Gephardt's spokesman, Erik Smith, said the minority leader decided to sign on to Roemer's measure, rather than the McCain-Lieberman plan, because it was introduced first and would have an equal number of people from each party.

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One example was his guideline under the draft plan that people who didn't suffer amputations and who spent an equal number of days in the hospital get the same payouts, even if one person's injury is far more severe.

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