On 11 JAN congressional leadership from both the House of Representatives and Senate made good on one of their commitments to America's veterans.

In a joint statement issued, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner, and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel Akaka announced the reinstatement of the traditional joint hearings process in which veterans and military service organizations appear before the Veterans' Affairs Committees.

Chairman Filner said, "I look forward to working with the veterans' community, the administration and my colleagues in the House and Senate to provide our troops, veterans, and military families the benefits and health care they have earned and deserve." The announcement reverses a policy created by Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) who used his position as House Veterans' Affairs Committee chairman to end the annual joint appearances by veterans' groups to give legislative presentations before a joint meeting of the House and Senate veterans committees.

Buyer believed the appearances were not helpful to lawmakers because their timing jumped around from year to year, timed to coincide with annual meetings of the organizations rather the congressional schedule or budget process.

As such, Buyer decided over objections from some major veterans' groups to stop participating. House aides who asked not to be identified said Buyer's decision may have made sense in terms of getting meaningful testimony from veterans' groups that was more integrated with the annual budget process, but picking a fight with the organizations over the largely ceremonial appearances of veteran leaders who testified before an audience of their membership rubbed many the wrong way.

Buyer invited the leaders of veterans' groups to testify early in the 2007 budget process last year, both before and after the Bush administration submitted its funding request to Congress, but those appearances did not mollify the organizations, which appealed to then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to order Buyer to schedule the joint hearings.

Buyer never budged, although appearances continued before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee because its chairman, Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) didn't share Buyer's view.