Chairman of the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) says that his committee plans to move up on the calendar—to February—hearings at which veterans service organizations get to offer their views on VA budget priorities. Buyer explains that he wants to engage the VSOs earlier in the budget process to encourage “more accountability” to the process. In the past, VSO representatives appeared before joint sessions of the House and Senate Veterans Committees—weeks after Congress had developed an estimate and response to the President’s budget proposal. The result, says Buyer, was that the VSOs had limited influence on the process.
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.