Tom Harkin: “if that article had not appeared, I probably would have blindly gone forward and voted for the McCain amendment and…”

“if that article had not appeared, I probably would have blindly gone forward and voted for the McCain amendment and voted for this bill, assuming that Iowa would get a 2.4 percent increase in its VA health care budget. After all, that is what is in the bill. The bill contains a 2.4 percent increase. If we do not adopt the amendment that I just sent to the desk, I am concerned that my colleagues from the Midwest and many other States will also see massive cuts. All my amendment does is ask for a little fairness in allocating the veterans health care budget. Our veterans in Iowa are older than the national average. We have the highest percentage of citizens over age 85 in the Nation--the highest. The health care that these, our oldest, veterans require is much more expensive than that for the general veteran population. Any capitation funding formula that does not adequately account for these factors will be grossly unfair to States like Iowa, and the McCain amendment does not do the job.”