Veterans issues played a diminished role in President Joe Biden’s Thursday night State of the Union address in which he sought to sell voters on what a second term of his presidency could look like by touting the accomplishments of his first three years in office and contrasting himself to former President Donald Trump.
While Biden dedicated significant portions of his first two State of the Union speeches to veterans policy, this year’s speech included just a brief mention of his biggest accomplishment so far on veterans issues: the PACT Act.
Speaking toward the end of the speech about his “unity agenda” of proposals designed to garner bipartisan support in Congress, Biden urged lawmakers to “keep our truly sacred obligation, to train and equip those we send into harm’s way, and care for them and their families when they come home, and when they don’t.”
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“That’s why, with the strong support and help of [Secretary] Denis [McDonough] at the VA, I signed the PACT Act, one of the most significant laws ever, helping millions of veterans exposed to toxins who now are battling more than 100 cancers,” he added. “Many of them didn’t come home, but we owe them and their families support.”
This year’s State of the Union, a constitutional requirement for the president to periodically update Congress that has increasingly grown into a…
