Veterans Affairs processors in recent years mishandled more than one-third of all disability claims related to water contamination issues at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, potentially cheating as many as 21,000 veterans out of financial compensation, a government watchdog said Thursday.

Partain said he and his friend, Jerry Ensminger, an ex-Marine whose 9-year-old daughter died of leukemia in 1985 while the family lived at Camp Lejeune, "have fought tooth and nail" on the issue for 15 and 25-plus years, respectively.

So I started digging into the regulations and reports. It was all online. There was the Army Regulation saying “no burn pits.” It was pretty easy to map out the story. You’re not allowed to burn a fire in your backyard in the United States, right? This is 240 tons and an open pit. So it really wasn’t that hard of a story to report out. But no one else had done it.

Comprehensive toxic exposure legislation that could provide new health care and disability benefits to millions of veterans is headed to the White House to become law after Senate lawmakers ended a week of turmoil surrounding the bill with a strong bipartisan vote

Republican lawmakers who had previously voted against the measure, including Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., reiterated objections to how the money connected to the measure (about $300 billion over 10 years) would be accounted for in the regular appropriations process.

The bill — the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act (or PACT Act) — was expected to be sent to the White House before the July 4 holiday but was stalled by technical problems with the measure. The House addressed those in a bipartisan vote last Wednesday. Advocates are hopeful that the Senate can move quickly on the issue this week.

Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., attempted to push through a fix on the Senate floor late Thursday night, but the bid was blocked by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., one of the 14 senators to oppose the measure last week.