Tomorrow morning the House Committee on Veterans Affairs will host its first full committee hearing of the new Congress to discuss the fiscal year 2012 budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs.VA Secretary Eric Shinseki will outline the department's budget proposal and AMVETS National Deputy Legislative Director Christina Roof will join the Independent Budget partners--Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and Veterans of Foreign Wars--to outline the 25th Independent Budget, or IB, proposal.
The hearing will commence at 9:30 a.m. in the committee chambers, 334 Cannon House Office Building.
To view a full list of witnesses and to read their prepared statements, Click Here.
To view live video of the hearing, Click Here.
The Obama Administration issued its budget recommendations for VA on Monday, calling for increased overall investment in the department, which AMVETS National Commander Jerry Hotop called a "good jumping-off point."
In light of the current fiscal climate, VA was one of the few federal agencies tabbed for an increase in funding for 2012, but the IB partners said they believe further investment is needed for VA to properly accomplish its mission--particularly in medical and prosthetics research and major construction projects.
For a quarter century, the IB has served as a road map for the nation's leaders on how to best fund VA, which is why the leaders from the IB organizations said they look forward to the opportunity to outline their recommendations to a new Congress tasked with making difficult fiscal decisions.
In her testimony, Roof will focus on the IB budget recommendations for VA's National Cemetery Administration and veteran entrepreneurship.
“We encourage Congress to review our recommendations and we invite an open dialogue on how to best serve our nation’s heroes,” said Hotop when the IB rolled out yesterday.
American Veteran will be on hand for tomorrow's hearing. Check back with the blog in the afternoon for highlights.
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