WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said Thursday he will do everything he can to block in the Senate a House-passed veterans bill that he said would cut disability benefits for future veterans.

House Republican leaders used a voice vote Wednesday, Veterans Day, to pass what Reed's office called the "so-called" Take Care of America's Veterans Act, a vote with no roll call recording who supported or opposed it, according to the release. Reed's office said the bill would cut $57 billion from the disability benefits of future veterans, which it called "the largest veterans' benefits cut in American history," and would nearly triple the Department of Veterans Affairs' streamlined refinancing fee.

"It is a shame so-called Republican leaders tried to use procedural gimmicks to cloak their action," Reed said. "You don't expand benefits for a few by taking away benefits from disabled veterans who earned them and depend on them."

Reed's office cited a report in The Hill in which House Democrats accused Republicans of playing "dirty pool," saying the bill was declared passed while Rep. Mark Takano of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, was away from his microphone discussing last-minute changes.

Reed, a West Point graduate and Army veteran who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he supports some provisions that would help veterans and caregivers but strongly opposes changes to tinnitus and sleep apnea ratings that he said would reduce compensation for many veterans. The bill must still pass the Senate to become law.

"Let's end the war in Iran. That would save billions," Reed said.

The release also quoted the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which said a section of the bill would for the first time write changes to the VA disability rating schedule into law to generate budget savings.

The release did not include a response from House Republicans.

This brief was drafted by AI from a public agency or political press release and published by The New England Signal. Why we use AI for stories like this one.