:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/FAEVEGZNYRFC7DVMZAKVNE6YYI.jpg "This week in Congress: Military personnel plans take center stage 2")
Military personnel officials will visit Capitol Hill again this week to support the White House request for a big pay raise and other family support programs as part of the fiscal 2024 budget proposal.
Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel Gil Cisneros Jr. will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday as part of a panel of manpower and medical experts. He made a similar appearance before the House Armed Services Committee earlier this month.
But that appearance came before the release of the administration’s budget request, which includes a 5.2% pay raise for troops in 2024, the largest such boost since 2002. Details of increased child support programs, housing stipend hikes and other family support efforts are expected to be released in advance of the Wednesday hearing.
While various aspects of the White House’s $842 billion defense budget request have already come under significant criticism from congressional Republicans, the personnel portions of the budget plan are generally less controversial, with lawmakers matching or exceeding the president’s pay raise recommendations for more than a decade.
Most House committees are not holding hearings this week because the chamber is out of session until March 20, with most lawmakers working back home in their districts.
Tuesday, March 14
Senate Armed Services — 3:45 p.m. — 222 Russell
Space Force
Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman will testify on the fiscal 2024 budget request and current Space Force operations.
Wednesday, March 15
Senate Armed Services — 9:30 a.m. — G-50 Dirksen
Nominations
The committee will consider the nominations of Ronald Keohane to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Nickolas Guertin to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research.
Senate Homeland Security — 10:30 a.m. — 562 Dirksen
Nominations
The committee will consider several pending nominations, including Colleen Shogan to be Archivist of the United States.
Senate Foreign Relations — 10:30 a.m. — 419 Dirksen
Brazil
State Department officials will testify on current U.S. relations with Brazil.
Senate Foreign Relations — 2:30 p.m. — 419 Dirksen Bldg.
Nominations
The committee will consider several pending nominations, including Karen Sasahara to be ambassador to Kuwait.
Senate Armed Services — 2:30 p.m. — 222 Russell
Military Personnel
Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel Gilbert Cisneros Jr. and other service personnel officials will testify on the fiscal 2024 budget request.
Senate Veterans’ Affairs — 3:30 p.m — 418 Russell
VA Health Records
Department officials will give an update on the VA health records modernization project.
Thursday, March 16
Senate Armed Services — 9:30 a.m. — G-50 Dirksen
Central Command and Africa Command
Officials from U.S. Central Command and Africa Command will testify on the fiscal 2023 budget request.
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.
