Federal Report

  • Did you know the majority of Americans who go bankrupt do so because of high medical bills -- even though most of them have health insurance, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. So, what's the perfect way to protect yourself? Can you say long-term care insurance?

    June 05, 2013
  • Welcome to sequestration, which is currently the world's longest-running interactive game show starring you, your granny, and all your friends and neighbors, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. The question is: Are you having fun yet?

    June 04, 2013
  • The Washington area is alive and very well as it enters the third month of sequestration, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. But what about feds in other places? Is their life beyond the Beltway? What's sequestration doing to feds in Ogden, Utah, and Maricopa County. Ariz.? How are communities like Hampton, Va., and Huntsville, Ala., holding up?

    June 03, 2013
  • Feds who are already retired (and those who plan to retire someday soon) have several worries, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. For those about to take the plunge, the concern is the backlog of applications at the Office of Personnel Management. For those already on the roles the fear is that future benefit increases will be downsized each year.

    May 31, 2013
  • If you told your giant nationwide operation to make across-the-board cuts, you would think each manager would do roughly the same thing. But since sequestration has been imposed, each federal agency has acted differently, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. Some have frozen hiring while others are still recruiting. Some are furloughing employees while some are paying them to leave. So what's your agency doing?

    May 30, 2013
  • NARFE legislative director Jessica Klement and Federal Times writer Stephen Losey, join host Mike Causey to talk about the self-plus-one health plan option and the chained CPI. May 29, 2013

    May 29, 2013
  • What does Jackass: The Movie have to do with the federal health plan, considered the nation's biggest and best? Well it boils down to the risk pool and an administration plan to set up a third category for self-plus-one coverage, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.

    May 29, 2013
  • When it comes to those annual cost-of-living adjustments, a growing number of federal workers and retirees actually get diet COLAs each January. And that would get worse -- and extend to all retirees under a White House plan that has strong congressional backing, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.

    May 28, 2013
  • Memorial Day is anything but a holiday. It is a time when we remember those who served and whose lives were altered, or ended, by war, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. Today we pay tribute to them and to people in the federal family - past, present and future - who served or will serve.

    May 27, 2013
  • It's been nearly a year since Congress set up the program to allow employees to take phased retirement, working three or four days a week to help mentor their successors and get used to retirement. And although it's been fast-tracked, it still hasn't happened, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. So, what's up?

    May 24, 2013
  • For many people involved in the alleged scandals at the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service, the solution is simple: Off with their heads. Fire the offenders whether they are political appointees or career civil servants. But this isn't Paris in 1789, it's Washington in 2013 so things will go a little slower, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.

    May 23, 2013
  • Steve Bauer, executive director of the Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund, and Federal Times Senior Writer Stephen Losey will discuss furloughs and other issues affecting federal workers. May 22, 2013

    May 22, 2013
  • Most Americans live in a handful of states, like California, Texas, Florida, New York, etc. But during tough times, we sometimes blur those borders and our home-town pride and become honorary citizens of a place like Oklahoma which, once again, is having a very tough time, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.

    May 22, 2013
  • Federal, military and Social Security retirees get a cost-of-living adjustment like clockwork each and every year, even during years when federal workers do not get pay raises. But the 2014 cost-of-living adjustment for retirees is up in the air and on attack on two very different fronts, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.

    May 21, 2013
  • When a newspaper reporter fakes a story, we are outraged. When a network TV show gets it wrong, we are stunned. But we tend to forget, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. But when a handful of government workers go rogue, maybe on orders from their political bosses, the entire workforce is tainted for a long, long time.

    May 20, 2013