For Veterans Affairs, Bush Proposes $80.6 billion: President Bush’s Fiscal 2007 budget request represents a 75 percent increase for VA programs since 2001, says an Office of Management and Budget statement. The Administration has increased the number of veterans it expects will receive VA medical care—the new estimate is five million, including more than 100,000 veterans returning from the Global War on Terror. The VA got in trouble with Congress earlier this year, coming up short on its 2005 and 2006 budget estimates, largely because it underestimated the number of young veterans that would need medical assistance.
In a show force over the Pacific, the U.S. conducted separate bilateral exercises with South Korea and Japan in response to North Korea’s May 24 ballistic missile test. The North’s test reportedly included an intercontinental ballistic missile, launched while President Joe Biden flew home from the region. Also on May…