000 home.

•       Accelerate the privatization of VA health care, pulling resources away from the VA mental health and PTSD programs veterans rely on to survive.

•       Steer GI Bill funding toward low-quality, for-profit and unaccredited online programs.

These are not abstractions. They are the difference between a veteran keeping their home or losing it, getting care or going without.

This is not about party

 

Let us be clear about what this is not. This is not a Republican issue. It is not a Democrat issue. Caring for the men and women who served is a sacred moral obligation — and it is not Washington’s to bargain away behind closed doors.

We are done watching sick veterans used as props for political cover while the benefits that keep them alive are quietly stripped from a bill most people will never read. You cannot honor veterans in your speeches while gutting their benefits in your legislation.

 

What you can do

 

This bill is moving quickly, and your voice still matters.

1.    Know the facts. Share this with one veteran, one family, one neighbor who needs to understand what is at stake.

2.    Contact your representative. Tell them, plainly: vote no on H.R. 9237. FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE

No more games. No more delays. No more betrayal. Honor your oath.