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PRESS RELEASE - Tuesday November 08, 2005

Chairman Buyer holds Veterans Summit announcing new hearing schedule

Hearing reform gives veterans’ groups a greater voice

Washington, DC – House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), announced that he will hold full committee hearings starting in February during which veterans’ groups can present their priorities and offer guidance earlier in the budget process. Calling on veterans’ groups to play a more influential role in developing the annual Department of Veterans Affairs budget, Buyer presented his plan to engage them early in the annual budget process.

Chairman Buyer discussed veterans issues with leaders of national veterans’ service organizations and military associations at the Army War College, located at the Carlisle Barracks, Pa. Participants also included Economic Opportunity Subcommittee Chairman John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Health Subcommittee Chairman Henry Brown (R-S.C.).

“Moving these hearings forward will bring more accountability to the budget process and ensure that veterans have greater input in the process,” Buyer said.

After a discussion of the 2006 schedule, Chairman Buyer recommended moving the testimony earlier in the legislative process. The recommendation was received favorably by those in attendance. As a result, he has made the decision to move the veterans and military organizations testimony early in February.

“Now, veterans organizations are more relevant and material to the budget fight,” he told those in attendance.

In past years, VSOs have come to Capitol Hill to offer their views in joint hearings of both the House and Senate Veterans Committees. The impact of these hearings has been limited because they have occurred weeks after Congress developed its “views and estimates” response to the President’s budget request, which it does by March each year.

Under the new schedule, the VSOs will be asked to present their views on the budget and their legislative priorities in early February at the same time the President sends his budget to Capitol Hill. In addition, the VSOs will also be asked to testify in February at a series of full committee and subcommittee hearings on a variety of legislative proposals directly affecting veterans.

Complementing Chairman Buyer’s decision, retired Air Force Command Master Sgt. Mark Olanoff, Executive Director of The Retired Enlisted Association’s Washington, DC, office, referring to the old process, said “I came in with TREA's President after the views and estimates were already done. We should be in at the beginning. This is good.”