Kenya Merritt Renewing our PACT Act of 2026

This bill, titled the Kenya Merritt Renewing our PACT Act of 2026, establishes a legal presumption that specific diseases are caused by exposure to open burn pits and other toxic hazards for certain federal employees. It directly affects workers in departments such as Defense, State, and Homeland Security who spent at least 30 days in foreign contingency operations on or after August 2, 1990. Under the new rules, eligible employees can receive disability or death compensation for listed illnesses without needing to prove that the disease was recorded during their time of exposure. The Secretary of Labor is tasked with maintaining an updated list of covered diseases and submitting a progress report to Congress within one year of the law's enactment.