Sen. Gillibrand speaks after burn pit legislation fails senate

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) – An early vote for legislation to protect veterans from burn pit exposure failed on Wednesday in the U.S. Senate.

60 votes were required for the bill to advance. It only received 55. It received overwhelming approval in the house earlier this month. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand had this to say during a news conference outside the capitol building.

"This is the worst form of over-politicization I’ve literally ever seen. This is total BS,” Gillibrand said. “We had the votes, we had strong bipartisan support for this bill and at the eleventh hour, Senator Chumey decides that he wants to rewrite the bill, change the rules, and tank it. How he convinced 25 of his colleagues to change their vote I have no idea.”

It is unclear when a rewritten bill could be voted on. Congress does enter a month-long recess in August.