Both congressional chambers have a light hearing schedule this week, but there are plenty of defense issues on their respective chamber floors to keep lawmakers busy.
The full House membership will begin debate on the annual defense authorization bill on Tuesday, almost three weeks after its armed services committee marked up its draft and just a few days after the Senate Armed Services Committee unveiled its version.
Senators last week brought their fiscal 2017 Veterans Affairs and military construction budget to the floor, and could begin consideration of that appropriations measure in the days ahead. Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee is expected to advance its fiscal 2017 defense bill to the full House on Tuesday.
The House Veterans' Affairs Committee continues its mark-ups of a host of bills while waiting for the Senate to finish up work on the massive VA reform omnibus moving through that chamber. No timetable has been set for when that bill might come to a full Senate vote.
House Armed Services -- 9 a.m. -- Rayburn 2212
Foreign military sales
The subcommittee on oversight will hear from Defense Security Cooperation Agency officials on policies and procedures for foreign military sales.
House Appropriations -- 10:30 a.m. -- Rayburn 2359
Defense budget
The full committee will mark up the fiscal 2017 defense budget and overseas contingency funding plans.
Senate Foreign Relations -- 11 a.m. -- Dirksen 419
Syria
Outside experts will testify before the committee on the civil war in Syria and next steps to mitigate the crisis.
House Veterans' Affairs -- 2 p.m. -- Cannon 334
Veterans in Tech
The subcommittee on economic opportunity will examine careers for veterans in the technology sector, and ways to promote veteran hiring.
House Foreign Affairs -- 2 p.m. -- Rayburn 2172
Counterterrorism budget
The subcommittee on terrorism will review the State Department's fiscal 2017 defense budget, focusing on counterterrorism programming.
House Veterans' Affairs -- 10:30 a.m. -- Cannon 334
Pending legislation
The full committee will consider a series of bills already approved by subcommittee members dealing with veterans programming and VA reform.
Senate Appropriations -- 10:30 a.m. -- Dirksen 124
VA health records
The subcommittee on veterans affairs will discuss ongoing issues with the interoperability of Department of Defense electronic health records with VA systems.
House Foreign Affairs -- 2:30 p.m. -- Rayburn 2172
Africa
The subcommittee on global human rights will discuss support strategies for African democracy efforts.
Leo Shane III covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He can be reached at lshane@militarytimes.com.
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.
