Friday federal headlines – February 5, 2016

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

• The Senior Executives Association has replaced its interim president as it searches for a permanent replacement. Legislative Director Jason Briefel will serve as the association’s interim president after Tim Dirks stepped down from the position due to “personal reasons.” Briefel is also a regular host of FEDtalk on Federal News Radio. (SEA)

• Though President Barack Obama announced he is proposing a 1.6 percent pay raise for federal employees in 2017, the head of the American Federation of Government Employees said it’s still not enough. In a statement after the President’s announcement, J. David Cox Sr. said the union is calling on lawmakers to approve a 5.3 percent pay raise in 2017. That would include a 1.6 percent national increase employees plus a partial catch-up for the national and local pay adjustments denied for the past four years. (PR News Wire)

• The Navy is training its people to avoid a repeat of the 2013 Navy Yard shooting. Officials conducted active shooter response drills in two locations. At the Jacksonville, Florida Naval Hospital, it was operation Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield. A mock emergency room patient sat up to become a simulated gunman. During exercises at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, a camouflage-wearing shooter killed several in a stairwell before barging into an office. Staff were told to shelter in place. (Navy)

• The Food and Drug Administration is changing its approach to opioid medications. It will focus on reversing what it calls an epidemic of opioid addiction, while still providing patients in pain access. Possibilities include new risks-benefit calculations and creating an advisory committee to review new opioid drug applications. Several senators are blocking Dr. Robert Califf’s appointment as FDA commissioner because of what they see as the agency’s lagging response to opioid abuse. (FDA)

• A former Department of Energy employee accused of attempting to hack the email accounts of government workers to sell nuclear weapons information has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. Charles Eccleston pleaded guilty to one count of attempted unauthorized access and intentional damage to a protected computer. He admitted to initiating an email “spear-phishing” attack targeting dozens of DoE employee email accounts in the hopes of selling access to nuclear secrets. He faces up to 10 years in prison and potential financial penalties. (Justice Department)

• More details are emerging about the Defense Department’s fiscal year 2017 defense budget request. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the new budget would invest in Marine Corps aviation to maintain a state of high readiness. It would include increased funding for the tactical air fleet to speed up maintenance older F-18 fighter jets and an increase in the number of F-35 joint strike fighters the Defense Department is buying for the Navy and Marine Corps. (Defense Department)

• What started as an ill-advised city move has risen to flood several federal agencies. The EPA sent supervisory engineer Mark Durno to Flint to personally test tap water for lead. Results are inconclusive. He’s accompanied by Health and Human Services assistant secretary Nicole Lurie. The Federal Housing Administration will advise mortgage lenders on houses with undrinkable water. Congress held hearings and subpoenaed Flint authorities.

• Budget and employee training are among the two biggest obstacles standing in the way of agencies moving their processes fully into the digital services world. A new survey of federal leaders by the National Academy of Public Administration and ICF International finds agency executives believe they don’t have enough money to invest in new or to modernize citizen services. Respondents also said their employees are missing critical skills necessary to transform current processes into customer focused digital services. (Federal News Radio)

• The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee considered Beth Cobert’s nomination to be the permanent director of the Office of Personnel Management. The committee said it will move her nomination through as quickly as possible. But it wants to see more transparency and better communication from OPM. Her nomination comes on the heels of a subpoena from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz. He’s asked for more documents related to OPM’s cyber breach five separate times since July. (Federal News Radio)

• Lawmakers are still looking for a way to keep the Postal Service afloat after it reported a more than $5 billion loss last year. One reform that may be on the menu this congressional session is changing the pre-funding requirement for retiree health benefits of postal workers. One proposal requires retired postal workers to sign up for Medicare when they turn 65. This may be a hard sell for fiscal conservatives though, who worry about the increased cost to Medicare. (Federal News Radio)

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.