Defense Secretary Hagel to testify on Bergdahl next week

 The House Armed Services Committee will hear testimony from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel next week on the exchange of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five Guantanamo Bay prisoners.

The hearing, which will take place Wednesday, June 11, at 10 a.m., will be the first public congressional hearing on the controversy. 

{mosads}In addition to Hagel, Defense Department general counsel Stephen Preston will testify before the House Armed Services Committee on the Obama administration’s decision to trade Bergdahl for five Taliban figures.

The House Veterans Affairs Committee will also host two high-wattage hearings next week on the VA’s handling of the medical benefits backlog. Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) invited acting VA secretary Sloan Gibson to testify at a June 12 hearing. But the panel also scheduled a primetime hearing on Monday at 7:30 p.m., where testimony is expected from officials at the Government Accountability Office and VA inspector general.

Details on these and other hearings follow:

House Armed Services Committee
June 11, “The May 31, 2014 Transfer of Five Senior Taliban Detainees”
10 a.m., 2118 Rayburn

House Budget Committee
June 10, “A Progress Report on the War on Poverty: Reforming Federal Aid”
10 a.m., 210 Cannon

House Energy and Commerce Committee
June 11, “Media Ownership in the 21st Century”
10:30 a.m., 2123 Rayburn

House Energy and Commerce Committee
June 12, “The President’s Health Care Law Does Not Equal Health Care Access”
10 a.m., 2123 Rayburn

House Foreign Affairs Committee
June 10, “Verifying Iran’s Nuclear Compliance”
10 a.m., 2172 Rayburn

House Foreign Affairs Committee
June 10, “Examining U.S. Reconstruction Efforts in Afghanistan”
2 p.m., 2172 Rayburn

House Veterans Affairs Committee
June 9, “Oversight Hearing”
7:30 p.m., 334 Cannon

House Veterans Affairs Committee
June 12, “An Examination of Bureaucratic Barriers to Care for Veterans”
9:15 a.m., 334 Cannon

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
June 11, “Potential Impacts of Proposed Changes to the Clean Water Act Jurisdictional Rule”
10 a.m., 2167 Rayburn