President Joe Biden on Tuesday gave two little boys money for ice cream and advised young men to marry a family that has five daughters so ‘one of them will always love you.’
Biden, while talking about his legslative accomplishments at a stop in New Hampshire, struggled to pronouce the PACT Act, his legislation that helped fund money for veterans suffering from being exposed to toxic burn pits and other chemicals.
He also had some bizarre advice.
‘I say to every young man thinking of getting married, marry into a family with five or more daughters,’ he noted. ‘One of them will always love you.’
Biden’s wife Jill Tracy Biden is the eldest of five sisters. Her sisters have joined her at White House events such as when she donated her inaugural gown to the Smithsonian Museum.
After his speech, Biden went to talk to the crowd. He gave seven-year-old Jack Brown and five-year-old Carter Brown money for ice cream.
The president loves ice cream. It’s his favorite dessert.
President Joe Biden gives ice cream money to Jack Brown, 7, and Carter Brown, 5, as he meets them and their veteran mother Megan Brown, with her daughter Madeline Brown, 3
Meanwhile, Biden on Tuesday announced more than 1 million veterans have been treated under a new law directed toward those who suffered from exposure to toxic burn pits during their service.
The visit is part of Biden’s push to sell his legislative accomplishments to the American people as he seeks another term in the White House.
Biden’s late son Beau was exposed to toxic burn pits during his military service in Iraq.
Biden has long said he believes there could be a connection to the burn pits Beau was stationed near and his illiness. Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015.
Eighty-six percent of post-9/11 veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan say they were exposed to burn pits, according to a 2020 survey by the nonprofit Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
In 2022, Biden signed the ‘Pact Act’ into law, which expanded federal health care services for millions of veterans who served at military bases where toxic smoke billowed from huge ‘burn pits.’
More than 5.4 million veterans have received free screenings for toxic exposures from VA under the PACT Act, the White House said, calling it ‘a critical step to catching and treating potentially life-threatening health conditions as early as possible.’
That amounts to about 888,000 veterans and survivors in all 50 states who have been able to receive disability benefits under the law.
![Joe Biden has said he believes there could be a connection to the burn pits Beau Biden was stationed near in Iraq and his brain cancer, Beau died in 2015 - above then-Vice President Joe Biden with Beau Biden in Iraq in July 2009](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/25/19/57035681-10752035-image-a-29_1650911418142.jpg)
Joe Biden has said he believes there could be a connection to the burn pits Beau Biden was stationed near in Iraq and his brain cancer, Beau died in 2015 – above then-Vice President Joe Biden with Beau Biden in Iraq in July 2009
![First Lady Jill Biden, center, her daughter Ashley Biden, left, and her sister Bonny Jacobs visit Giza Pyramids, near Cairo](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/21/21/85171297-13444401-image-a-7_1716325150779.jpg)
First Lady Jill Biden, center, her daughter Ashley Biden, left, and her sister Bonny Jacobs visit Giza Pyramids, near Cairo
![Joe and Jill Biden married in June 1977](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/21/21/85170733-13444401-image-a-8_1716325170770.jpg)
Joe and Jill Biden married in June 1977
That totals about $5.7 billion in benefits given to veterans and their survivors, according to the administration.
The law ended a years-long fight to ensure treatment for chronic illnesses that veterans have blamed on burn pits, which were used to dispose of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste on military bases. Estimates of affected troops run to 3.5 million.
But before the PACT Act became law, the Department of Veterans Affairs denied 70% of disability claims that involved burn pit exposure. Now, the law requires the VA to assume that certain respiratory illnesses and cancers were related to burn pit or other toxic exposure without the veterans having to prove the link.
Comedian Jon Stewart was among those who advocated for the legislation.
‘I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this situation where people who have already given so much had to fight so hard to get so little,’ he said when the bill finally passed. ‘I hope we learned a lesson.’
![A trash burn pit at Forward Operating Base Caferetta Nawzad, Helmand province south of Kabul, Afghanistan in 2011](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/25/19/57035687-10752035-image-a-30_1650911430513.jpg)
A trash burn pit at Forward Operating Base Caferetta Nawzad, Helmand province south of Kabul, Afghanistan in 2011
![Solides burn trash in Afghnistan in 2012 - Eighty-six percent of post-9/11 veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan say they were exposed to burn pits](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/04/25/19/57035747-10752035-image-a-31_1650911447573.jpg)
Solides burn trash in Afghnistan in 2012 – Eighty-six percent of post-9/11 veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan say they were exposed to burn pits
The U.S. military in both Afghanistan and Iraq disposed of garbage and waste in open air burn pits that many believe poisoned veterans with toxins in the smoke.
Beau Biden served in Iraq as a member of the Delaware National Guard.
President Biden has blamed burn pits for affecting troops.
‘I spent a fair amount of time there as a United States senator and as vice president. The burn pits and incinerate wastes of war, medical and hazardous materials, jet fuel and so much more, just dug in big pits, not far from the hooches, not far from where our veterans were sleeping. When our troops came home, the fittest among them, the greatest fighting force in the history of the world, too many of them were not the same, headaches, dizziness, numbness, dizziness, cancer,’ Biden said during his Texas visit.
Experts are less definitive about the link between burn pit emissions and long-term medical conditions.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk