The House appropriators working on 2007 funding for Veterans Affairs and military construction would provide nearly a billion less than the Administration’s 2007 request. According to the House Appropriations Committee markup, the panel would fund about $100 million less for Veterans medical services but support an overall 6.3 percent increase to offset the “spike in veterans returning from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The markup provides a total of $10.6 billion for military construction and $21 billion for the defense health program.
A legislative standoff has led to a lapse in a $4.26 billion small business innovation contracting program widely used by the Air Force and could spell the end of it entirely, industry sources warned Air & Space Forces Magazine.
