Stevens Calls Knowles Ads Wrong And Unfair
Tells Press Lisa Worked to Increase Veterans' Care
Anchorage, AK - In the wake of misleading television ads accusing Senator Lisa Murkowski of voting against care for veterans, Senator Ted Stevens called a press conference to set the record straight.
The Knowles ad accuses Senator Murkowski of voting against veterans on eight votes in the U.S. Senate. Stevens, a World War II veteran, voted exactly the same way on seven of the eight votes (the eighth vote being a Veterans Affairs Committee vote that Stevens could not have voted on) and called the Knowles ad 'wrong' and 'unfair.' "[Senator Murkowski] voted with me. And no one is criticizing the way I voted but they are trying to make it look like the way she voted was against veterans. It is absolutely untrue and it's not proper. Theses ads would have you believe that we have cut the amount of money for veterans. We increased it," Stevens said.
As Senator Murkowski described last week when the Knowles ad first began airing, the seven votes that are cited in the ad were all budgetary amendments that would have increased spending through raising taxes or adding to the deficit by not identifying other new sources of revenue. On the other hand, Senator Murkowski's amendment to the FY05 budget makes room for an additional $1.2 billion in veterans' health care without increasing taxes and within the budget. Stevens echoed these comments this morning. "There were several amendments offered by Democrats trying to increase that amount [of spending in the budget]. We have a budget that was agreed to and these amendments were strictly political amendments. I voted against these amendments and so did Lisa. As a matter of fact I urged those people that wanted a bill, to vote against these amendments because they were politically inspired and they would have killed the bill," Stevens said.
Stevens also discussed the importance of Senator Murkowski's work in the Congressional Delegation and the ramifications of a Democratic victory in November. "We are working better now, better than the three members of the Delegation have worked in years. [Republican] majority control comes down to one seat. Right now this seat is the key to my being [Senate] President Pro Temp, and my being Chairman of the Commerce Committee, and my being part of the leadership. I have my seniority, and it's effective because we're in the majority," Stevens said.
"There are some other ads out there coming along, and if they continue this, I am going to speak out against those ads and for Lisa because Lisa has voted with me. There's still got to be some concept of fairness in politics and this is really unfair," Stevens said.
Both mandatory and discretionary funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs is up from $47.9 billion in 2001 to $61.8 billion in 2004.