Among Democrats lobbying President Bush before the Administration releases the 2007 budget proposal are Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) the ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee. They want to ensure there is no repeat of last year’s VA budget snafu. They wrote: “With tens of thousands of servicemembers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of who will return home this year, each of us has a responsibility to ensure that the VA health care system receives full appropriated funding.” Lawmakers had to fix a VA funding shortfall last year, so the Senators suggest, “We must learn a lesson from this experience.”
Space Force leaders say that while they’re eager to implement the Pentagon’s newly announced acquisition transformation strategy, civilian personnel cuts and a prolonged government shutdown have depleted the acquisition and contracting workforce, adding to pressures on the cadre that could make it difficult to hit the ground running on reform.
