Thursday federal headlines – March 24, 2016

The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee approved its spending bill for fiscal 2017 which said no funding can go towards perfo...

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

  • Senior executives at the Veterans Affairs Department are one step closer to losing their bonuses. The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee approved its spending bill for fiscal 2017 which said no funding can go towards performance awards for executives at the VA. It still has to clear the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate will have its own version too. (House Appropriations Committee)
  • The Smithsonian Institution needs an upgrade,  to the tune of $900 million. Secretary David Skorton said the Smithsonian needs the money for the coming year. More than $700 million is needed to pay salaries and expenses, along with $6 million to help cover a federal pay raise proposed in the president’s 2017 budget. Skorton said the network of museums is also gearing up for the $500 million overhaul of the popular Air and Space Museum in Washington. Skorton asked for all of the funding to come through Congress and he said the renovation will take five years and will start in 2018. (House Appropriations Committee)
  • The Defense and State Departments’ special envoys for Guantanamo closure have laid out the President’s plan to close the prison to Congress. Paul Lewis from DoD and Lee Wolosky from State explained the President’s four-element plan to close detainee camp to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. They include accelerating the Periodic Review Board process and working with Congress to find a replacement location for Guantanamo prisoners. (DoD)
  • A Chinese national pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to hack into the computer networks of major U.S. defense contractors. The Justice Department said Su Bin was part of a plan to steal sensitive military and export-controlled data to send back to China. This included data related to the C-17 strategic transport aircraft and certain fighter jets produced for the U.S. military. He faces five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. (Justice Department)
  • GSA took some missteps with a cloud computing contract for the Peace Corps. The agency’s inspector general said an agreement for GSA to provide the Peace Corps with email-as-a-service for six months wasn’t a shared service as initially claimed. Instead, the IG found the email service augmented the Peace Corps appropriations by more than $39,000.  GSA gave Peace Corps the use of 500 email-as-a-service licenses that were not intended to be used by other agencies. In the end, the Peace Corps had to pay GSA back for the email in the cloud. (GSA OIG)
  • The House passes a bill to limit the Federal Trade Commission’s role in the merger review process. The Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules, or SMARTER, Act would require the FTC follow the more limited standards the Department of Justice uses in the review process. Govtrack said supporters want to bring more parity and fairness to merger reviews.  FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said the bill would take away one of her agency’s key tools for promoting consumer welfare. Companion legislation is also pending in the Senate.
  • Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said there are not enough veterans in key national security roles. Hagel said the lack of veterans in key political posts has left a deficit in critical military and security discussions, according to the MilitaryTimes. While speaking at a HillVets event, Hagel mentioned how none of the White House’s security staff are veterans and stressed the need for veterans input. (Military Times)
  • Retention and recruitment of talented employees is the Defense Department’s CIO’s biggest worry. DoD Chief Information Officer Terry Halvorsen told Congress the pay and benefits of private companies is enticing talent to the private sector. He wants Congress to make it easier for industry employees to work in government for a year and then be able to return to their jobs. (Federal News Radio)

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