Panetta to testify on Syria next week

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will testify next week at the House Appropriations Committee on the security situation in Syria, just as Syria's government agreed to a cease-fire that was holding as of Friday.

Obama administration officials welcomed the cease-fire, but said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had yet to leave population centers in Syria. The administration has pushed for Assad's resignation in a bid to stop the government's violent actions against Syrian civilians who have protested against the president.

The House next week will also hold two long-anticipated hearings to explore wasteful spending by the General Services Administration (GSA).

On Monday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing called "Addressing GSA's Culture of Wasteful Spending," and on Tuesday, a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee will hold a hearing titled "GSA's Squandering of Taxpayer Dollars: A Pattern of Mismanagement, Excess and Waste." Both hearings will solicit the opinions of current and former GSA employees.

Details on these and other key House hearings follow:

House Appropriations

April 17, "National Defense Priorities from members for the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization Act"
10 a.m., 2881 Rayburn House Office Building

April 19, "Recent Developments in the Middle East: The Security Situation in the Syrian Arab Republic," Defense Secretary Leon Panetta testifies
10 a.m., 2118 Rayburn House Office Building

House Budget

April 17, "Strengthening the Safety Net"
10 a.m., 210 Cannon House Office Building

House Education and the Workforce

April 17, H.R. 4297, the Workforce Investment Improvement Act
10 a.m., 2175 Rayburn House Office Building

House Foreign Affairs

April 18, "North Korea after Kim Jong-il: Still Dangerous and Erratic"
10 a.m., 2172 Rayburn House Office Building

House Oversight and Government Reform

April 16, "Addressing GSA's Culture of Wasteful Spending"
1:30 p.m., 2154 Rayburn House Office Building

House Science, Space and Technology

April 17, "Tapping America's Unconventional Oil Resources for Job Creation and Affordable Domestic Energy: Technology and Policy Pathways"
10 a.m., 2318 Rayburn House Office Building

House Small Business

April 18, "The Tax Outlook for Small Businesses: What's on the Horizon?"
1 p.m., 2360 Rayburn House Office Building

House Transportation and Infrastructure

Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management
April 17, "GSA's Squandering of Taxpayer Dollars: A Pattern of Mismanagement, Excess and Waste"
8:30 a.m., 2167 Rayburn House Office Building

House Veterans' Affairs

April 18, "From the Inside Out: A Look at Claims Representatives' Role in the Disability Claims Process"
10 a.m., 334 Cannon House Office Building

House Ways and Means

April 17, tax reform and tax-favored retirement accounts
10 a.m., 1100 Longworth House Office Building

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