If the two new chairmen of the Veterans’ Affairs Committees have their way, VA will get more money—and perhaps a completed spending bill. Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) plans to justify a funding level increase as “a cost of war.” In a joint statement, Akaka explained that he doesn’t want Congressional VA committees to have to “stand in line with other committees for whatever is there in the treasury.” The statement notes that VA was in store for a $3 billion plus up for Fiscal 2007, but Congress failed to finalize the agency’s spending bill.
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.