Hubbard Radio Washington DC, LLC. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
Congress
-
![]()
Congress has a little less than five work weeks left now before the fiscal year ends. The House Appropriations Committee is done with all 12 of its spending bills for fiscal 2016. But the full House and Senate both have a stack of unfinished business that's just getting bigger. Now it includes a 60-day period to review President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran and several different debates over the Confederate flag. David Hawkings, enior editor of Roll Call, writes the Hawkings Here blog. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose about some of the distractions that are "sucking all the oxygen out of the room".
July 20, 2015 -
![]()
Four powerful lawmakers want to know whether the Treasury Department will incorporate the Recovery Operations Center's successful big-data tools into its DATA Act initiatives.
July 20, 2015 -
![]()
A bill that makes it easier for the Veterans Affairs Secretary to fire senior executives could extend to all other employees at the department. The probationary period for new employees would also get longer -- from 12 to 18 months. House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller says too few people at the department have been held accountable for the patient wait time scandal that emerged into public view last year -- nor for other management failings at VA. The VA Accountability Act of 2015 cleared the committee earlier this week. It will likely go to a full House vote during the last week in July. Carol Bonosaro is the president of the Senior Executives Association, which drafted a letter to Congress this week raising several objections to the bill. She tells In Depth guest host Jared Serbu about the differences between this bill, and a similar one introduced in Congress last year.
July 17, 2015 -
![]()
With Katherine Archuleta enforced departure a fact, and long-term credit monitoring likely, much of the heat will be off the OPM hack. Too bad, but that's how things work here, says Senior Correspondent Mike Causey.
July 17, 2015 -
![]()
It really was that bad. The National Taxpayer Advocate has confirmed in a new report what the IRS long warned about: Taxpayers can forget about getting help from the agency amid budget cuts and staff shortages.
July 16, 2015 -
![]()
Elevators, curb cuts, automatic doors — all things most of us have taken for granted in the last 25 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law. For able-bodied people, it makes our days more convenient. But for those with disabilities, ADA provides crucial access to aspects of everyday life. Judy Heumann is the State Department's special advisor for international disability rights. She was on the front lines fighting for people with disabilities over 40 years ago, and now she's doing it at the global level. She joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more on the anniversary celebrations.
July 16, 2015 -
![]()
The Army has known for a few years now its active duty end strength will have to get smaller. It's even announced the final number: 450,000. And sequestration — if it continues in fiscal 2016 — will make things worse, putting the Army on a path to an active duty force of 420,000. But the decisions on which bases those cuts will come from are now out, and many lawmakers are suddenly up in arms. Mark Cancian is a senior adviser for the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former chief of the Force and Structure and Investment Division at the Office of Management and Budget. He tells In Depth guest host Jared Serbu the Army is taking the same approach to impending budget cuts as a private company might when its workforce gets too expensive.
July 15, 2015 -
![]()
VA Accountability Act of 2015, would extend the probationary period for new employees to at least 18 months from the current 12. All employees would have a shorter window in which to appeal their firing or demotion.
July 15, 2015 -
![]()
On this week's Women of Washington, Aileen Black and Gigi Schumm talk to Laura Campbell, former associate librarian and CIO at the Library of Congress, about digitizing the library's materials.
July 15, 2015 -
![]()
The Office of Personnel Management has already announced plans to provide up to three years of identity theft protection for the more than 21 million people involved in its massive data breach. But several U.S. senators are saying that's not good enough. The Senate delegations from Maryland and Virginia are jointly sponsoring legislation that pay for protection services for breach victims for the rest of their lives — and grant them $5 million insurance policies against identity theft. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) is one of the sponsors. He tells In Depth guest host Jared Serbu that the services OPM's offering aren't enough.
July 14, 2015 -
![]()
We've known for several years that the Army was planning to reduce its active duty end strength from 490,000 soldiers to 450,000. Now we know exactly where those cuts will come from. While the Army says more than 30 bases will be impacted, some will be hit especially hard — Fort Benning, Georgia and Fort Hood, Texas will each lose more than 3,000 soldiers. Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska will lose 2,600. Retired Lt. Gen. Guy Swan is the vice president for education at the Association of the U.S. Army. He tells In Depth guest host Jared Serbu what the cuts mean for soldiers and military communities.
July 14, 2015 -
![]()
The congressional stalemate over funding a long-term highway bill is reviving fears that lawmakers could raid the Thrift Savings Plan. House Republicans have proposed cutting the G Fund's interest rate to free up $32 billion over ten years.
July 14, 2015 -
![]()
The House Appropriations Committee approved the Homeland Security appropriations bill, which is $2.1 billion or 5 percent less than what President Barack Obama asked for in his Fiscal Year 2016 budget request.
July 14, 2015 -
![]()
Congress has a little less than six work weeks left now before the fiscal year ends. Little movement on individual appropriations bills could mean that a short term spending bill is starting to look more likely. And yes, we may even have another fight over a potential government shutdown. David Hawkings, senior editor of Roll Call, writes the Hawkings Here blog. He tells In Depth guest host Jared Serbu what Congress has left on its plate before the month-long recess in August.
July 13, 2015
