'Clean house in D.C.,' urges Vermont's Dean

More news from Iowa, where they are still headlining Dean's name in conjunction with Vermont. Dean is going to be practically living in the early primary states during 2003. Here are some excerpts:

Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said Thursday that only by "cleaning house in Washington" can Iowans hope to receive more from Medicare, the health care program for the elderly.

"To be boldly partisan about it, as long as you have Republican congressmen in the majority, this is never going to change," Dean said while traveling in northeast Iowa. "The Bush tax cut plan is what's causing this."
Dean said it is unreasonable to expect lawmakers from states such as Louisiana and Tennessee, where medical providers are reimbursed at twice the rate of those in Iowa, to support Medicare changes that would take money away from those states to help reduce the disparity. "You're going to have to add money to the Medicare system," he said. "But that is impossible under a president who is putting us back into deficits."Republicans control the U.S. House. Democrats hold a one-seat majority in the Senate.

Dean, who will speak at the United Auto Workers state convention in Des Moines today, is making his ninth trip to Iowa since the 2000 election.