President Joe Biden will return to Delaware on Friday to participate in a town hall about recently signed legislation that expands health care benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits and toxic substances.
Biden will speak to veterans about the PACT Act at the Maj. Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III National Guard/Reserve Center near New Castle. Beau Biden, the former Delaware attorney general who died of brain cancer in 2015, served as a major in the Delaware Army National Guard.
The president has publicly speculated that his eldest son had brain cancer from his exposure to burn pits while serving in Iraq.
“Toxic smoke, thick with poisons, spreading through the air and into the lungs of our bodies,” Biden said during signing the bill in August. “When they came home, many of the strongest and best fighters we sent to war were not the same. Headache, numbness, dizziness, cancer. My son Beau was one of them.”
U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, who is the last Vietnam veteran serving in the U.S. Senate, invited Biden to Friday’s town hall. The event is part of the annual Carper Veterans Summit, which is comprised of elected officials and leaders from Delaware veterans groups.
During the town hall, Biden is expected to encourage veterans to sign up for health care, get screened for possible toxic exposure and file insurance claims if they are experiencing a related condition. It is one of 90 nationwide events the Biden administration is holding on this legislation.
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This town hall will be among several presidential events Biden has held in Delaware this year.
In October, Biden spoke at Delaware State University about the White House’s student loan debt forgiveness program. It was the first time a president visited the campus of the historically Black university. He also spoke at the University of Delaware’s spring commencement.
This Saturday also marks the 50th anniversary of the deaths of Biden’s first wife, Neilia, and young daughter, Naomi, a tragedy that has defined the president’s personal and political life.
Biden often visits the graves of his family members when he returns to his home in Greenville, including on the anniversary of the car accident.
