Atlanta, GA -- Michael Coles, candidate for the United States Senate, says that Paul Coverdell and his colleagues in Congress are to blame for the current plight of Georgia’s Veterans Hospitals. In 1996, Congress voted to freeze veterans’ benefits, including medical benefits, through the year 2001. The legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 53-46, with Coverdell voting for the freeze and Sam Nunn voting against it.1 Coverdell also voted for an earlier version of the legislation, which would have frozen veterans’ benefits through 2002. Nunn voted against that version of the bill as well.2 In addition, Coverdell voted against an amendment sponsored by Senator Rockefeller that would have increased spending on veterans medical care by more than $500 million a year. Nunn, by contrast, voted for the amendment.3 As a result of this freeze, the United States Department of Veterans’ Affairs has asked VA centers to defray some 10% of their annual budget costs through the provision of services to outside sources. The outside services, such as providing medical care for prisoners, would be provided to make up for lost funding. Augusta VA Spokeswoman Rosalie Bell confirmed Tuesday that Georgia VA centers may offer medical care to the medium-to-high security convicts at Edgefield prison in South Carolina.4 “It seems clear to me that we shouldn’t put Georgia’s greatest heroes in the same health care system with drug dealers, rapists, child molesters and other convicted criminals. But that is what may now happen, as a result of Paul Coverdell and his colleagues’ irresponsible votes,” noted Coles. _____________________________ |
