Jon Stewart criticizes GOP for opposition to veteran-focused burn pit bill

American comedian and writer Jon Stewart has directed seething criticism towards the Republican Party for voting against advancing a bill that would enhance the benefits of U.S. veterans who were exposed to toxins from burn pits during their service in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Stewart spoke to a group of reporters and said he had made the trek to Washington, D.C. to see the legislation being passed.

“Yeah, just it’s — it just makes the gut punch that much more devastating is that these people all came down here so that they could finally tell the men,” Stewart said, fighting back tears. “Their constituents are dying.”

Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act would require 60 votes to bypass the legislative filibuster. All 50 Democrats voted for the bill along with 8 Republicans, therefore causing it to fall short.

“This bill is purely based on toxic exposure health care and benefits to veterans,” said Stewart, who asked people to do their own due diligence on the bill.

“Not one word has been added to it … Hunter Biden didn’t sneak in and add in unrelated spending in the middle of the night,” he continued. “This bill is exactly as it was with the removal of one sentence that had to do with taxation and rural medical facilities.”

“We’re gonna get it done. … You don’t tell their cancer to take a recess, tell their cancer to stay home and go visit their families. This disgrace, if this is America first, America is f**ked,” he said before promptly leaving.

Pat Toomey (R-PA) said the bill was used as a gimmick to pass $400 billion in spending that is unrelated to veterans.

“Tonight, the Senate voted to give us the chance to fix a completely unnecessary budget gimmick in the underlying text of the PACT Act. This gimmick allows $400B in spending completely unrelated to veterans’ care,” Toomey said.

“We can easily fix this tonight, and there is no reason we cannot do so NOW. This simple fix would not reduce spending on veterans in the underlying bill by a single penny. It’s wrong to use a veterans’ bill to hide an unrelated slush fund,” he went onto say.

Sen. Jon Tester, (D-MO) lashed out Toomey, by saying: “If you have the guts to send somebody to war, then you better have the guts to take care of them when they get home.”