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.
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…