WASHINGTON (AP) — Rosie Torres of Robstown, Texas, is no Washington lobbyist, but she’s been making the long trek to Capitol Hill for some 13 years, knocking year after year on lawmakers’ doors. Her mission: Alert them — convince them — that something awful has been happening to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans as a result of constant exposure to toxic military burn pits.
Torres’ husband, Le Roy, suffers from constrictive bronchitis, a respiratory condition that narrowed his airways and made breathing difficult. Rosie is sure it’s from his exposure to burn pits on his base in Iraq. But last week, even with the Senate just hours away from boosting health and disability benefits for veterans like her husband, she still wasn’t sure she had won over lawmakers, despite earlier votes indicating the bill was on the right track.
“It was still too good to be true,” Torres said. “Even when my senators voted, I said, ‘Something is up.'”
