Friday federal headlines – December 18, 2015

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive.

• The Obama administration is urging the House to pass a nearly $80 billion Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, saying the measure would help boost the economy and improve national security. They said it supports the bill because it will help more than 24 million working- and middle-class families. The bill passed the Senate with changes already, the House just needs to approve of the changes. (White House)

• 30 percent of the Senior Executive Service said they’re not getting the training and leadership development opportunities they need. The Merit Systems Protection Board has a new report on SES training and development. MSPB got responses from 23 federal agencies. The agency’s chairman Susan Sui Grundmann said current practices under the Civil Service Reform Act are a vision, not a reality. (MSPB)

• A formal postal employee has been sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to steal U.S. treasury checks from the mail to either be sold or deposited into fraudulent bank accounts. The Providence Police Department and the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General seized $1.6 million dollars worth of stolen U.S. Treasury checks, dozens of stolen gift cards, and more than $165,000 in proceeds gained as a result of the sale of stolen checks and gift cards. (USPS)

• Sen. Chris Coons (D-Conn.) blocked a bid Thursday for the Senate to pass an $18.2 billion bill reauthorizing the U.S. Coast Guard and Federal Maritime Commission, citing concerns with a maritime labor-related clause in the bill. Law 360 reports Coons complained about Section 606 of the bill, which he said had been pushed for by foreign-flagged cruise lines seeking to get around protections for seamen against wage, overtime and other labor violations. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who introduced the bill, said they will continue to negotiate in order to pass this important bill which would authorize $9.1 billion in funding for the Coast Guard each year across 2016 and 2017. (Law 360)

• GSA’s 18F is ready to begin testing a major piece of its contract for agile IT development. GSA announced it resolved the bid protests filed against its award to 16 vendors in August. 18F added only one more vendor of those which protested. Under the new blanket purchase agreement, 18F will compete task orders for design and development of short IT sprints for their customers. 18F said two more BPA contracts for small businesses should be awarded in the coming weeks. (18F)

• The Senate confirms two key military appointments. Senators approved Marcel Lettre II to be under secretary of defense for intelligence. Lettre served as principal deputy undersecretary for the last two years. Also confirmed, Gabriel Camarillo as an assistant secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, a position he was nominated for back in April. He comes from serving as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics & Technology) since 2012. (Congress)

• The National Commission on the Future of the Army gives some insight as to what recommendations it will give the service and Congress next year. The commission was created to assess the size and force structure of the Army. The commission said it took into account budget restrictions with its recommendations. The commission also said the recommendations will not rock the boat too much. The recommendations will straddle the line between the status quo and big changes. (Federal News Radio)

• Today is the supposedly the day, The House and Senate are rushing to send the President a massive budget package to fund the entire government through September 2016, finishing up what has been a surprisingly productive, bipartisan burst of late-session legislation. After that Congress will then adjourn until January. The measure would fund the operations of every Cabinet agency, awarding increases by an average of 6 percent above tight spending caps. (Federal News Radio)

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