Veteran health care proposal fails in Senate

WASHINGTON – Sen. Patty Murray lost what she called “a last-ditch effort” Tuesday to get the federal government to spend another $2 billion on veterans’ health care, including $525 million to help treat mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder for those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Washington state Democrat tried to amend an $80.6 billion emergency proposal for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate this week is debating the spending package, which also includes funding for tsunami relief and foreign aid programs. The bill offers slightly less funding than President Bush requested and passed the House last month.

This is the third time this year Murray has lead a highly charged debate on veterans’ health care funding.

All attempts failed on near party-line votes, with Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania the only Republican siding with Tuesday’s amendment, which failed 54-46.

The bill, which President Bush is expected to sign, is already padded with member perks. Other senators have proposed amendments for “emergency” projects, some of which have nothing to do with the military.

With the Senate debating what is and is not an emergency, Murray’s amendment faced criticism from Republicans who argued that the VA system did not need any immediate health care funding. That argument left her “stunned,” she said.

Murray described VA hospital beds held together with duct tape, broken operating tables, poorly maintained medical equipment and budget shortfalls in VA hospitals across the country, including in Washington state.

“I am just appalled that this is what this argument has come down to on this floor,” she said during the debate. “If this is not an emergency, then I don’t know what is.”

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who led the debate against the Murray amendment, said an emergency request is unnecessary in this tight budget year. She presented a letter from Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson which said his department already has the money it needed for veterans’ health care needs.

Hutchison and other Republicans questioned Murray’s attempt to appropriate money for soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan who are not yet part of the VA system. It could take months for these soldiers to enter the VA system, and they instead receive medical treatment under a Department of Defense plan.

But Murray’s spokeswoman Alex Glass said that 240,000 soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan had already left the service, and 50,000 of them were now receiving VA care.

“We were trying to avoid an impending crisis that is going to happen,” Glass said. “We are about to see a train wreck in terms of what is about to happen to our VA hospitals.”

Murray is running out of options to get money added, and it is unlikely she’ll have another chance this year to make her case on the Senate floor.

When the budget goes to a conference committee to reconcile differences with the House, Glass said Murray may be able to convince them to add some money.