Statewide Iowa — 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Senate Appropriations Committee have voted to reduce the state contribution to 150-thousand and half of that would be withdrawn from a state fund for veterans. Senator Bill Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo, says veterans groups strongly oppose the move and it taints the excitement of having a new sub named in honor of our state.
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 a Republican from Muscatine, says it doesn’t seem outrageous to use some of that money for the USS Iowa.
Money in the Iowa Veterans License Plate Fund is distributed by the Iowa Commission on Veterans Affairs. 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.
