State could lose health funding for poor

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ST. PAUL – Minnesota could lose some federal funding for its health insurance program for the poor.

“We have worked for over a decade to make sure that people in Minnesota have access to quality, affordable health insurance,” Senator Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, said. “We know that rising health insurance costs put coverage out of reach for many Minnesota families. Having a program that gives families a sense of security and prevents costly trips to the emergency room just makes good moral and economic sense.”

The MinnesotaCare funding could be cut by $129 million for the next three years, Berglin said, prompting her to schedule what she called an emergency meeting of her Senate Health and Human Services Budget Committee for Wednesday.

Berglin said the loss of federal money would be disastrous for MinnesotaCare.

Barkley wants debates

Dean Barkley is rallying his supporters to demand plenty of U.S. Senate debates.

His campaign manager, Diane Goldman, wrote to supporters urging them to call fellow Senate candidates Al Franken and Norm Coleman to convince them to agree to debates.

"If we can keep the pressure on Franken and Coleman over the next eight weeks we can do more than just win this election," Goldman wrote. "We can send Dean to Washington so he can start making the kind of real change America needs."

Barkley is the Independence Party candidate who was a short-time senator in late 2002 and early 2003 after Senator Paul Wellstone died in an airplane crash.

'Truth Squad' formed

The McCain-Palin campaign is ready to counterattack with a battalion of women, including three Minnesotans.

"With today's Wall Street Journal report that pro-Obama Democrats have 'airdropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers into Anchorage' to dig for dirt on our vice presidential nominee, the McCain-Palin campaign today launched the Palin Truth Squad to counter recent attacks on Governor Sarah Palin, her family, her friends and her record of accomplishment," a campaign statement said. "The Palin Truth Squad will set the record straight against Internet and liberal smears of Governor Palin."

The Minnesotans are U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann, state Representative Laura Brod of New Prague and former state Representative Barb Sykora of Excelsior.

Ag leaders tour

Representatives from 30 countries toured Minnesota agricultural sites in the past few days.

The 34-member group is hitting places such as the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, a turkey processing plant, an ethanol plant and a dairy. Many of the visits were to western Minnesota.

Minnesota exported $3.6 billion in agricultural products last year, seventh in the country, Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson said.

Tags: health, funding, poor, federal