Federal Drive

Wednesday Morning Federal Newsstand

Written by Ruben Gomez Edited by Suzanne Kubota This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED: Kathleen Sebelius is hitting the ground running in her new j...

Federal News Network Staff

April 29, 2009 8:11 am

2 min read

Written by Ruben Gomez
Edited by Suzanne Kubota

This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED:

Kathleen Sebelius is hitting the ground running in her new job as Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Senate confirmed her nomination yesterday. Right away, she resigned her post as Kansas Governor and rushed to the White House to be sworn in. Her first order of business was a briefing on the swine flu outbreak.

President Obama is asking Congress for an extra $1.5 billion dollars to fight swine flu. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says the money will be used to produce medicines to treat the flu and to ramp up development of a vaccine for the illness. Gibbs says the request represents “prudent planning” on the part of the Obama administration. So far, at least 66 cases in the US have been confirmed.

Congress plans to vote today on a 3.4 trillion dollar budget blueprint for 2010. The resolution boosts spending on federal programs and includes more than $700-billion dollars in tax cuts. It also includes language to fast-track health-care reform. Passage today would give President Obama a big legislative victory on his 100th day in office.

The President has ordered an internal review to investigate that photo-op with one of his official planes flying past the New York City skyline. He wants to find out why the decision was made. The photo-op involved one of the Boeing 747’s that President Obama uses as Air Force One. The plane was accompanied by an F-16 fighter jet as it circled the Statue of Liberty. It caused quite a stir in lower Manhattan, as people recalled thoughts of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Apparently very few, including the mayor, knew about it before-hand. CNN reports a planned photo shoot over D.C. monuments has been cancelled.

Employee unions are getting a seat at the pay-for-performance table. Federal Times reports that OPM leader John Berry wants to include those groups in discussions. He also wants to involve them in talks about benefits, outsourcing and labor-management partnerships. Berry revealed his plans in a House oversight hearing last week. This represent a shift from the Bush Administration, which took a more hands-off approach to unions.