DN Editorial: NO SALUTE FOR PAT It's not too late to unsink the ship of his 'no' vote on veterans' benefits

SEN. Pat Toomey has angered a lot of his constituents lately - and we're not even talking about the progressives who are appalled at his triumphant effort last week to block the nomination of Debo Adegbile for assistant attorney general.

We're talking military veterans.

Despite proclaiming himself a champion of veterans and making grandiose statements about our society's obligation to take care of them, Sen. Toomey was one of 41 Senators - all Republicans - who defeated a recent bill that would have expanded veterans' benefits and restored a cost-of-living pension cut.

Veterans are furious.

"I don't know how anyone who voted 'no' today can look a veteran in the eye and justify that vote," Daniel Dellinger, national commander of the American Legion, was quoted as saying.

Try reconciling Toomey's vote with the rhetoric on his website: Sen. Toomey "understands how important it is that we continue to provide quality medical care and other benefits to all veterans, both to those who served a generation ago and to those just returning from fighting in the war against terrorism."

So how does he justify his vote?

According to statements from Toomey's office, the bill didn't include increased revenue to pay for the expanded benefits, and violated "the bi-partisan, legislatively established, budget caps on discretionary spending." Toomey said that he introduced his own amendment, which would have provided similar benefits but also included specific offsets to pay for them, but was prevented from introducing the amendment.

All of which still means that Sen. Toomey put financial principles above humanitarian ones when he voted to defeat the bill.

Democrats are citing the vote as another example of the poisonous partisan intransigence that has paralyzed Washington since President Obama took office.

All Senate Democrats - including Sen. Bob Casey - and two Republicans supported the bill, but it failed anyway. Procedurally, four more votes were needed to waive a VA spending limit under the budget approved by President Obama and Congress.

There's one veteran who may very well benefit from Sen. Toomey's vote, considering the nearly 1 million veterans who live in Pennsylvania: former Congressman Joe Sestak, who's challenging the incumbent in the 2016 Senate race. Sestak is a former U.S. Navy three-star admiral.

Sen. Toomey is not always a slavering adherent to right-wing politics. He's occasionally worked across the aisle on a number of issues, including background checks on guns, and, indeed, veterans' benefits. So there's still time for Toomey to rethink his position on this bill and live up to the rhetoric he spouts on his website and elsewhere.

Veteran Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, who sponsored the bill that was rejected, said that he isn't giving up, according to the Washington Post. The progressive senator said that he'd be working hard in the upcoming weeks to convince the necessary number of Republicans to reconsider their votes.

We urge Sen. Toomey to distinguish himself and honor his commitment to military veterans by being one of the Republicans who does just that.