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Congress
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The Senate plans to mark up the 2015 defense appropriations bill on Thursday. That will probably help make it the first appropriations bill to pass the Senate for fiscal 2015. Meanwhile the House will try to pass its seventh appropriations bill. Congress as a whole needs to pass 12 spending bills by September 30th if it wants to avoid another continuing resolution or a full government shutdown. David Hawkings is Senior Editor of Roll Call. He shared Capitol Hill's progress on the bills on In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu.
July 14, 2014 -
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Over the past decade, Congress has stepped up pressure on the Defense Department to gather data about its civilian workforce, and to use that data to develop a strategic workforce plan. The Pentagon has a plan, but according to the Government Accountability Office, it has
July 14, 2014 -
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The House's top overseer over federal law enforcement agencies thinks the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has outlived its usefulness. Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee says he plans to introduce legislation that would abolish the ATF -- and fold its current responsibilities into other federal agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service. His argument: the ATF has been marred by high-profile blunders and it has missions overlap with other agencies. Jon Adler is national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. He took a different view on In Depth with guest host Jared Serbu.
July 11, 2014 -
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Thanks to summertime and the upcoming election, even the most anti-bureaucrat politicians have called a time out in their whack-a-fed agendas. But there are some real threats out there.
July 11, 2014 -
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In examining the viability of the Senior Executive Service, House members called out the Veterans Affairs' compensation program, with a pledge to introduce another piece of legislation to take back bonuses. The Senior Executives Association relayed concerns that talent is fleeing senior executive positions.
July 11, 2014 -
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The mid-term elections are upon us, and some people are complaining about political fatigue and gridlock. But for federal and postal workers - and retirees - these may be the good old days, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
July 11, 2014 -
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The size of DoD's civilian acquisition workforce has grown by some 20,000 employees over the past five years and now numbers about 135,000 personnel members, according to Stephanie Barna, acting assistant secretary of Defense for Readiness and Force Management. That's thanks to an effort by DoD begun in 2009 to recapitalize its acquisition workforce. But the department's focus on the acquisition workforce has been strained by a slew of competing priorities and congressionally-mandated belt-tightening, Barna said.
July 10, 2014 -
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For the Department of Homeland Security, making its 22 components' radio systems interoperable with one another has been an objective since the department was created in 2003. But today, DHS still can't account for all of its communications assets -- let alone get them to talk to each other. Last night, the House passed legislation designed to get things moving. Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) is the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness and the prime sponsor of the DHS Interoperable Communications Act. He explained the details of the bill on In Depth with Francis Rose.
July 09, 2014 -
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Legislation passed by the House creates a social media working group for the Department of Homeland Security, and adds in requirements and accountability processes to improve interoperability across the agency.
July 09, 2014 -
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A new bipartisan report from the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations called the Air Force's now-canceled Expeditionary Combat Support System "one of the most egregious examples of mismanagement by the DoD in recent memory." But the failure of ECSS may not be an aberration, the report suggested. Other enterprise-resource planning programs in the department are at risk of falling victim to the same fate.
July 09, 2014 -
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The Senate's to-do list this week includes the next steps on information technology contracting reform and enhancing the role of the Chief Information Officer at federal agencies. But the Senate is playing catch-up: the House has already passed its version of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act. Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) is a cosponsor of FITARA. He explained on In Depth with Francis Rose what he likes about the Senate version and what he wants to change.
July 08, 2014 -
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Congress returns this week to confront a number of issues that need immediate action. President Obama is asking for an additional $2 billion to help deal with the flood of unaccompanied minors. And time is ticking away for lawmakers to replenish the Highway Trust Fund, which is set to run out of money at the end of August. The Hill's White House Correspondent, Justin Sink, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to give a round up on what's going on this week.
July 08, 2014 -
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The Defense Department isn't following one of its own roadmaps. Back in 2012, defense planners devised a plan for protecting bases and installations from the potentially damaging effects of climate change. That's all started to affect DoD's planning, but there's a lot more to do. Brian Lepore is the director of Defense Capabilities and Management at the Government Accountability Office. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss what the roadmaps mean.
July 08, 2014 -
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The appropriations process was supposed to be easier this year compared to last, because lawmakers had signed off on a bipartisan deal that set top-line spending levels for the next two years. But action in both the House and the Senate appears to have largely stalled.
July 07, 2014
