weeks’ time. As recent history has shown, when members of Congress take up major issues in a hurried matter, they tend to make mistakes. While we normally work with lawmak- ers to help service members, Veterans, and their families, sometimes our job is simply to save them from themselves.
CCAF MILESTONE CELEBRATES LARGEST GRADUATING CLASS EVER
COMMON INTERESTS The Military Coalition recently recognized
Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) for her efforts on behalf of military
and their families. She is shown here following the ceremony with AFSA’s Morgan Brown.
service members, Veterans,
We’ve expended considerable time and effort over the past two decades to improve and enhance education opportuni- ties for the military community, so we are understandably pleased when we hear news like this: Te Community Col- lege of the Air Force (CCAF) recently graduated its largest class to date. According to an Air Education and Train- ing Command release, CCAF graduated 23,160 members in 2014 with the help of the October class—in which 13,042 members earned their Associate of Applied Sci- ence degrees. Tat’s an increase of more than 3,000 over last year. Congratulations to everyone who earned their CCAF degree this year.
APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS CONTINUING RESOLUTION AND POST-SESSION NEEDS
On Sept. 19, Congress passed a continuing resolution that keeps the federal government running through Dec. 11. Once the elections are over and lawmakers return for a “lame duck” session of Congress, there will be many items on the agenda but none more pressing than funding the government beyond mid-December. So far, only seven of the 12 annual appropriations bills have cleared the House and none have done so in the Senate, which obviously is the reason for the continuing resolution. House and Senate leaders will have to jump through
many obstacles in order to clear their growing agenda for what is shaping up to be a two or three week post-election session. Additional issues they may be forced to consider, along with the CR, include ISIS attacks, Ebola, and OCO funding. Once again, this scenario (unfinished legislation & new issues) highlights the importance of having things done in regular order. Had that process been followed, annual funding issues would already have been resolved, leaving plenty of time for lawmakers to deal with issues of national importance that cropped up during the break instead of rushing through a year’s worth of work in a couple
12
www.hqafsa.org VA HEALTH CARE
AFSA Deputy Director of Government Relations Scott Porter discusses some of the elements of the recently approved VA Health Care Access bill with one of the legislation’s authors, Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Jeff Miller (R-FL).
EYE ON WASHINGTON
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