Democrats Republicans offer competing bills to fix VA computer system that has harmed veterans in Spokane

WASHINGTON – Two and a half years after the Department of Veterans Affairs began testing a new computer system at Spokane’s VA hospital, virtually no one in Congress is satisfied with the outcome, but Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate committees responsible for the effort have different ideas about how to fix it. On Wednesday, Democratic and Republican senators announced separate bills aimed at improving the electronic health record system, for which the VA is paying $10 billion to Oracle after the tech giant acquired Cerner, the company behind the software. The legislation was unveiled two weeks after…