Congress

• Senate extends short-term CR; House ready to OK government-wide $1.1T budget

  Shunning the turmoil of recent budget clashes, Congress is ready to approve a massive $1.1 trillion spending bill for this year, a compromise financing everything from airports to war costs and brimming with victories and setbacks for both parties.

  Budget

  January 15, 2014
• Virginia Rep. Moran to retire at the end of his term

  A staunch defender of federal employee issues will leave after 23 years in the House of Representatives.

  Congress

  January 15, 2014
• Post conference scandals, agencies struggle to find balance

  OMB reported agencies avoided spending $3 billion on travel and conferences in 2013 as compared to 2010. Senate lawmakers are concerned how to ensure agencies don't slide back into old habits of lavish spending on conferences.

  Congress

  January 15, 2014
• House votes to beef up OPM inspector general funding

  The House gave a boost to the Office of Personnel Management inspector general's office Tuesday, voting to provide the agency's auditors with access to new funding to conduct investigations. In a unanimous vote, the House approved the bipartisan OPM IG Act, introduced by Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) and co-sponsored by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass). The Senate approved a nearly identical measure, introduced by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), in October.

  Congress

  January 14, 2014
• How the spending bill affects the federal workforce

  After a month of negotiations, the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees unveiled a massive $1.1 trillion spending bill this week funding the government for the remainder of fiscal 2014. From federal pay and benefits to a further decline in the Internal Revenue Service's budget, read about three key takeaways of the bill.

  Budget

  January 14, 2014
• Duncan calls for ‘reality check’ on DHS headquarters project

  Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency, released a majority staff report that questioned the planning and future efficacy of the Homeland Security Department consolidating its headquarters at the St. Elizabeths campus in D.C.

  Congress

  January 14, 2014
• GAO, OMB still not seeing eye-to-eye on pace of IT Dashboard updates

  The Government Accountability Office dinged OMB yet again for having updated information in the IT Dashboard only in nine of the last 24 months. OMB said the information is pre-decisional and therefore can't be made public.

  Congress

  January 14, 2014
• House plans 3-day CR to extend deadline for budget talks

  Republican leaders plan to pass a short-term funding bill this week to extend by three days the deadline for wrapping up a massive, $1 trillion-plus catch-all spending bill covering funding for the rest of the year. The short-term measure would give lawmakers until midnight next Saturday to pass the larger funding bill. The current stopgap funding bill expires at midnight on Wednesday.

  Budget

  January 13, 2014
• What’s next for Congress in 2014?

  On this week's Capital Impact show, Bloomberg Government analysts will discuss what's ahead for Congress in 2014, and the potential impact of the contract compensation cap. January 9, 2014

  Budget

  January 09, 2014
• Coburn to Congress: Look in the mirror for the cause of waste

  Sen. Tom Coburn told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Thursday that Congress isn't doing its job and that's the root cause of much of the waste in government. Rep. Darrell Issa promised to work with Coburn and Sen. Tom Carper on legislation to reduce overlapping programs.

  Congress

  January 09, 2014
• OMB revising data breach reporting requirements

  The Government Accountability Office in a recent report found the requirement for agencies to report data breaches to the Homeland Security Department within one hour of discovering the incident is of little value.

  Congress

  January 09, 2014
• DHS nominee seeks ‘to hit the reset button’ in embattled IG office

  In his nomination hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday, John Roth, currently the director of the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations, said he aimed to turn around employee morale in the IG's office, which has been rocked by allegations of misconduct by the former acting head of the office. Roth, whose nomination has garnered near-universal support from both Republican and Democratic members of the committee.

  Congress

  January 08, 2014
• What should be ahead for federal IT in 2014 after Hurricane ACA

  HealthCare.gov was like other failed systems, the result of boiling a toxic stew of poorly defined requirements, the wrong contractor, insufficient oversight and unclear lines of authority.

  Congress

  January 08, 2014
• DHS not on track to deliver large-scale tech improvements

  The Homeland Security Department will likely miss its 2015 deadline for modernizing the system it uses to screen foreigners entering the U.S.

  Congress

  January 08, 2014