Congress

  • DoD's top financial manager says the Pentagon is pressing forward to meet Congressional edicts for auditable financial statements. But constant federal budget emergencies are sapping huge amounts of energy from the financial workforce tasked with preparing for audit.

    September 17, 2012
  • The across-the-board budget cuts, known as sequestration, set to take effect Jan. 2 would be "deeply destructive" to national security and core civilian agency programs, according to a comprehensive report from the White House detailing the impact of the cuts on specific programs and accounts. The $109 billion in cuts coming next year — split evenly between Defense civilian agency budgets — would slash Defense discretionary spending by 9.4 percent and civilian agency spending by 8.2 percent.

    September 14, 2012
  • A district court judge has put a hold on the section of the STOCK Act that requires 28,000 federal executives to publish their financial information online.

    September 14, 2012
  • The Select Committee on Intelligence member wrote a letter to White House Cyber Coordinator Michael Daniel asking him to make sure any mandate doesn't harm the networks used for interactive computer services.

    September 13, 2012
  • Senate lawmakers and the agency's Inspector General say the strategy to reorganize the General Services Administration and make it more accountable is on the right track. Acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini said he will consolidate IT and HR across the agency, and reduce contracting fees charged by the Federal Acquisition Service.

    September 13, 2012
  • Pentagon says planning for future contingencies will include contract management from the get-go rather than letting be an afterthought.

    September 13, 2012
  • Acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini will tell Senate lawmakers today about his plans to continue reforming the agency in the aftermath of the Western Regions Conference scandal. Along with consolidating CIO and human resources offices, Tangherlini wants the Federal Acquisition Service to reduce its fees. Federal News Radio has obtained an exclusive copy of Tangherlini's testimony.

    September 12, 2012
  • The six-month stopgap spending bill unveiled by the House Appropriations Committee this week officially continues the federal pay freeze until at least March. The continuing resolution, which runs through March 27, gives lawmakers more time to make appropriations for the coming year and staves off the threat of a government shutdown. When a broad CR was first announced last month, the full Congress had not yet approved any fiscal 2013 spending bills. President Barack Obama proposed last month a 0.5 percent pay raise that would only take effect once Congress passed a 2013 budget — a de facto extension of the current two-year freeze. The CR makes the extension official.

    September 11, 2012
  • Among six federal agencies surveyed, few are using a defense waiver allowing partially retired workers to collect a salary and their full pension benefit, a new Government Accountability Office report says.

    September 11, 2012
  • A new Government Accountability Office report says the Federal Protective Service isn't doing enough to safeguard more than 9,000 federal buildings.

    September 11, 2012
  • Defense industry executives criticize the impending sequestration, which they say would lead to the loss of more than 1 million defense-related jobs.

    September 11, 2012
  • Lawmakers returned to Washington, D.C., this week with a packed agenda. Topping the list of priorities is hammering out final details of a stopgap spending measure to keep the government running beyond the end of the fiscal year -- Sept. 30. Amid the election-year politicking, the list of unfinished business also includes legislation to restructure the financially ailing U.S. Postal Service and a cybersecurity bill that aims to safeguard the nation's critical infrastructure. Perhaps looming largest of all is what Congress plans to do about automatic, across-the-board cuts, known as sequestration, set to take effect Jan. 2. Failure to avert the cuts could send the country over a "fiscal cliff," budget experts warn.

    September 10, 2012
  • The administration is considering using an executive order to promote and encourage critical infrastructure providers to improve their cybersecurity. The draft EO, which Federal News Radio obtained details of, mirrors major sections of the second version of the Lieberman- Collins comprehensive cyber bill.

    September 07, 2012
  • The White House plans to deliver a report to Congress late next week detailing how automatic, across-the-board cuts, set to take effect in January, will affect specific programs. The report is required under the Sequestration Transparency Act, which Congress overwhelmingly passed this summer and which the President signed on Aug. 7. The law directed the President to issue the detailed report within 30 days of signing it - a deadline that came this week and went unmet.

    September 07, 2012