Front Page  elex

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Kerry Waits To Vote on Vet Plan

By Andy Lenderman
Journal Staff Writer
    Sen. John Kerry canceled a campaign visit to hundreds of New Mexicans on Tuesday, but the coordinator of a New Mexico veterans group that supports him said it was the right move.
    The likely Democratic presidential nominee late Monday abruptly changed his plans for a Monday and Tuesday visit to Albuquerque, which included a fund-raiser that could have netted him about $500,000.
    Instead, he was in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, waiting to vote on a Senate amendment to increase spending on veterans' health-care benefits— a vote that never came.
    "I think it was the only thing to do," said John McWaters, the state coordinator for New Mexico Veterans for Kerry. "This vote was important. That's the choice I would have made."
    The Massachusetts Democrat returned Tuesday to the Capitol to vote on an amendment pushed by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
    Daschle's measure would ensure that Department of Veterans Affairs prescription drugs and health services are available to all veterans, according to Daschle's office.
    The amendment would cover 3 million more veterans, and would cost $300 billion more over 10 years, Daschle's office reported. There are 26 million veterans nationwide, according to the department's Web site.
    And the measure would cover 187,000 veterans in New Mexico, Kerry spokesman Ruben Pulido Jr. said.
    "He knew it was going to be a close vote, and that's why he traveled back to D.C.," Pulido said.
    But the vote didn't happen on Tuesday, and Democrats blamed Republican Senate leaders for playing games.
    "I'm told that Republicans may be holding off on the vote to keep Senator Kerry from having a chance to vote on it," Daschle told reporters Tuesday. "I hope they won't do that. That is petty. That is small."
    A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said there's no hidden agenda.
    "There's no other intent than trying to complete this bill," Frist's spokesman Robert Stevenson said. "We're always happy to see Senator Kerry. We wish he was here much more."
    Stevenson said Republicans are trying to work with Democrats to get an agreement to finish the remaining amendments to the Department of Defense authorization bill and pass it this week.
    A spokesman for President Bush's re-election campaign said Kerry has missed 70 percent of the votes in the current Congress. Kerry has also been campaigning for president around the nation.
    Bush campaign spokesman Danny Diaz also said Kerry's campaign "has consistently said that the president or this administration has cut veterans health care, and it's simply, absolutely not true."
    The president's proposed budget for the 2005 fiscal year gives the Department of Veterans Affairs $68 billion, a 40 percent increase from 2001 levels, Diaz said.
    But McWaters said Veterans Affairs administrators in New Mexico are having a hard time with their budget.
    "It's just getting squeezed to death, I think, by the administration and their lack of funding," McWaters said.
    McWaters, like Kerry, is a Vietnam veteran. He's also a volunteer who helps veterans recover from the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.
    "I personally am quite concerned about this whole election coming up because I just don't think the military is in a very favorable position right now in terms of their capabilities or their defense," McWaters said.
    The chairwoman of the Kerry campaign in New Mexico said Kerry will be back. Lt. Gov. Diane Denish also said Kerry does not take New Mexico's vote for granted.
    "We're disappointed, but we'll reschedule, and he'll be back," Denish said. "And I think the reasons he's not here are the right reasons."
    A Tuesday night fund-raiser was scheduled at the home of Albuquerque businessman Paul Blanchard, Denish said. The event was expected to raise about $500,000, she said.
    "We have lots of people who agreed to come forward."
    And New Mexico still is viewed as a battleground state, she said, which means the state's five electoral votes could go either to Bush or to Kerry.
    Denish said that having a Democratic governor in New Mexico is helpful. But, she added, "I don't think that assures us of anything without a lot of hard work."