Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 9, 1994 TAG: 9409090079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
But Boucher responded that his opponent - he wouldn't use the Bluefield Republican's name - had his facts wrong.
Boucher said he worked for legislation last year providing veterans with a 2.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment. Further, Boucher said, he pushed a 3 percent increase for 1995, which the House approved last month.
Fast made his accusations and again attempted to link Boucher to President Clinton - this time on a foreign policy issue - at news conferences Thursday in Bluefield, Bristol and Christiansburg.
Fast decried Clinton's offer to spend $160 million to build housing and give housing vouchers to Russian military officers as part of a deal with Russian President Boris Yeltsin. The offers led last week to the withdrawal of the last Russian troops from the Baltic nations of Latvia and Estonia.
"This policy of American taxpayers' dollars buying housing for Russian soldiers is even more outrageous when Rick Boucher voted to delay cost-of-living allowances for military personnel when he voted for the Clinton tax hike in August of 1993," Fast said. "When I am in Congress, I'll work to see that military personnel and their families are properly paid for their service to our nation. I will not support Bill Clinton's efforts to delay cost-of-living allowances for our veterans."
But Boucher said the 1993 Deficit Reduction Act, for which he did vote, delayed cost-of-living increases only for career military retirees, who number fewer than 1,000 in Southwest Virginia. Boucher said he is working now to eliminate that delay.
The 1993 act did not delay increases for the 14,000 veterans in the 9th District who receive benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Boucher said. The 9th District extends from western Roanoke County to the Cumberland Gap and encompasses most of Southwest Virginia.
"In a desperate attempt to gain publicity, [Fast] has extended his negative campaign to new levels with today's false statements," Boucher said. "I sincerely hope that today's series of personal attacks will be the last ... [but] I rather suspect that we can anticipate a further wearying series of statements from him which are long on mudslinging and short on substance."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB