(Bloomberg) -- Legislation giving veterans exposed to toxic burn pits access to expanded health benefits is on course for Senate passage as early as Tuesday night, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, following a days-long protest at the Capitol after Republicans blocked the bill.

The delay prompted a lobbying campaign from veterans advocates, including comedian Jon Stewart, who have camped out on the Capitol steps through the weekend and into this week.

The legislation known as the PACT Act would expand veterans’ health-care eligibility to about 3.5 million people exposed to toxic burn pits while serving overseas. The pits, used to burn fuel, chemicals, and other waste, have been linked to certain illnesses due to the toxins present in the smoke.

Beyond aiding veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the bill would also expand coverage for illnesses potentially linked to the Agent Orange herbicide used in the Vietnam war.

The legislation has already passed the House, and approval by the Senate would send it to President Joe Biden for his signature.

Last week, 41 Republican senators voted against advancing the bill shortly after West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin announced a deal with Schumer on a separate tax and spending bill Republicans are united against.

Twenty-five of those Republicans had supported another version of the bill last month. The GOP senators, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, denied that they changed their minds to retaliate against Democrats who had finally reached a deal after a months-long stalemate.

The Republican objections centered on a technical issue in the bill. Senator Pat Toomey sought to block reclassifying billions in discretionary veterans health spending as mandatory entitlement spending under the bill.

The bill “is going to free up $400 billion underneath the spending caps that discretionary spending is subject to,” Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, told Bloomberg Television. “It allows for a spending spree on unrelated things.”

Proponents of the bill, like Stewart, warned that Toomey’s proposed change would mean sick veterans would need to lobby for funding in annual spending bills.

Biden, who called for the legislation in his State of the Union address earlier this year, has spoken about the dangers of toxic burn pits for years.

Last weekend, the president had a video call with veterans’ families camped outside the Capitol. Biden said in a tweet that his most recent positive Covid test prevented him from visiting them in person, so instead he sent the protesters pizza.

“It’s our sacred obligation to care for our veterans,” Biden tweeted.

The issue is personal for the president, who lost his son Beau to brain cancer. Beau Biden served in Iraq near burn pits, and Biden has suggested that the toxins from the pits may have caused the disease.

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Author: Diego Areas Munhoz