Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, wants to boost the Administration’s 2008 VA budget by $2.9 billion to expand funding for veterans’ medical care. The Administration has requested $36.6 billon out of a total VA budget of $87 billion to pay for medical services. Akaka says the boost would ensure the VA can “treat all eligible veterans” and provide “resources to absorb the thousands of service members presently on medical hold” at various military medical facilities.
The KC-Z4, a blended wing body tanker concept being developed by startup JetZero, could fuel larger groups of aircraft at longer range to hold more targets at risk, company officials say.