website.o get started, visit our >> there are a lot of places to get political information. the only at c-span do you get it straight from the source. no matter where you are from, or where you stand on the issue, c-span is america's network. unfiltered, word for word. if it happens here or here or anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. >> next, president biden talking about the pact act aimed at improving health care access for veterans. the president spoke in delaware at a national guard center named after his late son who was a veteran and who died of brain cancer.

[applause]

>> good afternoon everyone. i am the general of the national -- delaware national guard. it is a tremendous honor for me to welcome all of you to the major joseph r beau biden the third national guard reserve center. it has been a pleasure to partner with the wilmington veteran affairs medical center, nunnally today -- not only today, but for the work that we are doing together to prevent suicide among veterans and our military servicemembers. our partnership is essential to getting veterans the access to health care and benefits they rightfully deserve. there is a new call to action where we must work together and spread the message to all veterans about the sergeant

first class heath robinson honoring our promise to address comprehensive toxics act. as members of our military deployed throughout the world in support of our nation, wall such as this are critical -- law such as this are critical in the care that we are expected to provide. it gives me great pleasure to introduce the honorable dennis mcdonough, before coming to the ba he served as the 26 white house chief of staff and as principal deputy national security advisor. he believes deeply as he testifies to congress that there is no more sacred obligation nor noble undertaking then to uphold our promises to our veterans, whether they came from decades ago or days ago.

please join me in welcoming the 11 secretary veteran affairs, dennis mcdonald. [applause] >> mr. president, good afternoon. welcome home. general barra, thank you for that warm welcome and for your three decades of service and leadership to -- he has been defending our freedom since before our founding whenever and wherever the country needs them. we all saw that kind of devotion and the actions of text sergeant matt keeper. recognize just last friday with the distinguished flying cross for his terrorism in afghanistan . you are sending the engineering

company down come january. kuwait, may god bless and. keep them safe. it's an honor to be here in this building. one of the last of more than 100 events that we have been hosting during the pact act week of action. to our veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors, we are forever in your debt. we are fighting like how to serve you as well as you have served us. my boss, the president, will not accept anything less. thanks to the pact act that president biden signed on august 10, v.a. expanded health and benefits for millions of vets and their survivors is now real. including, for so many of you in this building today. if you are a loved one served in the vietnam era, the gulf war

era, or the post on 11 era, you may be eligible for new or increased care and benefits because of that pact act. here's what you have to know. first, apply for your benefits right now. right now. if you are enrolled in v.a. care already, get a quick and easy toxic exposure screening. if you're not enrolled, get enrolled and we will help you do that right here, today. if you haven't yet applied for your pact act benefits, apply. you can do all of that here, today, in this building. or you can call the delaware office of veteran services at 302-739-2792. or make an appointment with the bba regional office. vo2-nine i-4-25 91, extension

4845. v.a. will begin processing pact act claims on january 1, at the president's direction, at the earliest date possible. if you apply for pact act related benefits before august 10 next year, your benefits will be backdated to august 10, 2022. meaning you will be paid back to august 10, 2022, the day president biden signed that bill into law. [applause] third, i know because i've heard the some vets are worried that apply for benefits will impact their current benefits. the truth is the following. with the pact act, you are 32 times more likely to have your benefits increase the decrease. so please file your claim. [applause]

fourth, there are some people out there who fear that they need a lawyer or that they need to pay someone to apply for your v.a. benefits. we do not tolerate that. president biden will not tolerate that. [applause] applying for your pact act benefits is free. it is easy. by working directly with v.a. or with a delaware state veteran service organization, or your county veterans service officer, you can get exactly what you need. fifth, to learn more about the pact act, apply any time. at v.a..com site cash or call us at one 800 my v.a. 411. during the nearly 190,000 veterans and survivors who have already signed up for their benefits, since the president

signed that law. whenever somebody signs up to serve our country the military, we have with the president calls a sacred obligation to them and their families. we make them a promise. if you fight for us, we will fight for you. if you take care of us, we will take care of you. if you service, we will serve you when you come home. our nation as a whole makes that promise. it is our mission here in delaware, and across the country, to keep that promise to all veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors. the pact act will help us keep that promise and president biden is leading the way to keeping that promise. we will not rest until every single veteran survivor knows about this new law, understands what it means for them, and gets the care and benefits that they have erred. that is what our country owes you. that is what we will deliver to you. with that, my privilege to

introduce someone who doesn't need a lot of introduction around these parts. senator carper is the last serving vietnam veteran and the united states. [applause] he has given more than 40 years of devoted service and strong leadership to improving veterans health care and services here in delaware and across the country. please join me in welcoming 22 year veteran of the united states navy, and naval reserves, captain, and senator tom carper. [applause] >> but your hands together for our secretary. go ahead. [applause] it's great to welcome you back to dinnerware -- to delaware. thank you for your leadership.

you could not have picked a better geyer gal to produce the job. inc. you. easiest nomination but we have had all year. i'm glad to be here with the commander-in-chief of the state of delaware. go ahead. [applause] my wingmen in the united states, the honorable chris. [applause] if you're wondering, is there an honorable wing woman, there sure is. her name is lisa rochester. [applause] always great to be with you. his commander-in-chief is not the governor of delaware. it is his wife who is the general of connecticut. great be with you. we are pleased to welcome home

our friend, the president of the united states. joe biden. [applause] you probably heard the expression if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, is there really a noise? think about that. if the tree falls in the forest and there it is no one there and here is there really a noise? a similar question can be asked here today. the bill has been enacted that provides lifesaving health benefits for veterans but none of them know that it exists. do veterans and their families really benefit? to reiterate some of what secretary mcdonagh just explained. just crisp and to the point.

this new law and new benefits will only be game changers if we, working together, get the word out about the pact act from sea to shining sea from our veterans, families here in delaware and across the nation. centre benefits that they have earned through the service. that's the key. the pact act which senator kunz and i -- congressman rochester and i are private to support -- are proud to support. it grant actress for three and half million post-9/11 veterans, many who are exposed to burn pits and other conflict zones around the world. to put it bluntly, this bill is going to save lives. a lot of them. i have often heard our president say, all politics is personal

and all diplomacy is personal. for him and for me, the issues before us today are deeply personal ones. my father and most of my uncle served in uniform in world war ii. one of them also served in korea. my grandmother was a golden star mother. my mom's youngest brother was killed in action at the age of 19, on a tumor 26, 1944. in a kamikaze attack in western pacific. his body was never recovered. if you ever come to my office you walk into my personal office, there's a huge picture of him on the wall. in his navy dress blues. just make third class. great picture of him. a reminder every day when i walk into my office, seeing his smiling face.

growing up in a household with a strong military tradition, i felt the call to serve our country and served as a fly officer during vietnam war. after my time i took a new commission of naval reserves, wound up flying with the petri squad, not too far from where joe biden grow. if people say what is the petri, about 200 feet off the water, for three different opponents, we track russian comes all over the world. they just retired last year. that's what i did. i love doing that role. it was the opportunity to use the g.i. bill at the university of delaware the brightly to the first day. when i read your, i wanted to find out what benefits were

available to me and other veterans. during my first week i remember leaving class at cornell hall. i got in my volkswagen with a rebuilt engine and drove to ellesmere. that's where i walked into a va hospital. it was a world war ii well of the hospital. stuff was low. the quality left a lot to be desired. dennis who provided care urged me to find care somewhere also sues i could. in the years following the first visit i became more determined to help transform the va hospital in delaware and other va hospital's around the country into more welcoming places where high quality health care was the

rule and not the exception. today because of the efforts of our delegation led by then senator joe biden, that va hospital is no longer a world war ii relic. it's a world-class center. stand up and take a bow. [applause] surrounded by a highly trained staff who came to work everyday inches to help our veterans and their families receive the care that they have earned and that they deserve. committee-based outpatients in central now serve hundreds of veterans every week. earlier this year, veterans began offering dental care. this issue of access to quality health care is personal for our

president, first lady and deeply personal for me. many of those who served in the vietnam war became ill. two decades later, congress with the strong support of senator john borden past -- joe biden passed the act. i believe many of us would agree it took far too long for that bill in action. finally, congress did the right thing. when congress has done the right thing this time for post 9/11 generation of veterans with the enactment of a pact act. that would not have happened without president biden's leadership, and his query and call earlier this year for congress to care for those who

are born suffered because of their exposure to toxic burn. his leadership was the key. [applause] in the military they teach us about leadership. something i thought a lot about in my life and i know others here have well. leaders have the courage to -- and aspirational. they aspire to or better angels trade they restore hope and make sure that those who need help, those who deserve help, learn how they can access that help them change their lives for the better. without i'm honored to introduce to all of you, a purveyor of hope, think of that. a purveyor of hope. a leader for our country, a delaware ian who needs no

introduction or he's a 46 president of united states. he's our friend. his name is joe biden. [applause] pres. biden: tom, thank you. i've been calling senator carper tommy for four years. i call him tommy and people say who are you talking about. i am talking about my buddy, dear friend, a combat veteran, a guy who served in the senate. he gets it. he gets it. that's why he has hosted events like this for decades, as a u.s. senator and before that, congress.

i want to think chris coons. is this thing working? i will also want to think chris coons and congressman lisa rochester. thanks for their friendship and leadership. in john carney, you're doing a hell of a job, pal. [applause] i only -- she used to work for me. he left he became avenue. -- she left me and became governor. thank you for having us today. it means so much to me. a ride by this building a lot. getting air force one went to back and forth to washington or were ever. my wife is still washington

where there is 1200 people showing up at the white house be getting noon. she said joe, don't get emotional. i'm not going to ever get emotional. [laughter] it means so much to me and it meant so much to bow. i want to think the general as well. [applause] what i wanted to -- what i want to do. there was a guy here who flew 25 missions in world war ii over germany. first lieutenant, young guy, one or two years old. --102 years old. and guess what? he lives in ellesmere. [applause]

and my claim to fame is i should be his county councilman. ray, thanks for being here. you are the best. thank you. i may be average, but i'm not stupid. i married dominic's daughter. it is remarkable. right? flew 25 b-17 during world war ii. and one with the distinguished flying cross. [applause] ray, you were part of the generation -- what was referred to as the greatest generation. there is no generation american history that has been deployed more, have given more than the

generation represented by the people we will be looking at and honoring today. nobody has been in the situation where they show up for wind deployment and sometimes five or six. one of the lost times and flew into iraq, i went up in a cockpit, there is a special container. i went up with the group. i was telling my father-in-law and grade school friend. i said oh many is this your first deployment. nobody raised her hand. the flight crew was in it. i said how many second deployment? nobody raised her hand. third?

three. fourth, two. faith? four. it doesn't happen very often. these kids kept getting back that. 1% defense 99% of us. -- 1% defends 99% of us. that doesn't eczema thing away from the world war ii veteran generation. but i want to tell you, it doesn't go noticed enough. how many of you who fought in iraq and afghanistan, although these last wars, how many of you mothers and wives and sons and daughters set at that -- saw an empty seat at the birthday party , the difference is on my generation, we celebrated the bravery of all those who showed up on the finnigan side of the

family. four brothers. every single one volunteered the very next day, on monday, to join. my uncle, frank biden join. my father was working in the shipyards. the fact of the matter is, there was not a second thought. it just showed up. it was a generation represented by you, ray. that doesn't look for accolades. when i got elected vice president my dad said joey, uncle frank fought in the battle that he's not feeling well. nt would the purple heart and never received it. he never got it. you think you can help them get it? we will surprise them. so we got in the purple heart. i came out and presented to him

with the family there. i said uncle frank, you won this. he said i don't want the dam thing. he said i don't want it. i said what's the matter, you are to be heard he said but the others died. i live. i don't want it. the second generation, this generation, in iraq, they asked if i would pin on the silver star to a young man. he had let of his colleagues shot and fell down. i was out there at the point. i think it was a hundred 50 feet . not straight down, but hell. this young man climbed down the hill, not a guy on his shoulder and right about that. he was shot on the way up.

i went to presented to him. he said i don't want it. i don't want it. he died, he died. you understand what i'm talking about? don't you? it israel. these are women and then who are enormous sleek consequential to not only the physical safety of the country but the character of america. that's who we are. that's who we are. you are the backbone of america. my colleagues have heard me say this for a long time. we have a lot of obligations as americans. we only have one sacred obligation. obligations of the old, young, educated, only when obligation.

to prepare those to send a war and care for the families when they come home for more. and i know my colleagues we nothing the bottom of our heart. the reason i called dennis, who's one of the most qualified people of ever worked with in washington and ask him to become the head of the v.a. nationally is that, i get a phone call, my husband, my son, my daughter is in trouble. have to come in and see her. she will be able to come in at 10 days, two weeks. more people have died from suicide, suicide, suicide, than any other cause in the last 35 years.

-- in the last three to five years. i said can we fix it. we owe it. [applause] we have reached out to doctors, nurses, specialized surgeons to expand the expertise. they're good people there. they are all good people. i think were making progress. i think were making genuine progress. iraq 38 or 39 times as president --

only twice as president, but from that time i was a senator or vice president. there was a lot of discussion about these burn pits. you all know what a burn pit is? it is a whole as high as 12 feet deep, the size of a football field. a rectangle. every ugly thing in the world is burned in it. everything. toxic waste, everything. i am no doctor but a lot of people are getting sick. one of the things is poisonous chemicals and jet fuel and other things i will not mention. the toxic smoke is thick with

poison spreading into the air and the lungs of our troops. many were they came home had come home with headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer. i remember beau calling and saying he collapsed. his father-in-law is running all over -- so are many members of the guard. this is personal to them and personal to all of us. it is not unique to me and my family. so many are here today and around the country. secretary mcdonough can tell you we are determined to do something about this, hell or high water. i made it clear in the united

states congress that if they did not pass this damn burn pit bill i was going to go on a holy war, this is not a joke. we have to thank jon stewart for this. [applause] jon stewart made a gigantic difference, and denis and others and i went to him on the capitol steps with groups. maybe some of you were part of that. you stayed there and you insisted they vote on it because some of our friends were not willing to do this. you insisted. finally, it was part of my agenda i announced in my state of the union message to rally the country together. i mentioned four things. i tried to find things that everybody could agree on in a nonpartisan way that were

critical. one was dealing with the opioid epidemic. two was tackling the mental health crisis. three was ending cancer as we know it because we are making significant progress investing billions of dollars to find cures. finally was to support our veterans because the need was great and the number was in the billions. i deliver that speech in march. in august the bipartisan pact act was on my desk and signed into law in one of the most significant loss in history to help veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service. it got done because veterans and families, some of the families rally the nation, rallied the country to get it done. after i signed the bill, some of

you may have seen the picture played on television a lot, i handed the pen over to the widow of sergeant first -- the child of the widow of sergeant first class. usually -- usually you hand the pen you signed to the main sponsor of the bill and i handed it to her and she held it and she gave me a kiss and said thank you for my daddy. thank you. ladies and gentlemen, this family suffered a great loss. they turned their pain into purpose so other families would not have to experience the same thing. that is courage. that is character. that is who we are. that is what defines us. we are the most unique nation in the history of the world because we are the only one who is a product of an idea, not geography, not religion, not ethnicity, an idea. we the people hold these truths

to be self-evident that all men and women -- we've never you -- we have never fully lived up to it but we have never walked away from it and the people it has protected the most are the people sitting in front of you. we learned a horrible lesson after vietnam about the harmful effects of agent orange. a new generation does not focus on that very much. agent orange was dropped on people's heads and they got all kinds of illnesses but they cannot prove it. you had to be able to prove it. you have to have the scientific background to prove it. because of tommy, because of others we were serving with at the time we insisted that all you have to do is prove you are impacted, it landed on your head. nothing else to prove. nothing else to prove. why should the burden beyond the

victim to demonstrate the problems they have suffered since then because of that agent orange when other people were not suffering those things? that is why you heard me say earlier that when tom and i supported the agent orange at -- hard to believe, that was 1991. you are getting old. sen. carper: forever young. pres. biden: supporting veterans exposed to harmful substances like we saw in vietnam. the pact act brings us closer to fulfilling that obligation. the benefits are real. real benefits, like exposures reading if you came back not walking, if you came back you

get the screening. new facilities, more health care work at v.a. hospitals. for families who suffer the ultimate loss, it means access to life insurance, tuition benefits, monthly stipends, and israel. it is -- and it is real. it is not small. it says if you are the spouse of a veteran who died from a toxic illness with two children you can be eligible for $2000 a month to help those children. it will never make up for the soul you lost, but it is important with kids. i was talking to someone earlier without naming them. there are tuition benefits. if you go to a state university as a child of someone who has

died you get free state tuition. if you go to private university get up to $26,000 a year. it matters. the bottom line is you know it, many of you know it, many of you are victims of it, when you lose one of the breadwinners is a gigantic hole. that hole is left because they served all of us. they deserve to have it filled or tried to fill. passing the pact act was the first step of making sure we leave no one behind. we also need to pass a bipartisan government funding bill so we can deliver on the law's promise. there is little bit of -- i wanted to come here today but i have to go back quickly to sign a few pieces of legislation.

during this action to spread the word that every veteran surviving family member knows how access to the benefits are made possible, the law because of these conditions have already taken such a toll on so many veterans, i've to directed the department of veteran affairs to treat all 23 of the presumptive conditions in this law is applicable immediately. i am merging all veterans of these decades of war to enroll in the v.a. health care to get screening for toxic exposure and promptly file your claim. for those watching at home, visit va.gov/pact. like you heard from secretary mcdonough, the v.a. will move as

quickly as possible to resolve your claim and get you the benefits you have earned. here at the national guard reserve center where jill and i stopped to say goodbye to delaware as we were about to be sworn in and washington, d.c. to take our oath of office is an appropriate place to be able to continue to push for implementation of this act. there is no place i would rather be today to get the message out about the pact act than home here in this particular facility. god bless you all and may god protect our troops. thank you. [applause] thank you. you can hear a plane flying over

this this -- if you hear a plane flying over this facility it is me and air force one. i've to go down and sign the first piece of legislation that just got past. i am supposed to do that at 2:00. anyone who wants to come to washington may jump on. thanks to all of you. [applause] ♪

-- she discusses inflation and the overall state of the economy. >> good afternoon. thank you all for joining us. thanks to all of you to all of you tuning in for the live stream. thanks