Category: Jordan Carleo-Evangelist
NH Sens. Yeah and Nay on Global Warming Bill
WASHINGTON – New Hampshire Republican Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu uncharacteristically split their votes Thursday on what some environmental advocates called the most significant vote on global climate change in the Senate’s history.
The measure would have forced industries to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions to 2000 levels by the year 2010. It would also have allowed industries to buy and trade emissions credits to stay within the cap.
Gregg voted for the bill, which was sponsored by Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn, and John McCain, R-Ariz, while Sununu voted against it. The bill failed, 43-55.
Some environmental experts have long argued that carbon dioxide is the leading cause of global climate change, commonly called global warming.
Many Republicans, including the Bush administration, have opposed government caps on carbon dioxide emissions on the grounds that it could unfairly harm the fossil fuel industry and damage an already struggling economy. The administration, which openly opposed the bill, prefers industry self-policing. Other opponents have challenged the science behind climate change, saying that there’s no proof any such thing as global warming exists.
U.S. Congressman Charles Bass, R-NH, introduced a bill in the House last month that would also impose a cap-and-trade system on a number of air pollutants emitted by power plants, including carbon dioxide. Gregg helped author a similar bill in the Senate.
And while it was widely believed that Lieberman’s and McCain’s bill would fail, environmentalists nonetheless hailed it as a victory simply because it forced Senators to go on record on carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. The last time the Senate voted on the issue was in 1997, when it voted 95-0 against supporting the controversial Kyoto Protocol.
“We would like to applaud Sen. Gregg for his support on this historic vote,” said Jan Pendlebury, a spokesperson with the New Hampshire office of the National Environmental Trust, an advocacy group that lobbied hard for the bill. “It’s a shame that Sen. Sununu still questions the science on global warming after so many government-funded studies have clearly indicated the association between human activity and increasing atmospheric carbon level.”
In a statement, Sununu said the bill and the strictures it would impose would not be cost- effective and could damage the economy.
“Enormous cost, minimal benefit. That’s the bottom line,” he said. “If we place harsh limits on CO2 emissions, energy costs for every American will go up. Meanwhile, China, Russia, Mexico and other countries are exempt [from the Kyoto Protocol], and when American manufacturing costs rise in order to comply with this bill, those jobs go overseas.”
He also said that climate change data supplied by the United Nations indicated that global temperatures would increases despite the bill’s caps.
In his own statement, Gregg said that the cap-and-trade strategy was economically sound and environmentally necessary to protect New Hampshire’s natural beauty.
“This amendment addresses the emission of greenhouse gases in a responsible and prudent way,” Gregg said. “The ‘cap and trade’ approach utilized in this amendment uses the market forces to achieve the most economical reduction in emissionsá.”
He added: “Without addressing the emissions from utilities, manufacturers and factories, New Hampshire will continue toá be known as the tailpipe of our nation.”
Visa Pinch Felt in Granite State, UNH Official Tells Senate
WASHINGTON - Having just completed his master's degree in economics, a University of New Hampshire student returned home to Turkey last spring to visit his family. With a student visa valid through the end of this year, he had every intention of returning to the United States this fall to begin work on his Ph.D.
He wasn't allowed to. The graduate shares a name with a known criminal, and his application to enter the United States triggered an FBI investigation. His visa and doctorate are on hold, and UNH officials are withholding his name to protect his privacy.
Cases like that illustrate how a new visa screening system intended to prevent terrorists from entering the United States could bar smart foreign students and scholars from American campuses and imperil the $12 billion a year that they bring to the United States, according to John Aber, vice president for research and public service at UNH.
Aber told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee Thursday that the more difficult the United States makes it for international students and scholars to come to America, the more likely they are to take their money and expertise elsewhere.
"A number of our most productive faculty spend a considerable amount of their working life abroad," Aber told the Subcommittee on International Relations and Terrorism, which is investigating implementation of new checks used to sift through visa applicants and root out terrorists. Other witnesses said the new procedures, adopted by Congress last year, also are hurting tourism.
"The optimum management of our research enterprise requires free and open accessáto the pool of aspiring students and scholars who hold citizenship in other countries," Aber said. He added that UNH typically processes about 800 international applications a year.
While he said UNH has not seen a noticeable increase in the number of students whose visa applications have been rejected under the new laws, Aber said the added time and hassle have discouraged some students from applying in the first place. Universities in Canada and Australia are taking advantage of the situation to actively promote hassle-free visa applications, he said.
Foreign applications to most of UNH's degree programs have not declined, but applications to the shorter English language programs have dropped by about 20 percent, Aber said. Many foreign students apply to the English programs before entering degree programs, and Aber predicted the drop eventually would resonate throughout the university.
Foreign-born students earn 33 percent of Ph.D.s in science and engineering and 40 percent of those in computer science in the United States each year, Aber said.
Visa screeners from the State Department, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security also consider an applicant's country of origin and any intention to work with sensitive technology. Those restrictions are particularly problematic for UNH, which conducts a significant amount of research in the space sciences, Aber said.
"Right now it's a guessing game when we cannot guarantee anybody's quick return to the U.S.," said Leila Paje-Manelo, director of the Office of International Students and Scholars at UNH.
Several senators cautioned witnesses from the federal agencies charged with implementing the new rules that they must maintain a delicate balance between ensuring security and smothering the already struggling economy.
"The visa and border-crossing process must be, and must be seen to be, convenient," Sen. John Sununu, R-NH, the subcommittee's chairman, said in a statement. "If not, potential visitors - businessmen and women, tourists, students, scholars and scientists - will go elsewhere at great cost to our economy, our lead in science and technology and foreign understanding of our country."
Sen. Richard Lugar, D-Ind., added, "[The economy] may be more secure, but it may be dead by the time we're finished."
Smith Senate Bid Unlikely
WASHINGTON - Former U.S. Sen. Bob Smith, who lost his seat to fellow New Hampshire Republican John Sununu last fall, has not been actively raising money for a bid to return to the Senate, according to federal campaign finance records.
The records seem to put an end to speculation that Smith, a controversial two-term senator, three-term House member and presidential candidate, would make a run at Sen. Judd Gregg's seat next fall. Nevertheless, Smith declined to say Wednesday whether he would run.
"I'd rather not comment on that," Smith said when reached by telephone in Florida, where he is currently selling pricey oceanfront real estate.
Smith seemed to be more certain earlier this year. Last January, Smith's spokeswoman, Lisa Harrison, told The Union Leader that Smith laughed at the notion that he might take on Gregg in 2004.
While many consider a bid by Smith unlikely, his political past indicates that just about anything is possible. Smith ran as a Republican for president in 2000, but then abandoned his party and declared himself an independent after it became clear he would not get the GOP nomination.
Though Smith's main campaign committee has received nearly $4 million in campaign contributions this year, it has only $2,733.93 in the bank, millions short of what it would take to mount a successful run against Gregg, a popular two-term incumbent. Gregg, a Republican, wields significant power as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Smith spent $4.5 million when he lost the primary to then-House member Sununu last fall. Sununu spent $3.7 million.
Smith formed a second committee, the Smith Team Exploratory Committee, just weeks after his 2002 primary loss to "seriously explore a future run for the United States Senate in New Hampshire," according a cover letter bearing his signature. Papers filed with the Federal Election Commission, which oversees campaign fundraising and expenditures, say Smith intends to run in 2008, when Sununu will face re-election.
Smith's spokeswoman told The Union Leader in January that the exploratory committee was created solely to handle the money left over from his failed campaign, as the FEC requires. The committee was officially terminated in April.
Despite being technically defunct, the committee filed a report last week with the FEC to account for a $3,000 refund it received, according to an FEC spokesperson. That money immediately was shifted to Smith's main committee, Bob Smith for U.S. Senate.
At least one long-time New Hampshire Republican, former state Attorney General Thomas Rath, said another Smith campaign was unlikely. Dan Allen, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said he saw no signs Smith would run.
"I see absolutely no indication" that he intends to run, said Rath, who helped run Gregg's first campaign in 1992. "I would be very surprised if he did that," Rath said. "He's moved on to other things."
Civil Libertarians Praise Patriot Act Reforms, Sununu
WASHINGTON - Civil liberties advocates Wednesday rallied behind U.S. Sen. John Sununu's decision to support two bills that would impose time limits on some of the most controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act of 2001.
If passed, the bills would extend so-called sunset clauses - which terminate certain provisions of the law after a period of time - to parts of the law that have given the government sweeping new powers in executing search warrants, using wire taps, demanding access to business records and other controversial areas.
It would also limit how long law enforcement agents can delay notifying property owners after executing search warrants, eliminate the agents' ability to get a wire tap without specifying the person and place to be tapped and limit the FBI's ability to subpoena business records.
The American Conservative Union called the bills the most comprehensive attempts yet to reform the Patriot Act, while the American Civil Liberties Union praised the typically conservative New Hampshire politician for backing what they called a significant first step in bolstering constitutionally protected freedoms.
"This is a recognition by some very powerful, conservative Republican members of Congress that this law is a problem," said Claire Ebel, executive director of the New Hampshire chapter of the ACLU, which has opposed many aspects of the Patriot Act since it sped through Congress in late 2001.
Both bills enjoy bipartisan support. One is sponsored by Sen. Larry Craig of Indiana, a conservative Republican, and the other by Sen. Patrick Leahy, a liberal Vermont Democrat. Craig's bill is also co-sponsored by Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI), the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act.
But Ebel said the proposed laws are just a first step toward what she said she hopes will be complete repeal and re-evaluation of the Patriot Act.
"If it's a good law, it will pass again," she said, adding that many lawmakers didn't have enough time to read the entire 400-page bill in the crush to pass it after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "It was passed in haste. It was passed in secret. There are things in that bill that I would venture to guess even those senators and representatives don't know about."
But the bills' backers made clear yesterday in a press conference that they had no intention of scrapping the entire law and that their efforts, according to Sununu, were just "an attempt to address concerns and weaknesses and vagaries in the original" law.
"We are going to refine the Patriot Act, not reject it," said Sen. Mike Crapo, D-Idaho, another co-sponsor of Craig's bill.
"I believe 90 percent of this bill made pretty good sense," Feingold said of the original Patriot Act.
David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, a conservative lobbying group, also praised the bipartisan sponsorship of the bills.
"These are people who are now taking a look at it and saying much of this is a good law, but let's make sure we didn't go too far," Keene said. "While the government should have all the power it needs to protect us, it shouldn't have all the power it'd like to have," he said.
Justice Department officials declined to comment specifically on pending legislation, but a department spokesman said, "It would be foolish to return to our pre-Sept. 11, 2001, level of vulnerability."
"We can be both safe and free," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., another co-sponsor of Craig's bill, "but we must be mindful."
Added Sununu, "What we tried to do is sit down and put aside all the rhetoric and look at what the law really does."
Sununu to Back Patriot Act Reforms
WASHINGTON - Sen. John Sununu will announce his support Wednesday for two bills that would restrict some of the controversial search and seizure powers granted by the Patriot Act of 2001.
The bills would, among other things, limit so-called John Doe wiretaps by forcing federal investigators to specify in a warrant either the person or place to be monitored.
The bills also would impose an expiration date on provisions in the Patriot Act that allow law enforcement agents to execute search warrants without notifying property owners until a "reasonable period" of time later - so-called sneak and peak warrants. Those powers - in addition to several others that civil libertarians have protested since the bill sped through Congress shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks - would expire at the end of 2005, giving Congress an opportunity to reevaluate their effectiveness.
"In the days and months following Sept. 11, 2001, Congress took important and necessary steps to provide law enforcement agencies with the necessary tools to fight terrorism at home and abroad," Sununu said in a statement issued Tuesday. Then a member of the House, Sununu supported the Patriot Act when it passed..
"While this bill was designed to help protect our nation from future acts of terrorism, we must always work to balance our desire for security with the rights of individuals to due process," Sununu said.
The bills, both of which Sununu has co-sponsored, also would roll back the government's authority to force companies to turn over business records and would require the government to prove it has reason to believe there is a terrorist connection.
Other powers granted by the Patriot Act that the new bills would cause to expire include the right of judges to issue warrants for properties outside their jurisdictions, the expanded ability of law enforcement to get information from Internet providers, the removal of some privacy protections from educational records and a broad definition of "domestic terrorism" that some say could be interpreted as including civil disobedience.
Both bills enjoy bipartisan support. Both the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Conservative Union back the proposals.
White House officials could not be immediately reached for comment late yesterday, but the administration has historically defended the Patriot Act against those who have tried to weaken it.
Attorney General John Ashcroft last month embarked on a speaking tour of the country to defend the Patriot Act.
Gregg Abduction Raises Security Questions
WASHINGTON - U.S. Congressman Charles Bass was serving his first year in the House in 1995 when burglars smashed through the door of his downtown Washington apartment.
Though his wife and children were visiting from New Hampshire, no one was home when thieves splintered the door, stormed in and ransacked the apartment. "But, "it must have made a horrific sound," Bass said.
In the wake of the abduction Tuesday of Kathleen Gregg from the suburban Washington home she shares with her husband, Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, experts disagreed Wednesday about the level of danger facing national politicians and their families.
Two men broke into the Greggs' home, forced Mrs. Gregg at knifepoint into her car and ordered her to withdraw money from her bank. They then released her unharmed. Police in her Virginia community said there was no evidence the kidnappers knew she was a senator's wife.
"It's not terribly important since I live here alone and I keep a low profile," said Bass, who is in his fifth term in Congress and whose family remains home in Peterborough, N.H.
"I don't use my car, I use the subway," he said, and "I don't look like I'm carrying gold coins in my pocket."
Though Bass said he's heard of Congress members getting mugged occasionally, he said he's never heard of criminals specifically targeting politicians or their families. Bass said neither he nor other Congress members that he's aware of take any additional security measures beyond those provided by the Capitol Police.
The Capitol Police, who are charged with securing the grounds around the Capitol complex, have an entire division devoted solely to the protection of members of Congress and their families, said the department's spokeswoman, Officer Jessica Gissubel.
Gissubel said the department provides members with tips on how to make their families and their homes safer, how to be aware of their surroundings and what to do if they or their relatives are assaulted.
It's not clear whether Mrs. Gregg had received training on how to handle hostile situations. But law enforcement officers said she dealt with the situation well by luring the intruders, who threw her to the floor, to the bank.
"With the situation she was presented with, she handled herself absolutely superbly," said Officer Courtney Young, a spokeswoman for the Fairfax County, Va., police department, which responded to Mrs. Gregg's call. "By her getting the two suspects out of her house and into a public place, she was able to run from them into the bank and to safety."
Given what happened to Mrs. Gregg, U.S. Congressman Jeb Bradley, R-NH, said Wednesday he spoke with his wife in New Hampshire to discuss whether to reconsider their decision not to take extra security precautions.
"Given the world that we live in with the threat of crime and terrorism, there is a threat to our security, our individual security," Bradley said. But because his family lives in his district, Bradley said they have never considered security an issue.
By contrast, Washington "is a city that works at night a great deal," said former Sen. Warren Rudman, a New Hampshire Republican. "All you can do is keep your eyes and wits about you."
But several security experts stressed that people working in the public eye can never be too careful
. "Any public official would be wise to have some sort of security or personal protection for their families," said Willie Borden, who was a police officer in Washington for 25 years and now runs B&B Security Consultants, a private protection agency here.
"After 9-11, everything is on the table," Borden said. "We used to take it for granted that nobody would take a child from school."
"The real key is awareness - being aware of your surroundings and always having an exit strategy," said Alfred McComber, executive director of the Security Intelligence Bureau, a security supply store in Falls Church, Va., a Washington suburb.
"Without a plan," he said, "it's basically like a deer stuck in the headlights. You're like, 'What do I do?' And by then it's too late."
NH Sen’s Wife Safe After Knife-Point Abduction, Robbery
by Bethany Stone and Jordan Carleo-Evangelist
WASHINGTON - Kathleen Gregg, the wife of New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, was abducted at knifepoint Tuesday from her suburban Washington home and forced to withdraw money from a bank, authorities said. She was released unharmed after providing cash to her kidnappers.
Ms. Gregg, 52, found two men in her home in the posh suburb of McLean, Va., when she arrived at about 9:30 a.m., according to police in Fairfax County, Va. The two men - one white, one black - demanded money and one drew a knife, police spokeswoman Shelley Broderick said.
One of the men used Ms. Gregg's car to drive her to a nearby branch of Wachovia bank, while his partner followed in another car, police said. The men forced Ms. Gregg to enter the bank and withdraw an undisclosed amount of money, then grabbed the cash and sped away in a silver Cheverolet Monte Carlo with Virginia license plates.
The suspects were last seen headed toward Washington.
It is not known if the abductors knew that Ms. Gregg is married to a U.S. senator.
"This morning Kathy Gregg was a victim of a violent robbery," Sen. Gregg's spokesman, Jeff Turcotte, said in a statement. "Her life was threatened, and it was a terrifying experience. Thanks to quick decisions made by Mrs. Gregg, she is doing fine and out of harm's way."
Gregg's office declined to comment further because of the police investigation, but neighbors in the quiet suburb were shocked by the assault.
"Nothing ever happens here," said a neighbor, who asked that her name not be used. "I'll be a little more careful, I think, make sure the locks are locked in my car."
She added that the assault on Ms. Gregg was especially disturbing because "she's pretty sharp, she'd be paying attention."
"It's a nice, safe neighborhood," said a longtime neighborhood resident, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. "I wouldn't expect this to be something that's going to be happening a lot." He said the neighborhood is far from a main road and rarely sees any commotion.
But Fairfax police said they're looking into a possible connection between yesterday's assault and an abduction that took place in a 7-Eleven parking lot about a mile away little more than a week ago.
In that case, a 29-year-old woman and her two small children were kidnapped at gunpoint by an unidentified white male and forced to drive to a nearby bank and withdraw money. The kidnapper directed the woman to drop him off on the same block as Ms. Gregg's bank. The mother and children were not hurt.
"It's definitely on the top of our minds that they be related," said Officer Courtney Young, a spokeswoman for the Fairfax County Police Department.
New Hampshire legislators expressed relief over Ms. Gregg's safe return.
"This was obviously a very traumatic event for Kathy," Rep. Charles Bass (R-N.H.) said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. "My thoughts are with her and the entire Gregg family as they deal with the aftermath of this terrible ordeal. I am hopeful that the perpetrators of this crime will soon be caught and punished to the fullest extent of the law."
"We're extremely, extremely happy that Mrs. Gregg is safe," said T.J. Crawford, spokesman for Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-N.H.).
Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) also issued a message of support for the Gregg family.
"This was an outrageous and horrific crime," he said. "It's an incredible relief to know that Kathy Gregg is safe, and we can only hope that her assailants will be caught quickly and brought to justice."
Gregg Abduction Not The First
WASHINGTON - Kathleen Gregg, the wife of New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, yesterday became the second woman in slightly more than a week abducted from the Greggs' posh, sleepy Washington suburb.
On Sept. 29, a 29-year-old woman and her two young children were snatched from a 7-Eleven parking lot about a mile from the Greggs' McLean, Va., home.
The kidnapper - a white male similar in description, though apparently not in age, to the one described in yesterday's assault - brandished a gun and forced the woman to drive to a nearby branch of Bank of America, according to Fairfax County, Va., police. He held one of the children hostage in the car while the mother and her other child went into the bank to withdraw an undisclosed amount of money.
The attacker then forced the woman to drive a short distance and let him out of the car. He ran off, leaving the woman and her children, ages three and five, unharmed.
Ms. Gregg was abducted by two men - one white, one black - armed with a knife, police said. One of the men used Ms. Gregg's car to drive her to a branch of Wachovia bank, while the other followed in a Silver Buick LeSabre. The kidnappers fled in the Buick.
The bank Ms. Gregg was taken to is located at 1300 Chain Bridge Road. The man who kidnapped the mother and children last week got out of their car on exactly the same block.
"It's definitely at the top of our minds that they might be related," said Officer Courtney Young, spokeswoman for the Fairfax County Police Department. Fairfax police will re-interview witnesses to last week's abduction to determine whether there could be a connection, she said.
The Greggs' neighbors in one of Washington's tonier suburbs expressed shock at the recent spate of violent crime.
"Nothing ever happens here," said one neighbor, who asked that her name not be used. "I'll be a little more careful, I think, make sure the locks are locked in my car."
She added that the assault on Ms. Gregg was especially disturbing because "she's pretty sharp, she'd be paying attention."
"It's a nice, safe neighborhood - the neighbors all know and like each other," said another neighbor, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. The Greggs live far from the area's main road, so their neighborhood rarely sees any commotion, the neighbor said.
Vien Hua, the manager of the 7-Eleven involved in last week's attack, said nothing like it had happened before in his 10 years in McLean.
"This is a very good area," he said.
Consumer Group Says Gregg Bill Could Risk Patient Safety
WASHINGTON - Consumer advocates are calling on New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg to amend a bill that they say would cripple New Hampshire residents' ability to choose the safest place to receive medical care.
The bill, which Gregg co-sponsored, would create a system to gather data from health-care providers in an effort to reduce such problems as infection rates and medical errors. In theory, the data also could help patients decide which doctors or hospitals to choose. But the information would be kept from the public.
Under the legislation, the federal government would create "patient safety organizations" to collect the data from doctors, hospitals and other health-care providers that submit it voluntarily. The organizations, which could be public or private, then would work to help patients by decreasing mistakes.
The bill states it will revolutionize patient safety by fostering a "learningárather than punitive environment" for health care providers. Gregg and other sponsors contend that if the information were released to the public, health-care providers would not volunteer it.
"There is no question that if a system is going to work, then information regarding errors needs to be kept in a confidential way or people will not step forward and talk about errors," said Palmer P. Jones, executive vice president of the New Hampshire Medical Society. The organization, which represents doctors, supports the bill.
Jones said that given what he called rampant malpractice suits, doctors, hospitals and other providers would be reluctant to voluntarily report medical errors without legal protections.
The patient safety data in question are defined broadly in the bill as any data collected by health-care providers specifically for submission to patient safety organizations. But the law would not protect other medical records, such as maintenance and billing schedules.
But patient safety advocates fear the bill may eclipse state laws that mandate greater disclosure of patient safety data and worry that defining the confidential information broadly would rob patients of the opportunity to make informed decisions about the safest places to receive care.
In its current form, the bill would make it illegal to report which hospitals or other health-care providers had the highest rates of infection. And none of the data collected could be used in either criminal or civil actions.
"Our concern is that the legislation is not clear about how it affects state laws," said Lisa McGiffert, director of Consumers Union's 'Stop Hospital Infections' campaign. "There are currently many states that require hospitals to provide information to the state, [which] in turn provides it to the public. Consumers will use the information to see what the performance is of certain hospitals. I could tell exactly which hospitals I don't want to be having my surgery in."
McGiffert's organization wants Gregg to clarify the bill so it will not trump stricter state laws. Gregg is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where the bill currently awaits a vote.
New Hampshire has no mandatory disclosure laws for medical errors and infection rates. But the state legislature last March created a commission to "identify medical errors and their causes" and explore ways to reduce them. The commission's preliminary report is due in January and could ultimately lead to state laws, Jones said.
"What we're saying is, at the very least, don't undo work that states have done and can do," said Ami Gadea, assistant legislative counsel at Consumers Union, the watchdog group that publishes Consumers Reports magazine.
A Republican Senate aide said members of Gregg's committee are aware of Consumers Union's concerns. But Gregg said he didn't know whether the bill's current language would nullify state laws.
"The goal here is to try to get some uniformity and, as a result, save costs for people," Sen. Gregg said in an interview. "But the states do have certain rights that we're not going to be overly restrictive of. So there's a balancing."
NH Veterans May Soon Get Care from Private Hospitals
WASHINGTON - An effort to streamline veterans' health care and reduce the need for long, out-of-state hospital stays may soon allow New Hampshire veterans to seek care at private, local hospitals.
The option of contracting out veterans' health care to private facilities, especially in places with no acute in-patient veterans' hospitals, including New Hampshire, is one solution raised in a draft report published in August by a VA commission charged with improving care and eliminating waste nationwide.
The shift could mean New Hampshire's 134,000 veterans - who represent more than 11 percent of the state's residents - no longer would have to travel as far as Jamaica Plain, Mass., to receive in-patient hospital care.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi, who will settle the issue once he receives a final commission report in December, on Wednesday briefed several New England lawmakers, including New Hampshire Congressman Jeb Bradley, on the commission's progress.
Under current rules, veterans' health coverage pays for stays in private hospitals only for emergencies, and even then only until veterans are stable enough to be transferred to VA hospitals.
Ever since the VA Medical Center in Manchester, NH, stopped providing in-patient care in 1999, some Granite State veterans have had to travel hundreds of miles to VA hospitals in Vermont and Massachusetts.
"We had one member in our post, they'd put him a van and drive him all the way down to Roxbury and Jamaica Plain," said Robert Bournizal, commander of the William H. Jutras American Legion Post in Manchester. "He used to joke, 'If the ride don't kill me, nothing will.'"
Rep. Bradley said forcing elderly and ailing veterans to trek long distances for medical care is wrong.
"It's a long drive for veterans, many of whom are disabled, and it's a problem for family members that want to be with the veterans," Bradley said after meeting with Principi.
Once in a VA hospital, veterans are covered until they are discharged. Under the proposed changes, they would receive the same coverage in private hospitals that have VA contracts.
"I think that's an option that makes a lot of sense," said Bradley, a member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. "That way, any of the 14 community hospitals in New Hampshire would potentially be able to take veterans and offer them care much closer to home and family members."
He added, "The secretary told all of us in New England that the VA is moving in that direction."
Even though the number of New Hampshire veterans is expected to plummet by about 2,000 a year over the next two decades, the average age of veterans and the percentage that seek VA medical care will increase, according to state veterans officials. The result, they said, will be added strain on an already stretched health care system.
"The growth is tremendous - they're already taxed as far as they can go," said Dennis J. Viola, director of the New Hampshire State Veterans Council.
Viola said contracting with private hospitals was a sound idea, and cited statistics that showed the VA sent 1,830 cases from New Hampshire to Boston in the year that ended in June.
"Access is the big issue," said Dr. Marc F. Levenson, director of the VA Medical Center in Manchester. "The veterans want to have more of the health care services performed in New Hampshire rather than have to go out of state.
"In terms of capacity, we're sort of up against it," he added.
But all parties agree that the chance of opening a new full-service veterans' hospital in the state is virtually nil, making it more desirable to utilize community-based out-patient clinics and private hospitals.
"When we ship veterans down to Massachusettsá it costs the VA more for treatment down there. Fiscally, it doesn't make sense to me," said Roland Patnode, commander of the New Hampshire American Legion. "Service could be done cheaper up here, and without the hassleá
"I don't think we'll ever see" a new VA hospital in New Hampshire, he said. "But hey, if the care is there, and if they can do it on a contract basis like that, we're for it. It's the thing of the future."
