Congress

  • In a routine pre-hearing briefing call, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee staff members asked Brian Miller about his staff's decision to knock on a GSA employee's door after 11 p.m. at the SmartPay conference last month. Miller and acting GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini are scheduled to testify Sept. 12 before the committee on changes the agency has made in light of the conference spending scandals.

    September 06, 2012
  • Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff said he needs congressional approval to manage cybersecurity on the electric grid.

    September 06, 2012
  • Federal News Radio's Jason Miller will talk about a recent confrontation between a GSA official and an agent in the Inspector General's office. Steve Losey and Andy Medici from the Federal Times will discuss the pay debate and other issues affecing federal workers. September 5, 2012

    September 05, 2012
  • On this week's Bloomberg Government Capital Impact show, analysts will discuss the GOP convention in Tampa, preparations for sequestration, and what caused the budget crisis. August 30, 2012

    August 30, 2012
  • The General Services Administration projects it will save $11 million from April to September from reforms to employee travel and agency conferences. Since April, GSA canceled 47 conferences.

    August 29, 2012
  • The Republican Party officially unveiled national party platform Tuesday, revealing its plan to downsize the federal workforce, trim federal benefits and privatize airport screeners. The party's platform calls for a reduction in the federal workforce by at least 10 percent through attrition, says federal pay and benefits should be aligned with the private sector and calls for reforms to the U.S. Postal Service.

    August 28, 2012
  • The Veterans Affairs Department wants a contractor to review the agency's conference planning and conference acquisition policies, according to a request for information. The solicitation comes weeks after revelations that VA had spent $5 million two conferences last year.

    August 28, 2012
  • Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), whose district in the Washington, D.C., suburbs is home to many federal employees, said he understands the frustration voiced by federal unions about a de facto extension of the federal pay freeze. Sarbanes said too often lawmakers used federal pay and benefits as a "piggybank" in deficit- reduction efforts.

    August 27, 2012
  • Jenny Mattingley hosts of roundtable discussion of legislation pending in Congress that affect federal workers. August 24, 2012

    August 24, 2012
  • A 15-minute training video that cost $52,000 to make joins the examples of excessive spending at two Veterans Affairs' conferences last year with a total pricetag of $5 million.

    August 23, 2012
  • The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is probing more than 150 conferences hosted by 11 agencies since 2005 where wasteful spending or excessive spending may have have occurred, according to a committee release. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the oversight chairman, said the committee is using the lavish $823,000 regional conference hosted by the General Services Administration in 2010 as a "benchmark" to compare other agencies' conference spending. The committee found the Defense Department has held 64 such conferences.

    August 22, 2012
  • President Barack Obama told congressional leaders Tuesday that he was implementing a 0.5 percent pay increase for federal employees that would go into effect next April. Congress is expected to pass a Continuing Resolution when it returns to Washington in September to avoid an Oct. 1 government shutdown. Obama extended the pay freeze through the duration of that CR.

    August 22, 2012
  • Spending levels appropriated by Congress, so far, for fiscal 2013 fail to live within the limits set by last year's Budget Control Act (BCA), the Office of Management and Budget said in a report issued Monday. If Congress fails to adhere to the annual limits, OMB is required to enact automatic cuts to bring them back into balance, Acting OMB Director Jeffrey Zients wrote in a letter to President Barack Obama that preceded OMB's report.

    August 21, 2012
  • Spa treatments, concert tickets and helicopter and stretch limo rides — the initial details in a Veterans Affairs' Office of the Inspector General investigation could overshadow the GSA conference spending scandal.

    August 20, 2012