Veteran health care fees rejected

WASHINGTON – The Senate rejected a plan to charge some veterans for their health care, unanimously approving Tuesday an amendment that does away with fees proposed by the Bush administration.

Critics, however, said the move was largely symbolic because it doesn’t add any actual money to the Department of Veterans Affairs budget.

In the unanimous vote, senators approved an amendment by Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., to replace nearly $800 million in proposed fees with money from other programs.

Afterward, senators voted, largely along party lines, to reject a separate amendment from Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, to increase the VA budget by rolling back some corporate tax cuts.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said the Burns amendment provided a generous increase of almost $800 million to an already large budget.

But Murray, in an interview after the vote, called the Burns’ change a “Don’t-worry-be-happy-until-after-the-election” amendment. Under that proposal, the money must come from cuts to other programs, which she called an unlikely prospect.

“Unfortunately, the Burns amendment simply does not put any real money into VA funding,” Murray said. Her amendment would have added some $1.5 billion to the VA budget by eliminating some tax cuts.

In its fiscal 2007 budget, the Bush administration proposed charging some veterans who earn more than $29,000 a year an enrollment fee for VA health care as well as increasing their co-payments for prescription drugs.

The Senate budget resolution provides a blueprint, but congressional appropriators – including Craig and Murray – ultimately decide how much money the VA can spend. A vote on the full budget resolution is expected this week.