A group of U.S. military veterans traveled the country to advocate for legislation to be included in the Biden administration spending to support Afghanistan refugees.
The veterans were advocating for the Afghan Adjustment Act introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., traveling through 25 states and over 7,600 miles in five weeks this fall, The Washington Post reported.
"We got to finish this mission," Army veteran Matt Zeller told the Post on the trek to lobby skeptical Republican senators on the spending plan to support Afghanistan refugees.
The veterans are pushing for the "Triple A" to be included in the last-ditch Biden spending package before the House majority is handed over to Republicans who might seek to cut excessive spending in the next Congress.
"I'm only alive talking to you today because my Afghan interpreter shot and killed these two Taliban fighters who were about to kill me in a battle 14 years ago," Zeller told a staffer for Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., on the trip in Omaha, according to the Post.
Fischer has already spoken strongly for the Biden administration to help America's Afghan allies.
"The United States made a promise to these brave Afghans: If you work with us, we said, then we will take care of you and your family," she said during the operation to airlift refugees out of the Kabul airport, the Post reported.
The "Triple A" would keep the Afghan refugees from deportation and permit them working green card visas after further vetting, lifting "humanitarian parole" that expires in 2023, according to the Post.
Klobuchar's bill is co-sponsored by five: Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Christopher A. Coons, D-Del.; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
"All we are asking is for a promise to be kept: You work with us, we take care of you," Zeller told the Post "That is why we have to be out here doing this. Whatever it takes."
Republicans are skeptical of the "Triple A" because the Department of Homeland Security is already giving priority to Afghan asylum cases, vowing to resolve them in 150 days after receiving them.
"We've come 2,500 miles across the country, spreading awareness of the Afghan Adjustment Act," Zeller said in a video message during a Wyoming stop. "Still I've yet to meet a person who doesn't want to get it passed. Just overwhelming support from folks who want to get this done."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.