Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan issued the following statement on today's committee vote on health care reform:

Today, the Finance Committee passed a health care reform bill that prevents insurance companies from turning you away due to a preexisting condition, removes annual and lifetime caps on coverage, and removes co-pays for preventive services. It also expands coverage and ensures that if you like your insurance and your doctors, you keep them. These critical health care reform components were also included in the bill we passed in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

The Finance bill will reduce our deficit, which has been a requirement of mine all along. Chairman Max Baucus worked hard throughout the process to incorporate Republican ideas and gained the support of Senator Olympia Snowe, a Republican from Maine on the committee.

I am committed to working with my Senate colleagues on a final bill that slows down the skyrocketing cost of health care and prevents families from sinking into bankruptcy as a result of one medical emergency.

A new ad from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee attacks U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole on a number of votes.

What it says: The ad shows images of Dole and an Alaskan landscape, including a brown bear. Narrator: "Why is Elizabeth Dole ranked 93rd in effectiveness? She voted for millions in pork, including Alaska's bridge to nowhere. But for North Carolina? She voted with George Bush 92 percent. Against raising the minimum wage time after time. Against helping families struggling to keep their homes. For the largest cut ever in student loans. Elizabeth Dole, fighting for ... Alaska? Definitely out of touch with North Carolina. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising."

The background: The ad makes several claims about Dole's voting record.

BRIDGE TO NOWHERE: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens requested an earmark in the 2006 budget for the proposed $398 million Gravina Island Bridge, nicknamed the "Bridge to Nowhere" by detractors because it serves an island with just 50 residents.

In October of 2005, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn proposed an amendment to the bill that would have shifted $75 million from the bridge and another project in Alaska to the rebuilding of a bridge destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

The amendment failed, 15-82, with Dole voting against it.

Congress later stripped the earmark, but gave the state of Alaska an equivalent amount of money for any use it considered appropriate.

MINIMUM WAGE: Starting in 2005, Senate Democrats attempted to raise the federal minimum wage.

In March, Sen. Ted Kennedy proposed raising it by $2.10 over the following 26 months. As a counterproposal, Republican Sen. Rick Santorum proposed raising it by $1.10 over 18 months while exempting more businesses.

Either would have been the first increase in the federal minimum wage since 1997.

The amendments both came on a bill overhauling bankruptcy regulations. Both proposals could have complicated efforts to pass the overhaul, since House leaders had said they would only consider the bill if the Senate did not add unrelated amendments.

The Kennedy amendment failed, 46-49, while the Santorum amendment failed, 38-61. Dole voted against the first amendment, but for the second.

In October, Senate Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to raise the minimum wage by $1.10 an hour over 18 months. Dole voted against that raise as well.

After Democrats gained control of the Senate in 2006, they pushed the minimum wage hike again. Dole voted for the first, which was never signed into law. The wage hike was later included in an emergency spending bill that Dole voted for as well.

ENERGY ASSISTANCE: The fine print on the section of the ad on struggling families cites a vote on home energy asistance.

In 2006, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine proposed spending an additional $1 billion in the 2007 budget for one-time assistance to people who need help paying their heating and cooling bills.

Dole voted against an amendment on the measure, which later passed by a voice vote.

Spokesman Dan McLagan said Dole objected to how the money would be spent.

"The vast majority of the package was aimed at cold-weather states," he said. "All this money was going to go to northern states for a winter that had been mild, versus southern states that had a hot summer."

In 2008, Dole successfully pushed another measure for more spending on the same energy assistance program. She received an award for her efforts from the National Fuel Funds Network, a nonprofit coalition of energy assistance providers.

CREDIT COUNSELING: In April, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray proposed spending another $100 million on foreclosure counseling this year.

At the time, Congress had already budgeted $180 million for credit counselors.

Murray argued that spending more to prevent homeowners from going into foreclosure was "a smart investment," although it would require suspending budget rules that require any new spending to be matched by an equal cut somewhere else.

Senate Republicans argued that they needed to investigate whether the money was being spent appropriately before budgeting more. If more was spent, they argued it should be done through the regular budget process, not an amendment.

The amendment failed 44-40, with Dole voting against it.

PREVIOUS CLAIMS: Washington-based news service Congressional Quarterly compiles yearly figures for how often senators vote with the stated position of the president. The 92 percent figure comes from an average of the yearly scores for Dole, though Congressional Quarterly researchers says that method is inaccurate. Based on its overall score through August, they say the correct figure for Dole is 88 percent. The effectiveness ranking comes from an annual study conducted by the data service Knowlegis.

Is it accurate? Some of the claims are true: Dole voted against a measure to strip funding for the "Bridge to Nowhere," her effectiveness ranking was 93rd, and she voted against more credit counseling for families facing foreclosure. Two other claims are missing context: She voted against raising the minimum wage and providing more energy assistance, though she later voted for both. In addition, the vote on energy assistance had little to do with foreclosure. The figure for her votes with President Bush is off by a few percentage points.

Sen. Elizabeth Dole voted against an amendment on a home-energy assistance bill in 2006.

Started in 1981, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, provides funding to states to provide one-time assistance to millions of people who need help paying their heating and cooling bills.

In 2006, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine proposed transferring an additional $1 billion from the 2007 budget for more immediate assistance that year.

During debate on the proposal, Dole voted against an amendment proposed by Snowe. The amendment passed 68-31. The overall bill later passed the Senate on a voice vote.

Dole spokesman Dan McLagan said Dole objected to how the money would be spent.

"The vast majority of the package was aimed at cold-weather states," he said. "All this money was going to go to northern states for a winter that had been mild, versus southern states that had a hot summer."

He added that more people die from hot weather than cold.

A recent ad by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, citing this vote, says Dole voted "against helping families struggling to keep their homes."

That wording — plus images of a foreclosure sign on a home — makes it sound as though Dole voted against help for homeowners, but the vote was actually on a heating bill.

Retired cyclist Lance Armstrong is backing a bill by U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick.

Armstrong, a cancer survivor, endorsed a proposed cancer screening bill proposed by Myrick, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky and U.S. Sens. Tom Harkin and Olympia Snowe.

At a rally today with 200 cancer survivors in Washington, D.C., Armstrong said the Cancer Screening, Treatment and Survivorship Act of 2007 would help "the most vulnerable Americans" when they are diagnosed:

"Today we are demanding that the federal government invest in strategies that save lives.  This bipartisan effort is a critical first step."

Myrick, also a survivor, sponsored a 1999 law to extend Medicaid coverage for breast and cervical cancer.