Controversy Surrounding State Money for USS Iowa Launch

(Des Moines, IA) — A Senate committee has scaled back a House plan to provide 200-thousand dollars in state tax money to launch the USS Iowa, a nuclear-powered submarine that’s scheduled to join the Navy fleet later this year. Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee have voted to reduce the state contribution to 150-thousand — and half of that would be withdrawn from a state fund for veterans. Iowans who get any of the two dozen specialty license plates for veterans pay a fee that goes into the Iowa Veterans License Plate Fund. Senator Mark Lofgren (LAHF-grin), a Republican from Muscatine, says it doesn’t seem outrageous to use some of that money for the USS Iowa, as it’s also been used for “Vietnam books” and “food banks.” The state commander of the VFW says the money in that fund should be used for veterans who live in Iowa, not on a christening ceremony or Iowa-themed furnishings for a submarine.